Erik von Kuehnelt-Leddihn
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Erik Maria
Ritter Ritter (German for "knight") is a designation used as a title of nobility in German-speaking areas. Traditionally it denotes the second-lowest rank within the nobility, standing above "Edler" and below "Freiherr" (Baron). As with most titles an ...
von Kuehnelt-Leddihn (; 31 July 1909 – 26 May 1999) was an Austrian
political scientist Political science is the science, scientific study of politics. It is a social science dealing with systems of governance and power, and the analysis of politics, political activities, political thought, political behavior, and associated c ...
and
philosopher A philosopher is a person who practices or investigates philosophy. The term ''philosopher'' comes from the grc, φιλόσοφος, , translit=philosophos, meaning 'lover of wisdom'. The coining of the term has been attributed to the Greek th ...
. He opposed the ideas of the French Revolution as well as those of communism and Nazism. Describing himself as a "conservative arch-liberal" or "extreme liberal", Kuehnelt-Leddihn often argued that
majority rule Majority rule is a principle that means the decision-making power belongs to the group that has the most members. In politics, majority rule requires the deciding vote to have majority, that is, more than half the votes. It is the binary deci ...
in
democracies Democracy (From grc, δημοκρατία, dēmokratía, ''dēmos'' 'people' and ''kratos'' 'rule') is a form of government in which the people have the authority to deliberate and decide legislation (" direct democracy"), or to choose gov ...
is a threat to individual liberties, and declared himself a
monarchist Monarchism is the advocacy of the system of monarchy or monarchical rule. A monarchist is an individual who supports this form of government independently of any specific monarch, whereas one who supports a particular monarch is a royalist. ...
and an enemy of all forms of
totalitarianism Totalitarianism is a form of government and a political system that prohibits all opposition parties, outlaws individual and group opposition to the state and its claims, and exercises an extremely high if not complete degree of control and reg ...
, although he also supported what he defined as "non-democratic republics," such as Switzerland and the early United States. Kuehnelt-Leddihn cited the U.S. Founding Fathers,
Tocqueville Alexis Charles Henri Clérel, comte de Tocqueville (; 29 July 180516 April 1859), colloquially known as Tocqueville (), was a French aristocrat, diplomat, political scientist, political philosopher and historian. He is best known for his works ...
,
Burckhardt Burckhardt, or (de) Bourcard in French, is a family of the Basel patriciate, descended from Christoph (Stoffel) Burckhardt (1490–1578), a merchant in cloth and silk originally from Münstertal, Black Forest, who received Basel citizenship i ...
, and Montalembert as the primary influences for his skepticism towards democracy. Described as "A Walking Book of Knowledge", Kuehnelt-Leddihn had an encyclopedic knowledge of the humanities and was a polyglot, able to speak eight languages and read seventeen others. His early books ''The Menace of the Herd'' (1943) and ''Liberty or Equality'' (1952) were influential within the American conservative movement. An associate of
William F. Buckley Jr. William Frank Buckley Jr. (born William Francis Buckley; November 24, 1925 – February 27, 2008) was an American public intellectual, conservative author and political commentator. In 1955, he founded ''National Review'', the magazine that stim ...
, his best-known writings appeared in ''
National Review ''National Review'' is an American conservative editorial magazine, focusing on news and commentary pieces on political, social, and cultural affairs. The magazine was founded by the author William F. Buckley Jr. in 1955. Its editor-in-chief i ...
'', where he was a columnist for 35 years.


Life

Von Kuehnelt-Leddihn was born in Tobelbad,
Styria Styria (german: Steiermark ; Serbo-Croatian and sl, ; hu, Stájerország) is a state (''Bundesland'') in the southeast of Austria. With an area of , Styria is the second largest state of Austria, after Lower Austria. Styria is bordered to ...
,
Austria-Hungary Austria-Hungary, often referred to as the Austro-Hungarian Empire,, the Dual Monarchy, or Austria, was a constitutional monarchy and great power in Central Europe between 1867 and 1918. It was formed with the Austro-Hungarian Compromise of ...
. At 16, he became the
Vienna en, Viennese , iso_code = AT-9 , registration_plate = W , postal_code_type = Postal code , postal_code = , timezone = CET , utc_offset = +1 , timezone_DST ...
correspondent of ''
The Spectator ''The Spectator'' is a weekly British magazine on politics, culture, and current affairs. It was first published in July 1828, making it the oldest surviving weekly magazine in the world. It is owned by Frederick Barclay, who also owns ''The ...
