"Sinisterism: Secular Religion of the Lie" is a remarkable piece of work on three levels. First Walker dismantles the commonly-accepted Left-Right political spectrum as a flawed concept. Second, he details how communists, socialists, Nazis, fascists and other totalitarians are fundamentally identical in that they are founded solely on the acquisition, maintenance and perpetuation of extensive governmental power with "Sinisterist" methods being the means by which this power is obtained and held. Third, the research and historic documentation he brings to bear on his subject is enormous.
Walker describes the origins of the Left-Right spectrum in the French Parliament at the time of the Revolution, but focuses heavily on the two decades leading up to W.W.II. He exhaustively illustrates the long-standing fraternal arrangements between Nazi socialists and communists, exploding the myth that they were ideological polar opposites. It was only Hitler's strategic decision to invade Russia that changed the Left's view of Nazism. One result of the break however, was to move and cement National Socialists and fascists onto the right-most end of the political spectrum. Leftists to this day continue to find this arrangement highly useful despite the fact that fascist and Nazi ideology completely adheres to a range of shared socialist thought: ownership and control of means of production through "social justice" and redistributive economic policies. Conservatives, religious traditionalists, libertarians and others who place themselves on the right are subject to this forced association with their political opposites, "statists," because the worlds of academia and journalism are the keepers of such terms.
The author presents a cohesive case for gathering all stateist political movements on the left (where most already reside). This is based on their shared objectives of controlling as many aspects of governmental, economic and societal activities as possible. The extent of such control approximating Orwellian 1984 levels, determines how far left a system might be. On the right end of the spectrum, it is logical that the less government and state control that exists, the further right it would be. Polar opposites cannot be two similar stateist, socialist systems. Instead, it is individualism based on degrees of personal freedom and liberty, versus degrees of how much freedom and liberty is given up by the individual in favor of the state. In other words, it is individual sovereignty at one end and state domination at the other. This is my takeaway, but Walker actually goes further and dismisses the concept of the spectrum, concluding, "the opposite of "Sinisterist" is not some mythical "right," but rather ordinary and decent people trying to live their lives in peace and freedom."
Walker also depicts statist parties (ignoring all their populist social rhetoric) as having no philosophical or political ideology. Wielding governmental power over an entire population is their only goal. Whether Nazi Germany, the Soviet Union, Communist China or an Islamic Caliphate such parties are inevitably comprised of relatively small groups, who rule with broad arbitrary authority over everyone else. He substantiates that the primary means by which all totalitarians gain and exert such power is the lie. His subtitle: "The Secular Religion of the Lie" is entirely apt. At its core Sinisterists are mere thugs who seize the levers of government (sometimes by democratic means) then use that apparatus to extend and permanentize their control.
In a more reasoned world, the word Sinisterism would enter our every-day vocabulary. Short of that, this book is an important contribution to modern political thought. Serious students of history and political science will relish Walkers vast references from eyewitnesses during the 20th Century's harshest sinisterist reigns. Highly recommended.
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