A Handbook For Right-Wing Youth by Julius Evola

I have read A Handbook For Right-Wing Youth by Julius Evola. Contrary to its title, the book is not quite a handbook, but rather a collection of socio-political essays written in the post-War period (except for one essay published in 1933). As Enjoyers of my content will perhaps be aware, I am an Enthusiast of Evola’s esoterico-magical writings and his writings on religion and Tradition – his socio-political ones, not so much. Even so, reading Evola is always joyful (at least for me).

Against Marxism & Psychoanalysis

In the first essay of the collection, A Message to the Youth, written in 1950, the good baron shares a few fundamental attitudes which I thought were well-formulated:

‘Against Marxism and socialism, let us affirm that the economy and economic interests in all their forms have always exercised – and always will exercise – a subordinate function in normal humanity; that history and every healthy sociopolitical structure are determined by forces of a different sort; and that the fundamental fallacy is to believe that material, environmental factors and conditions of affluence, wealth, or poverty play a decisive role for real human progress.’

Julius Evola – A Handbook For Right-Wing Youth. Page 2.

I have touched on this topic in several podcast episodes and I will return to the topic later on – but to summarise the matter; great men shape history (Napoleon, for example) and economic developments influence the course of history to a lesser extent. In the following passage he states the following against the teachings of (primarily) Freud:

‘Against psychoanalysis, let us uphold the ideal of a personality which does not relinquish its role; an aware and autonomous personality which retains its sovereignty over the nocturnal and subterranean part of its soul and the demon of sexuality – a personality that is neither ‘repressed’ nor psychotically split, but which attains a healthy balance of all its faculties by subordinating them to a higher meaning of life and action.’

Julius Evola – A Handbook For Right-Wing Youth. Pages 2-3.

I elaborate on a similar topic in Demigod Mentality – more specifically, I discuss Plato’s chariot allegory and the different forces within us. Eros – the black horse of desire represents the sexual impulse in this allegory. Pictured below: A Compassionate Chakravarti with all parts of the soul working in harmonious union.

The Definition of Youth

Evola defines youth in the following way:

‘We conceive youth not as a matter of age or a biological fact, but essentially as a spiritual attitude, as a tone and style of life. It is defined by the enthusiasm and generosity of those who follow an ideal simply out of love for this ideal; by a yearning for the unconditional, which is inseparable from any idealism; by a taste for action; by an impulse towards renovation, matching forward; by contempt for easy living.’

Julius Evola – A Handbook For Right-Wing Youth. Page 84.

A Profound Insight

In the essay titled Biological Youthfulness and Political Youthfulness from 1974, the author shares the following insight:

‘In order to perceive their individuality, their importance, many people feel the need to get all worked up, to put themselves against something or someone.’

Julius Evola – A Handbook For Right-Wing Youth. Page 93.

Evola elaborates on a similar topic in another one of his books (Men Among the Ruins or Revolt Against the Modern World). There, he notes that the need to stir up hatred for one‘s enemies is something related to warfare of the lower castes – the Warrior (i.e. those of the Warrior caste) does not need hatred of his enemies, he simply does his duty. In my humble opinion, it is always better to be for something, rather than against something. Being for something does, of course, sometimes mean being against something that threatens that which you are for. It is a subtle but important difference – my position is always that I am for European civilisation. There is also a danger in being drawn down to a constant negative state of mind when one focuses only on what is wrong. Simply put, do not let the black-pills outweigh the white-pills! I will clarify this in a video later on.

Conclusion

As already noted, I prefer Evola‘s more esoteric writings, and there are many books of his that I would recommend before this one (I have reviewed quite a few by now). For radical socio-political commentary, I would rather recommend the works of Guillaume Faye. His Why We Fight was one of the first political books I read, and I have read a few other books of his as well (I will make a podcast episode discussing his insights). Kerry Bolton is another good author when it comes to socio-political matters. When it comes to recommending a handbook (i.e. a book with practical instructions), I would humbly suggest my own Dauntless.

Onwards!