The 1930s Are Ahead of Us
When he spoke of the 1930s, Granel had in mind Fascism (Italy), National Socialism (Germany) and Stalinism (Soviet Union), three political attempts to impose a "new order" on Europe.
In his lecture, Granel showed that the European intellectual and political class was as blind in the 1930s as it was in the 1990s [and today].
Leon Blum (+1950), a Jew and leader of the French Socialists, commented on the German elections of July 1932 that in the face of the representatives of old Germany, "Hitler is the symbol of the spirit of change, renewal and revolution".
The French philosophers Georges Bataille (+1962) and André Breton (+1966) wrote: "In any case, we prefer the anti-diplomatic brutality of Hitler, which is even more peaceful than the drooling excitement of diplomats and politicians".
For Granel, both the 1930s and the 1990s were defined by a "primacy of the infinite over the finite", which sought to abolish in every sphere - economic, scientific, cultural - the ethical, political and religious barriers that had hitherto contained it in one way or another.
He has shown that such a process of "infinitisation" of every aspect of social life can only lead to self-destruction.
Agamben says that we should not expect these aberrant events to recur today in the same form as in the 1930s, but rather - as Amadeo Bordiga said about the victors of the Second World War - that the victors would be the executors of the vanquished.
Everywhere, Agamben notes, governments of whatever colour are acting as executors of the same will.
Everywhere we see the blind continuation of the same unlimited process of productive increase and technological development, which reduces human life to its biological basis, renounces any inspiration other than bare life, and is ready to sacrifice its political existence without reserve, as we have seen in the last three years [Covid].
Compared to the 1990s, the signs of blindness, lack of thought and imminent self-destruction have multiplied dizzily, writes Agamben.
Everything suggests that the post-industrial societies of the West are entering the extreme phase of a process whose consequences could be catastrophic.
Picture: Giorgio Agamben, Gérard Granel © wikicommons, CC BY-SA, #newsMwmxntdejh