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Men Among the Ruins: Post-War Reflections of a Radical Traditionalist

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_Men Among the Ruins_ is the post World War II political reflections of the Italian intellectual Julius Evola. Continuing along the same lines as he had in his more famous _Revolt Against the Modern World_, Evola advocates a return to Tradition and radical counter-revolution. This translation is divided into three parts: an excellent introduction to the life and thought of Julius Evola, the text of _Men Among the Ruins_ proper, and Julius Evola's defense when brought in front of a court for charges of subversive activity.

_Men Among the Ruins_ has been called a "dangerous book" and Evola has been called a fascist; however, if we are unable to read these "dangerous books" and decide for ourselves what they have to say then we will never be able to learn anything from outside of the dull conformist mainstream. The introduction to this book explains much of Evola's thought and life, while at the same time explaining the particularly tricky issues of his involvement with fascism, his lectures in Germany, his racist theories (unlike the crass biological racism of certain components of the National Socialist regime, Evola advocates a spiritual notion of race), and his relationship with antiSemitism (including mention of the notorious forgery "The Protocols of the Elders of Zion").

_Men Among the Ruins_ advocates a return to Tradition and a rejection of modern day liberalism, Bolshevism, individualism, collectivism, and the ideals of the revolution. Against this, Evola proposes a return to an underlying Indo-European substratum, authority, and a re-recognition of the necessity for transcendence. The book includes discussions of various aspects of the State, hierarchy, work and the economy, the Roman Imperium, corporativism (which Evola will somewhat reject along with socialism), militarism, and the role of war. Evola also tackles the issues of the "occult war" (including many of the rumors about the Jews - Evola rejects the more virulent forms of antiSemitism), the "problem of births", and Roman Catholicism as a component of that Tradition. I disagree somewhat with Evola's rejection of Catholicism, although it is unclear to me how much of this aspect of the Tradition is retainable (this would include recognition of the changes in the Church post-Vatican II, as well as the need to address the problem Evola brings up of the world's other religious traditions within the framework of Catholicism). Evola concludes with a discussion of the united Europe and a call for a new European Order. Evola writes specifically about the kind of men that are needed to compose this new Order, including old European families and military leaders. He concludes, "It remains to be seen which and how many men, in spite of it all, still stand upright among so many ruins, in order that they may make this task their own." The book concludes with Evola's defense before the Italian court and his rejection of his specific "glorification of Fascism" charge. This defense is one of the best clarifications of Evola's personal idiosyncratic thought that I have encountered.

In order to read this work, it is probably necessary to first complete Evola's more famous _Revolt Against the Modern World_. Most of Evola's other works that have been translated have a more esoteric bent to them and are less outrightly political. In the end however, Evola advocates a form of apoleteia, a phenomenon he will refer to as "riding the tiger", and a rejection of all party politics. In fact, Evola never participated in outright politics nor ever voted in his entire life. The book goes beyond the familiar schema of Right and Left political thinking and is certainly not to be recommended to any person completely absorbed in either mainstream or modernist ideologies and modes of thinking.

The first half of this edition of _Men Among the Ruins_ is an essay by Dr. H. T. Hansen putting the controversial thought of the ultra-reactionary Sicilian nobleman Julius Evola regarding Nazism, Fascism, the Aryan race, the Jewish-Masonic conspiracy and the SS into an historical perspective. Evola's political theory is radically anti-modernist to the core; anti-democratic, instead idealizing the ancient tradition of the warrior caste, the Kshatriyas in Hinduism. The proper government should be a Hierarchy, Greek for "Rule of the Sacred." The government should look to the Above as a base for authority rather than to the common mass of humanity below. He comments on the demonic nature of the economy, as it brings people away from the true transcendent spiritual reality behind our mundane existence. In traditional historiography, events were looked upon as an unfolding dualistic occult war between the powers of Cosmos and Chaos, like the Christian view of history as an unfolding of Divine Providence, good versus evil, Christ versus Antichrist. There is a metaphysical dimension to history that needs to be taken into account but which never is nowadays. On the side of Cosmos are "form, order, law, spiritual hierarchy, and tradition in the higher sense of the world." To Chaos belongs "every influence that disintegrates, subverts, degrades, and promotes the preponderance of the inferior over the superior, matter over spirit, quantity over quality." Evola criticizes Catholicism in his native Italy as not being a universal creed, along with the Church's eager striving to "update" itself with the modern world. _The Protocols of the Learned Elders of Zion_ is the notorious document which apparently reveals the methods of the Jewish-Masonic conspiracy to take over the world to make it a secularized welfare-slave state. Evola maintains the partial-accuracy of the _Protocols_, but admits that they do not tell the whole story and are too simplified. After all, the secret occult rulers of the world would not just leave the Master Plan of the Ages out on a table for everyone to find out all about them would they?

