November 11, 2010:
Elitist authoritarianism.
On the right you get Fascism. On the left, Stalinism.
Recruits typically come from contrasting social strata. Fascists are lumpen proletarians and failed petty bourgeois sinking into the working class. Stalinists are intellectuals.
My friends who joined the Stalinist cult-party were the latter. They were earnest, impressed by the group's organizational chops, and eager to surrender to discipline from on high.
That's ugly, but, there's worse. They were salivating to give orders themselves. They would have been thrilled to be in power. Thrilled with themselves.
They escaped the Stalinoids, but, the one still with us has gravitated to a kind of hyper-consuming proselytizing religious fundamentalism which at the end of the day serves the same psychological function. A member of the elect.