File spoon-archives/marxism.archive/marxism_1994/94-10-31.000, message 82


Date: Thu, 13 Oct 1994 22:34:29 -0400 (EDT)
From: Alex Trotter <uburoi-AT-panix.com>
Subject: Wilhelm Reich



I know that many people on this list are fond of the academic theories 
deriving from structuralism, Althusser, Lacan, etc. These figures 
attempted a synthesis on some level of Marxism and psychoanalysis. But as 
far as that goes, there is another figure who worked very intensely on 
that task but whose name is not often mentioned anymore, it seems. That 
figure is Wilhelm Reich. The situationists were fond of him, and so are 
some anarchists, but he seems, like Fourier in some ways, to be 
generally regarded in the 'crackpot' category when he is talked about at 
all. I recently read his work entitled _The Sexual Revolution_, much of 
which is concerned with issues about the family, etc. raised by Engels 
but explored in much greater depth. It also discusses the way abortion, 
homosexuality, contraception, adolescent sexuality, and so on were dealt 
with in the early years of the Soviet Union and under Stalinism. 
Fascinating. Another book of his of particular interest to students of 
Marxism--_The Mass Psychology of Fascism_. What do other people on this 
list think about Reich? Was he another hopeless utopian? And just what is 
it about the turgid writing of a Lacan that supposedly comes out ahead?

--Alex Trotter
 


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