A particular area where Evola differs from most right-wingers is his outlook towards birth control. The problem of the "bestial fecundity" of the proletariat (the word proletarian itself derived from an old Latin word meaning to reproduce like beasts) should be something that is taken into account in social policy. The government should try to improve the racial character of its people, and give a certain amount of reproductive freedom to the more capable people in the populace. Evola, at the same time, recognizes the legitimacy of the celibate traditions in the world's faiths that disavow marriage, having children and the use of women. He criticizes the Catholic stance on birth control, as the _Humanae Vitae_ encyclical itself states that birth control is desirable, but only the unreliable "rhythm method" is morally permissible. Evola will jar a fair amount of sensibilities when he exposes the "bourgeoisie cult of children and having children" as an illusion, when he points out that most couples get married for personal happiness rather than having children, and many get married without the intent of having any. Evola's entire take on the domain of marriage, children and celibacy is the most coherent that I have ever read. The "men among the ruins" that the book takes its title from are those scattered, isolated individuals around the world who see the modern world for the sham that it is, and maintain a vision of a Europe in spiritual unity with the divine. There is something in here to offend everybody, no matter his or her political or religious orientation. Also recommended: _Revolt Against the Modern World_.

This book is an excellent and intriguing sequel to Julius Evola's Revolt Against the Modern World. In it, Evola deconstructs and demolishes modern "liberal"-bougeoisie ideas of "freedom" and "individualism" and returns those ideas to their pre-liberal creative and Indo-European roots. While some of the chapters, such as Evola's commentary on the possibly future shape of a social economic system, seem like more a forced and overly technical response to his leftist and socialist critics, this in no way detracts from the brilliance of the work as a whole. The 100-page introductions and biography of Evola, and review of his works and ideas, is also of vital necessity in a time where the self-defined defenders of liberalism are working extra to force the label of "fascist" on a man who transcended all such labels and categories.

If you read only one work on occultism, read Evola's Revolt Against the Modern World -- but if you read two, pick up this sequel. It takes Radical Traditionalism and applies it to the restructuring of the political-spiritual sphere.

Americans love to talk about their freedom. And indeed we are free, free to speak about anything, anything at all -- just as long as radical ideas do not enter public discourse and are given credibility by, say, being written about with honesty by your morning newspaper.

Keeping this in mind, I can hardly believe that this book was published. Here it is, folks, proof that a tiny dimension of true ideological freedom exists in these badlands, one that allows for this extremely radical text to be published by a respected firm and carried by several dozen bookstores across the country.

In this text Mr. Evola destroys the standard definitions, presumptions and proscriptions regarding ugly words like "Fascism." This book is not recommended for those who enjoy watching television for the sake of tuning out their own thoughts.

Now, with "Men Among the Ruins," the political Evola also enters the ruinous cultural landscape of America. Here we find the dynamite of Evola's world view, packed in the warning colors of black and red. Another safety-mechanism, as Joscelyn Godwin aptly remarks in his Foreword, is the hundred-page introduction to Evola's political thought by H. T. Hansen. The placement of a thinker in his historical and biographical context naturally relativizes the ideas that he advocates--however apodictically he may have expressed them. Hansen's analysis, taken from the German edition of the book ("Menschen inmitten von Ruinen" 1991) presents not only the first factual biographical sketch of Evola in the German world, but remains hitherto the fundamental treatment of his political development, above all in the Fascist and National Socialist epoch--although, as Hansen mentions in the additions he has made for the American edition, some very worthwhile works have appeared in the meantime, which help to sharpen many contours. Evola appears more and more as a central figure of a right-wing, 'reactionary' revulsion against the mass-aspects of National Socialism and the biologism of many of its ideologues. His 'spiritual racial doctrine' arises from the attempt to offer an alternative in the field of racial theory to the cattle-breeding mentality of the National Socialists.
In "Men Among the Ruins," the concepts of democracy and of electoral Fascism, of the nation-state and individualism, the bourgeois world-order, historical pusillanimity, economic thought-habits, to name but a few, are torn to shreds simply through being juxtaposed with the sovereign, Ghibelline, authoritarian, masculine, and solar Tradition. Then in the course of sixteen chapters, the ruins of the modern world are carted away, piece by piece. As the book closes, the view opens up: one breathes the new, freer and fresher air of the aristocratic spiritual and soul-world that one's reading has revealed, and sees in the distance a Europe united in the spirit of Tradition.

Great stuff! Some of the best writing on culture and politics you will find. Challenging to many political and philosophical positions, it is thought provoking and engaging. Those expecting a boring "right wing" screed will be disapointed. The concepts and "world view" this book espouses and explicates is beyond what most of can see as "right" or "left." I think Evola has down what most writers about politics lack - a larger, uncompromised world view that forces us to reconsider any number of our beliefs.

