Volkism

Volkism is a culturally far-right, totalitarian, and ethnonationalist ideology that is based around the Völkisch movement. It has ideas about German ethnonationalism, such as anti-Semitism, that would be implemented by Hitler and the Nazi Party under  Nazism. This ideology has influenced Positive Christianity.

Before WWI
The Völkisch movement emerged in the late 19th century, drawing inspiration from German Romanticism and the history of the Holy Roman Empire, and what many saw as its harmonious pecking order. The delayed unification of the German-speaking peoples under a single German Reich in the 19th century is cited as conducive to the emergence of the Völkisch movement. Thus, faced with political and economic developments in Germany during this period, a certain number of thinkers took refuge in nostalgia for a mythified and magnified past. These thinkers attempt to resurrect a historical moment in which the Völk was united and not divided into multiple social categories. The German Empire, to them, does not meet these expectations, because it is not turned towards the return to rural areas, but is moving towards industrialization and its economic and social corollaries. Paul de Lagarde in particular proclaims himself the main adversary of Bismarck, of the "attrophied" newly unified state and of parliamentarism. He aspires to the creation of an imperial pomp, with the creation of a secret emperor, endowed with the attributes of Luther and Frederick Barbarossa, who would be both an enlightened legislator and Führer of the people, but who would in no way be a representative of the Prussian dynasty. The völkisch movement started penetratiing universities, where History was being sifted through its ideology.

After WWI
During the early years of the Weimar Republic, the number of disparate organizations affiliated with Völkism initially grew significantly, allowing for the election to parliament of its most prominent members. These associations set up a selection on racial criteria at the entrance. However, from 1924-1925, because of its structural deficiencies, the movement would find itself gradually sidelined from politics by the NSDAP, which became, alongside the German National People's Party (DNPV), the new echo chamber of the radical right. Its influence nevertheless remains strong on whole sections of German society, in particular through its influence in schools, especially in university. Competition for positions between Jewish and non-Jewish academics heightens tensions; and, resuming pre-war practices, the student associations systematically excluded Jewish students from their ranks. In 1931, the Reich and Austria experienced massively followed anti-Semitic riots on their campuses, and in 1932 some universities excluded all Jewish teachers from their staff.

Christian movements close to paganism also became enthusiastic about the völkisch movement, which served as the basis for the development of Nazism. During the 20s, a number of political parties expressly affiliated themselves to the völkisch movement and managed, during local elections, to have some of their representatives elected in the Landtäge of the federated states within the Reich. The NSDAP then tried to profile itself as the driving force of the völkisch movement in order to put forward its vision of the world. Thus, in Mein Kampf, Adolf Hitler writes: "The National Socialist German Workers' Party derives the essential characteristics of a völkisch conception of the universe" and "today all associations, all groups, large and small — and, in my opinion, even 'big parties' — lay claim to the word völkisch". The Nazi Party, initially itself a small völkisch group, bought the newspaper of the völkisch movement in 1920 to make it its official press organ.

Nazi period
Marginalized from the mid-1920s within the Nazi party, the less prominent völkisch ideologues were then expelled from the party. If from 1933 the remaining organizations and their leaders were either absorbed by the Nazi organizations, or else dissolved, notably within the SS, the ideas of the völkisch movement were still disseminated at the highest level of the State.

Post-1945, isolated attempts to launch an organizational renaissance did not meet with any success, except marginally through small movements belonging to neopaganism and völkisch religious movements such as the Deutschgläubige Gemeinschaft or the Germanische Glaubensgemeinschaft.

[[File:Germanfash.png]] German Fascism/Dickelism
German Fascism/Dickelism is based on the thoughts of German political figure Otto Dickel, who founded one of the many sub-groups who found themselves affiliated within the Völkisch movement. While this made him involved in the völkisch movement, he was only a secondary figure among many other more decisive regarding the movement's history and ideological corpus. Thus his beliefs can't be taken as representative of völkism as a whole.

Beliefs
The völkisch movement was a nationalist and racialist movement in Germany in the 19th and 20th centuries which was no homogeneous set of beliefs, and can't be equated with those of particular individuals involved in the movement. In paticular, völkism doesn't have a specific set of economic beliefs and therefore cannot be considered as third-positionist. However some broadly common points can be found.

"Völk"
According to German nation theorists, the term "Volk" (meaning "people" in German) referred to a higher entity, such as nature or the universe, and was linked to a specific territory, history and landscape. Völkism supported the idea of a social hierarchy based on the depth of each individual's connection to the "Volksgeist" (the spirit or soul of the people).

Obsession for germanic roots
Völkism is interested in the history and roots of Germany and Germans. They believed in the purity of the Germanic "race" and relied on anthropology and philology to support this belief. They also saw racial purity as crucial to Germany's survival. Finally, some völkisch thinkers were interested in Germany's medieval history and wanted modern Germany to be inspired by it.