''. From then on, he wrote for the rest of his life. He studied
civil Civil may refer to: *Civic virtue, or civility *Civil action, or lawsuit * Civil affairs *Civil and political rights *Civil disobedience *Civil engineering *Civil (journalism), a platform for independent journalism *Civilian, someone not a membe ...
and
canon law Canon law (from grc, κανών, , a 'straight measuring rod, ruler') is a set of ordinances and regulations made by ecclesiastical authority (church leadership) for the government of a Christian organization or church and its members. It is th ...
at the
University of Vienna The University of Vienna (german: Universität Wien) is a public research university located in Vienna, Austria. It was founded by Duke Rudolph IV in 1365 and is the oldest university in the German-speaking world. With its long and rich histor ...
at 18. Then he went to the
University of Budapest A university () is an institution of higher (or tertiary) education and research which awards academic degrees in several academic disciplines. Universities typically offer both undergraduate and postgraduate programs. In the United States, the ...
, from which he received an M.A. in
economics Economics () is the social science that studies the Production (economics), production, distribution (economics), distribution, and Consumption (economics), consumption of goods and services. Economics focuses on the behaviour and intera ...
and his doctorate in
political science Political science is the scientific study of politics. It is a social science dealing with systems of governance and power, and the analysis of political activities, political thought, political behavior, and associated constitutions and la ...
. Moving back to Vienna, he took up studies in
theology Theology is the systematic study of the nature of the divine and, more broadly, of religious belief. It is taught as an academic discipline, typically in universities and seminaries. It occupies itself with the unique content of analyzing the ...
. In 1935, Kuehnelt-Leddihn traveled to England to become a
schoolmaster The word schoolmaster, or simply master, refers to a male school teacher. This usage survives in British independent schools, both secondary and preparatory, and a few Indian boarding schools (such as The Doon School) that were modelled after B ...
at
Beaumont College Beaumont College was between 1861 and 1967 a public school in Old Windsor in Berkshire. Founded and run by the Society of Jesus, it offered a Roman Catholic public school education in rural surroundings, while lying, like the neighbouring Eton ...
, a
Jesuit , image = Ihs-logo.svg , image_size = 175px , caption = ChristogramOfficial seal of the Jesuits , abbreviation = SJ , nickname = Jesuits , formation = , founders ...
public school Public school may refer to: * State school (known as a public school in many countries), a no-fee school, publicly funded and operated by the government * Public school (United Kingdom), certain elite fee-charging independent schools in England an ...
. Subsequently, he moved to the United States, where he taught at
Georgetown University Georgetown University is a private university, private research university in the Georgetown (Washington, D.C.), Georgetown neighborhood of Washington, D.C. Founded by Bishop John Carroll (archbishop of Baltimore), John Carroll in 1789 as Georg ...
(1937–1938),
Saint Peter's College, New Jersey Saint Peter's University is a private Jesuit university in Jersey City, New Jersey. It was founded as Saint Peter's College in 1872 by the Society of Jesus. The university offers over 60 undergraduate and graduate programs to more than 2,600 ...
(head of the History and Sociology Department, 1938–1943),
Fordham University Fordham University () is a Private university, private Jesuit universities, Jesuit research university in New York City. Established in 1841 and named after the Fordham, Bronx, Fordham neighborhood of the The Bronx, Bronx in which its origina ...
(Japanese, 1942–1943), and
Chestnut Hill College Chestnut Hill College is a private Catholic college in the Chestnut Hill section of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. The college was founded in 1924 as a women's college by the Sisters of St. Joseph. It was originally named Mount Saint Joseph College ...
, Philadelphia (1943–1947). In 1931, while in
Hungary Hungary ( hu, Magyarország ) is a landlocked country in Central Europe. Spanning of the Carpathian Basin, it is bordered by Slovakia to the north, Ukraine to the northeast, Romania to the east and southeast, Serbia to the south, Croatia a ...
, Kuehnelt-Leddihn was said to have had a supernatural experience. While discussing deserted graveyards with a friend, the two men saw
Satan Satan,, ; grc, ὁ σατανᾶς or , ; ar, شيطانالخَنَّاس , also known as Devil in Christianity, the Devil, and sometimes also called Lucifer in Christianity, is an non-physical entity, entity in the Abrahamic religions ...
appear before them. Kuehnelt-Leddihn recounts this experience as so:
"Slowly, in that moment, to both of us, Satan appeared as Satan appears in primitive books. Naked, reddish, horns, long tongue, trident, and we both exploded laughing. In other words, laughing hysterically. As I later found out, in apparitions of the Devil, this is a natural reaction, that you laugh hysterically."
In a 1939 letter to the editor of ''
The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid ...
'', Kuehnelt-Leddihn critiqued the design of every American coin then in circulation except for the
Washington quarter The Washington quarter is the present quarter dollar or 25-cent piece issued by the United States Mint. The coin was first struck in 1932; the original version was designed by sculptor John Flanagan. As the United States prepared to celebrate t ...