This one is not essential towards understanding Evola's Roman Reactionary view of the world and how things should be, yet it gives some insight into the philosopher and like most philosophers he was complex. The introduction covers his life and thought and shows some of the reactions people have had to Evola's "dangerous thoughts". Like some philosophers, he toyed with the idea of killing himself and admired books by thinkers who eventually killed themselves. I guess they couldn't take the modern world. However, Evola read some work on Buddhism and decided not to go through with it after all. Like some philosophers, he never got married or had kids, probably preferring to be alone with his thoughts. He had the contrariness and critical views of women like Nietzsche had, although these two ultimately go in different directions; Evola towards transcendence and tradition, and Nietzsche towards creative nihilism. Evola's traditionalism is not a common one that urges us to go back to the Fifties lifestyle, but rather, perhaps, to the way of life around 5000 BC. But yet, he still was hard to pigeonhole, he liked the Beatniks and revolution of 1968, but still hated the revolutions of 1789, 1848, and 1919. He was against equality, but for a hierarchical freedom, the higher character one had, the more freedom one deserved.

He attempted to influence the Fascist and Nazi parties into becoming more aristocratic in nature, but the parties never gave up their plebian notions of collectivity such as socialism and nationalism, and they still thought the leader was answerable to the people, rejecting Evola's notion of the divine ruler being the centerpiece of civilization holding it together by being connected to the transcendent. Evola wanted them to emphasize even more the aristocratic values such as respectful distance towards one`s betters, honor, loyalty, courage, and selflessness.

Regarding honor, he thought the Italians would do well to emulate the German sense of honor, as in "your word is your bond never to be broken". He thought Italians should give up their petty hatred of Germans and stop celebrating cunning and deceit that made them feel so clever. This was a base characteristic among Italians along with their tendency to gesticulate. Evola thought that, at least, the better sort of Italians should not consider themselves proudly as Latin, but rather Roman, with the studied seriousness of the great Roman aristocracy of the past. They should learn to control their passions and always think clearly, passions being the inferior part of oneself. He explains well what he thinks is a noble personality as opposed to a base, clownish one. In fact, this book has a picture of Evola with his look of studied seriousness of a man of tradition, if you wish to practice it.

He also addresses the occult war against tradition with its revolutions and subversions. Particularly, he analyzes the Protocols of the Elders of Zion. He says that some of it is fantasy and that Jews are only partially to blame for revolutions against old orders. In fact, it is a technique of this occult cabal to emphasize the Jewish part in it, so that people will think that only they are to blame. Such a technique provides a good cover for those gentiles who continue on with their subversions. He also states that secret societies would never write down their intentions in such a way.

Regarding the Jews, Evola was selectively critical, but not condemning. He mainly criticized those who were a part of anti-tradition and the Jewish materialistic spirit which wishes to destroy the old transcendent order. He thought Hitler's obsession with alleged Jewish machinations was paranoid.

Evola's racism was a racism of the spirit and only superficially biological. He said it would not improve matters merely to have a pure Italian or German race. Considerations of a person's nobility must be taken into account. Like many aristocrats, class was more important to him than race. He said Jews could possess an Aryan spirit. These statements did not endear him to the Fascist or Nazi powers. Even some of his intellectual influences were Jewish.

Another problem Evola worried about is the over-breeding of the lower castes and under-breeding of higher castes. He wanted some controls over inordinate number of lower caste births to prevent the swarming masses from overwhelming the noble ones.

I still don't like the idea of people inheriting their station in life in some caste system, as I'm afraid Evola would approve of. I prefer the meritocracy advocated by freemasons who complained about nobles who did not have noble character, but merely inherited their positions. So this is interesting stuff, but no thanks.

Julius Evola's Men Among the Ruins gives a deflating critique of the most prevalent political, intellectual, and cultural trends of the contemporary world. No one is left to spare: the Leftists, the Rightists, the upper class, the lower class, the middle class, the religious, the secular, and the list goes on and on; each receiving a direct blow to their respective Achilles heal. Don't be mistaken, this brilliant text is not purely destructive, but lays out a truly constructive alternative (not another 'new' fanciful utopian fantasy); what every higher civilization hither to known to our modern world has based itself: TRANSCENDENT PRICIPLES.

A great book. Not as good as his Revolt Against The Modern World but still great. A good read for any one interested in the Pagan Revival and fighting against liberalism, capitialism, and the new world order.

First the good. This work by Evola may be thought provoking to those who find modern political correctness distasteful but haven't made up their minds. Evola proposes here a sort of counter-revolution against democracy, egalitarianism, and so forth. It can be an interesting book viewed as an attack on many modern tendencies.

As to the bad, this book often comes across as sermonizing. The author is clearly extremely opinionated in these areas and it shows.

Worse, I think he takes many ideas to extreme lengths, advocating totalitarianism as a utopian type of government for example. While this can occasionally be thought-provoking, I find myself very hard-pressed to accept his absolutism regarding these areas.

All in all I think this is a useful book mostly for those looking for such a perspective, or trying to understand Evola's political background in relation to his esoteric works.