Not Germany, But Ireland (2005)

As I mentioned earlier, in relation to the recent fracas in Toledo, I got a Bronx cheer from a Dutch uncle (how's that for mixed metaphors?) to the effect that I have lost my soul and am no longer my dear old Nazi self, having been corrupted by kosher nationalism or nationalist conservatism or whatever, and generally gone soft. This comrade wanted to know where was the good old Harold who stepped out on Daley Plaza in '78 proudly wearing the Swastika, etc.?

Oh, he's still around. Look, folks, let me make one thing crystal clear. I am a National Socialist, just as much so now as I was then, and that's not going to change. You may either believe this or not, as you choose.

I am not, however, quite so old a dog as to be completely unable to learn new tricks, and I have always been capable of re-thinking and re-assessing the strategic and tactical situation, and changing my views accordingly. Damned slowly, to be sure--one of the genuine arguments against me as a Fearless Leader, which needless to say none of the Goat Dancers have sufficient intelligence or depth of insight to make, is that I'm a slow learner in some areas.

The essence of what all too many people consider "true National Socialism" is a slavish imitation of the tactics, organization, and outward appearance of the NS Kampfzeit of 1920-1933 in Weimar Germany. That epic adventure is an incredibly heroic saga of our Folk, and I in fact revere it so much that my next real novel, if I ever get the time and resources to write one, would quite possibly be set during the Kampfzeit. I have always wanted to do a fictional tribute to the Germans; I am not quite sure why I've never gotten around to it. Inspiration is an odd thing. You can't just turn it on and off like a faucet.

In any event, this gets back to the idea that it is possible to base a revolution, any revolution, on a previously successful one. Well ... I don't completely rule this out, but it's only partially true. Che Guevara found out that the tactics that worked a treat in Cuba in 1958, laid a goose egg in Bolivia nine years later. The Shining Path learned the hard way that modern-day Peru is not China in the late 1940s. Going back even farther, the gallant, heroic and utterly incompetent Jacobites learned the hard way they were living in the eighteenth century, not the fifteenth century of the Wars of the Roses, and purely dynastic military adventurism was a non-starter. (Harold lapses muttering into esoteric historical digressions ... )

The brutally inescapable fact is that the tactics of the 1930s are no longer relevant to much of anything in today's world. Not even so much any more in the field of propaganda; Hitler and Mussolini never had television and the internet. It has taken me way, way too long to learn this, but what can I tell you? We have to stop trying to reproduce what Hitler did down to the last brown shirt. His situation was sui generis to his time. That was seventy years ago, and the clock can't be turned back.

If for no other reason, the difference in the sheer size of territory rules out an NSDAP style mass movement. 1930s Germany was a small (by comparison) territory connected by a superb mass public transportation system. The SA moved mostly by train, and it was not uncommon for an SA troop to attend three or four events per weekend in several German cities. We have to try and get our people to drive 1500 miles to attend a single "rally." Ask Billy Roper how this is working out.

That having been said, I do believe that with intelligent study and analysis, it is in fact possible to draw certain general parallels between the present American situation and a few--not all--revolutionary situations which have existed over the past 100 years.

Has anyone besides myself noticed that most modern, successful insurrectionary movements--including the coming insurgent victory in Iraq--have been colonial wars, the object of which is to remove an occupying power from a finite piece of geography by making, not the generals, but the accountants surrender?

Now, another thing. Believe it or not, I'm not a complete idiot. (Yes, really.) I understand that the situation regarding freedom of expression in America has deteriorated drastically since 9/11 and there are certain topics which are now off limits for public discussion because they will bring the crash of a kicked-in door in the pre-dawn hours. 

This means that the entire topic of how to bring about racial and social change in America cannot be seriously discussed, when any mention of what would have to be done is likely to bring a prison sentence. Those of you who have read my Northwest independence novels know how I have handled this problem. It has worked thus far, and kept me tapping away at this keyboard; how long it will continue to work is anyone's guess. I'm sure that my attitude has been noted in the bowels of power.

But I will say this. I believe that, within certain parameters and with a firm recognition of the historical and cultural differences involved, the model we need to be looking at is not Weimar Germany, but Ireland. Especially the 1916-1923 period, as opposed to the 1968-1998 period. In addition to being very impolitic, it would require an essay of daunting length for me to explain in detail why I believe that this is a far more applicable and adaptable "business plan" than that used in Germany. I will say that this is a conclusion I have reached after many years of study and personal, first-hand observation.

And before I start getting e-mail after e-mail howling with outrage from the U. K., yes, I know the Provos are Communists. I lived there, remember? I lost my business in Dublin to the bastards. Believe me, I know. I am talking about a purely objective and disinterested study of a strategic political model for change.

I would, however, like to suggest the following resources. For those of you who still read books:

The Irish War of Independence by Michael Hopkinson
The I.R.A. by Tim Pat Coogan
Any one of half a dozen good bios of Eamon De Valera or Michael Collins
My Fight for Irish Freedom by Dan Breen
On Another Man's Wound by Ernie O'Malley

For those of you, mostly younger people who, through no fault of your own, have grown up in 20th century America and gone to public schools and who therefore have difficulty with attention span and reading a block of type for content, go to Blockbuster and rent the movie Michael Collins.

Other good movies about The Troubles are out there, but mostly in the U. K. and very hard to get over here. You'd probably have to buy the DVDs from obscure sources on line. If you have that kind of money for old rope, then Harry's Game, Cal, and The Price aren't bad. The Year of the French was good but it's about the 1798 rebellion, so it's not too applicable to 2005. There is an old version of The Informer from the 1940s with Victor McLaglen which was great; it's probably floating around on some DVD oldies collection.

Americans have a very simplistic view of Ireland and their movies on the subject aren't anywhere near as good, although I recently saw The Devil's Own and it wasn't too bad. Ryan's Daughter is nyeh, although it does star the youthful tits of Sarah Miles, and for sheer novelty, there's Robert Mitchum playing a mild-mannered Irish schoolteacher. Actually, my favorite of all American movies about Ireland is The Quiet Man, but that's not an Irish movie, it's a John Wayne movie.

Anyway, I'm lapsing into senile babble about movies, so I'll wind this up. Just to re-iterate: I'm just as much National Socialist as I always was. But the fact is that times have changed and we no longer have the luxury of not changing with them.