, which he allowed was "so far the most satisfactory coin" and judged the
Mercury dime The Mercury dime is a ten-cent coin struck by the United States Mint from late 1916 to 1945. Designed by Adolph Weinman and also referred to as the Winged Liberty Head dime, it gained its common name because the obverse depiction of a young Lib ...
to be "the most deplorable." After publishing books like ''Jesuiten, Spießer und Bolschewiken'' in 1933 (published in German by Pustet, Salzburg) and ''The Menace of the Herd'' in 1943, in which he criticised the National Socialists as well as the Socialists, he remained in the United States, as he could not return to the Austria that had been incorporated into the Third Reich. After the
Second World War World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...
, he resettled in Lans, where he lived until his death. He was an avid traveler: he had visited over seventy-five countries (including the
Soviet Union The Soviet Union,. officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR),. was a transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 to 1991. A flagship communist state, it was nominally a federal union of fifteen national ...
in 1930–1931), as well as all fifty states in the United States and
Puerto Rico Puerto Rico (; abbreviated PR; tnq, Boriken, ''Borinquen''), officially the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico ( es, link=yes, Estado Libre Asociado de Puerto Rico, lit=Free Associated State of Puerto Rico), is a Caribbean island and Unincorporated ...
. Kuehnelt-Leddihn wrote for a variety of publications, including ''
Chronicles Chronicles may refer to: * ''Books of Chronicles'', in the Bible * Chronicle, chronological histories * ''The Chronicles of Narnia'', a novel series by C. S. Lewis * ''Holinshed's Chronicles'', the collected works of Raphael Holinshed * ''The Idhu ...
'', ''
Thought In their most common sense, the terms thought and thinking refer to conscious cognitive processes that can happen independently of sensory stimulation. Their most paradigmatic forms are judging, reasoning, concept formation, problem solving, a ...
'', the ''Rothbard-Rockwell Report'', ''
Catholic World ''The Catholic World'' was a periodical founded by Paulist Father Isaac Thomas Hecker in April 1865. It was published by the Paulist Fathers for over a century. According to Paulist Press, Hecker "wanted to create an intellectual journal for a g ...
'', and the Norwegian business magazine ''Farmand''. He also worked with the
Acton Institute The Acton Institute for the Study of Religion and Liberty is an American research and educational institution, or think tank, in Grand Rapids, Michigan, (with an office in Rome) whose stated mission is "to promote a free and virtuous society ch ...
, which declared him after his death "a great friend and supporter." He was an adjunct scholar of the
Ludwig von Mises Institute Ludwig von Mises Institute for Austrian Economics, or Mises Institute, is a libertarian nonprofit think tank headquartered in Auburn, Alabama, United States. It is named after the Austrian School economist Ludwig von Mises (1881–1973). It wa ...
. For much of his life, Kuehnelt was also a painter; he illustrated some of his own books. Kuehnelt held friendships with many of the major conservative intellectuals and figures of the 20th century, including
William F. Buckley Jr. William Frank Buckley Jr. (born William Francis Buckley; November 24, 1925 – February 27, 2008) was an American public intellectual, conservative author and political commentator. In 1955, he founded ''National Review'', the magazine that stim ...
,
Russell Kirk Russell Amos Kirk (October 19, 1918 – April 29, 1994) was an American political theorist, moralist, historian, social critic, and literary critic, known for his influence on 20th-century American conservatism. His 1953 book ''The Conservative ...
,
Crown Prince A crown prince or hereditary prince is the heir apparent to the throne in a royal or imperial monarchy. The female form of the title is crown princess, which may refer either to an heiress apparent or, especially in earlier times, to the wif ...
Otto von Habsburg Otto von Habsburg (german: Franz Joseph Otto Robert Maria Anton Karl Max Heinrich Sixtus Xaver Felix Renatus Ludwig Gaetan Pius Ignatius, hu, Ferenc József Ottó Róbert Mária Antal Károly Max Heinrich Sixtus Xaver Felix Renatus Lajos Gaetan ...
,
Friedrich A. Hayek Friedrich August von Hayek ( , ; 8 May 189923 March 1992), often referred to by his initials F. A. Hayek, was an Austrian–British economist, legal theorist and philosopher who is best known for his defense of classical liberalism. Hayek ...
,
Mel Bradford Melvin E. Bradford (May 8, 1934 – March 3, 1993) was an American conservative political commentator and professor of literature at the University of Dallas. Bradford is seen as a leading figure of the paleoconservative wing of the conservativ ...