The Reich surrounded by ennemies
Völkism perceives the world to be populated by enemies and believed that Germany had to deal with this growing hostility. They analyzed the period preceding the First World War and some followers attributed the causes of the conflict to the decision of William II not to renew the reinsurance treaty - Bismarck's attempt to continue to ally with Russia following the old agreement of the three emperors, while at the same time maintaining the Triple Alliance.

Antisemitism
Völkism perceived Jews as alien to the Volk and could be seen as uprooted or as conspirators against non-Jews. It supported the popular stereotype of Jews being portrayed as miserly, ambitious, envious, ugly, and devoid of humanity. For völkisch thinkers, the Jewish question was also a question of ethics, and some members of the movement supported the idea of the extermination of assimilated Jews as a step towards the realization of a continent-wide German national project.

Völkisch religion
Some in the völkisch movement sought to return to paganism or a form of neopaganism, inspired by ancient Germanic mythology. Others supported a völkisch version of Christianity, viewing Christ as an Aryan or descendant of Atlantean lineages established in Galilee. Some versions of this völkisch religion of Christianity presented the main episodes of the New Testament in a warrior form. Still others considered that the Bible contained a hidden teaching on the dangers of miscegenation for the vigor of the Aryan "race" and that this teaching was the foundation of the Aryan religion passed down from generation to generation by initiates such as Christ, the Templars and the Rusicruxians.

Rejection of modernity
Völkism rejects modernity, seen as responsible for Germany's decadence. This rejection of modernity is identifiable with a rejection of scientific materialism. Modernity is seen as harmful to the bonds between members of the Volk, leading Volkism to value German peasants, seen as untouched by it, considered close to the Volk's roots. Völkism also advocated for practices such as vegetarianism, alternative medicine and naturism.

Colonialism & Expansion
Völkism is favorable to the expansion of Germany in Europe, through the colonization of territories and the reunification of Germanic populations. Paul de Lagarde advocates the annexation of Austria and the colonization of Ukraine and the western margins of the Russian Empire. Julius Langbehn proposes the creation of a German space from Amsterdam to Riga. The aryosophists, around Guido von List, advocate the domination of the Germans over the world and the construction of a grand-Germanic state bringing together all the Germanic populations.

How to Draw
Volkism_flag.svg
 * 1) Draw a ball with eyes.
 * 2) Draw a tricolour of Black-Red-Black.
 * 3) In the middle of the ball draw a white circle with a red border.
 * 4) In the middle of the white circle draw a Valknut.

Friends

 * [[File: Esofash.png]] Esoteric Fascism - Blood and soil!
 * [[File: Imp.png]] Imperialism - Our people must rule supreme!
 * [[File: Nazi.png]] Nazism - My favorite son. Don't tell [[File:Strasser.png]] Strasserism.
 * [[File:Strasser.png]] Strasserism - My commie son whom I still appreciate.
 * [[File:PagTheo.png]] Pagan Theocracy - Imagine not being pagan.
 * [[File:Ethnonat.png]] Ethnonationalism - Deutschland über alles!
 * [[File: Odal.png]] Odalism - You're almost alike, Pretty cool
 * [[File: Nazbol.png]] National Bolshevism - More Communist version of me.
 * [[File:Nazcapf.png]] National Capitalism - More Capitalist version of me.

Frenemies

 * [[File: Natan.png]] National Anarchism - My anarkiddie brother who basically wants all the same things I do but without the all-powerful state.
 * [[File: Fash.png]] Fascism - Cool I guess?
 * [[File:Jackanfash.png]] Donnovanian Anarcho-Fascism - My homonationalist anarkiddie cousin.
 * [[File:Anarcho-Fascismalt.png]] Nilssonian Anarcho-Fascism- My ancappie cousin.
 * [[File:Euras.png]] Fourth Theory - My... Muscovite relative? Appreciate your sentiments towards Germany and dislike of modernity, but you're still too soft on [[File:Zio.png]] (((them))) and [[File:Christy.png]] (((their))) religion.

Enemies

 * [[File: Zio.png]] Zionism - Untermensch!
 * [[File: Cap.png]] Capitalism - Backstabber!
 * [[File: ML.png]] Marxism–Leninism - You betrayed us too!
 * [[File: Christy.png]] Christian Theocracy - Jewish religion, don't force it on me.

Literature

 * The Foundations of the Nineteenth Century by Houston Stewart Chamberlain

Wikipedia

 * Völkisch movement
 * Germanenorden
 * Paul de Lagarde
 * Ludwig Woltmann
 * Houston Stewart Chamberlain
 * Neo-volkisch movements
 * Thule Society
 * Volkstum
 * Anton Drexler
 * Otto Dickel
 * Völkisch Work Community

Navigation
Volkizm