Evola's Traditionalism Survives

xsampa

Banned
Julius Evola was an Italian aristocrat who is considered a seminal figure in the Traditionalist ideology. This ideology argues that all religions and traditional customs have their roots in an universal Tradition, which must be restored. Evola distinguished his variant with his extremely reactionary views on sexuality and class. He believed in imposing the harem and suttee on women, and in individuals of certain inclinations practicing sexual violence. On the subject of class, he argued for a reorientation of society, with warriors and priests at the top, followed by farmers/workers and merchants at the bottom. He admired the Hindu caste system and the feudal system.
Not incidentally, due to the similarities between Traditionalism and other far-right ideologies in the emphasis on tradition, Evola became associated with Mussolini's Italy and Hitler's Germany, although he despised both of them for their populist tendencies that failed to uphold the traditional division between aristocrat and commoner.
He worked with a branch of the SS during WW2, but managed to escape being sentenced by proclaiming that he was not a fascist, but a superfascist. He lived out the rest of his life in relative obscurity, dying in 1974. Although his ideology was used by far-right groups in Italy and Europe, it has largely remained marginalized. With a POD after WW2, how could his ideology survive, and how would it interact with the outside world?
 
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BigBlueBox

Banned
Evola's ultra-reactionary, classist ideology just doesn't have the same appeal as the Third Position, quasi-socialistic doctrines of mainstream neo-fascism. His ideas are guaranteed to turn away women and the working class, and would probably alienate the petite-bourgeois class that was vital for the success of mainstream fascism.
 
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Some variant of it could survive in a scenario that prevented Italian fascism from being closely tied to Nazism. Evola in particular, while fascist, was not particularly keen on Nazi Germany and in a world where Italy's fascism is (at least regarded as) distinct from Germany's (such as in The Myth of the Twentieth Century) could maintain its existence as something outside the very far fringes of society.
 
An odd question considering Evolaism is far more popular now in an age of silly internet meme ideologies than then.

Indeed as far as I'm aware Evola never developed any organised following beyond publishing a journal. The man was for all intents and purposes a fantasist.
 
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