,
Ludwig von Mises Ludwig Heinrich Edler von Mises (; 29 September 1881 – 10 October 1973) was an Austrian School economist, historian, logician, and Sociology, sociologist. Mises wrote and lectured extensively on the societal contributions of classical liberali ...
,
Wilhelm Röpke Wilhelm Röpke (October 10, 1899 – February 12, 1966) was a German economist and social critic, best known as one of the spiritual fathers of the social market economy. A Professor of Economics, first in Jena, then in Graz, Marburg, Istan ...
,
Ernst Jünger Ernst Jünger (; 29 March 1895 – 17 February 1998) was a German author, highly decorated soldier, philosopher, and entomologist who became publicly known for his World War I memoir '' Storm of Steel''. The son of a successful businessman and ...
, and Joseph Ratzinger (who later became Pope Benedict XVI). According to Buckley, Kuehnelt-Leddihn was "the world's most fascinating man." Kuehnelt-Leddihn was married to Countess Christiane
Gräfin (feminine: ) is a historical title of the German nobility, usually translated as "count". Considered to be intermediate among noble ranks, the title is often treated as equivalent to the British title of "earl" (whose female version is "coun ...
von Goess, with whom he had three children. At the time of his death in 1999, he was survived by all four of them, as well as seven grandchildren.


Work

His socio-political writings dealt with the origins and the philosophical and cultural currents that formed
Nazism Nazism ( ; german: Nazismus), the common name in English for National Socialism (german: Nationalsozialismus, ), is the far-right totalitarian political ideology and practices associated with Adolf Hitler and the Nazi Party (NSDAP) in Na ...
. He endeavored to explain the intricacies of
monarchist Monarchism is the advocacy of the system of monarchy or monarchical rule. A monarchist is an individual who supports this form of government independently of any specific monarch, whereas one who supports a particular monarch is a royalist. ...
concepts and the systems of Europe, cultural movements such as
Hussitism The Hussites ( cs, Husité or ''Kališníci''; "Chalice People") were a Czech proto-Protestant Christian movement that followed the teachings of reformer Jan Hus, who became the best known representative of the Bohemian Reformation. The Hussit ...
and
Protestantism Protestantism is a branch of Christianity that follows the theological tenets of the Protestant Reformation, a movement that began seeking to reform the Catholic Church from within in the 16th century against what its followers perceived to b ...
, and the disastrous effects of an American policy derived from antimonarchical feelings and ignorance of European culture and history. Kuehnelt-Leddihn directed some of his most significant critiques towards
Wilsonian Wilsonianism, or Wilsonian idealism, is a certain type of foreign policy advice. The term comes from the ideas and proposals of President Woodrow Wilson. He issued his famous Fourteen Points in January 1918 as a basis for ending World War I and pr ...
foreign policy activism. Traces of Wilsonianism could be detected in the foreign policies of
Franklin Roosevelt Franklin Delano Roosevelt (; ; January 30, 1882April 12, 1945), often referred to by his initials FDR, was an American politician and attorney who served as the 32nd president of the United States from 1933 until his death in 1945. As the ...
; specifically, the assumption that
democracy Democracy (From grc, δημοκρατία, dēmokratía, ''dēmos'' 'people' and ''kratos'' 'rule') is a form of government in which the people have the authority to deliberate and decide legislation (" direct democracy"), or to choose gov ...
is the ideal political system in any context. Kuehnelt-Leddihn believed that Americans misunderstood much of Central European culture such as the
Austro-Hungarian Empire Austria-Hungary, often referred to as the Austro-Hungarian Empire,, the Dual Monarchy, or Austria, was a constitutional monarchy and great power in Central Europe between 1867 and 1918. It was formed with the Austro-Hungarian Compromise of ...
, which Kuehnelt-Leddihn claimed as one of the contributing factors to the rise of Nazism. He also highlighted characteristics of the German society and culture (especially the influences of both Protestant and
Catholic The Catholic Church, also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the largest Christian church, with 1.3 billion baptized Catholics worldwide . It is among the world's oldest and largest international institutions, and has played a ...
mentalities) and attempted to explain the sociological undercurrents of Nazism. Thus, he concludes that sound Catholicism, sound Protestantism, or even, probably, sound
popular sovereignty Popular sovereignty is the principle that the authority of a state and its government are created and sustained by the consent of its people, who are the source of all political power. Popular sovereignty, being a principle, does not imply any ...
(German-Austrian unification in 1919) all three would have prevented National Socialism although Kuehnelt-Leddihn rather dislikes the latter two. Contrary to the prevailing view that the
Nazi Party The Nazi Party, officially the National Socialist German Workers' Party (german: Nationalsozialistische Deutsche Arbeiterpartei or NSDAP), was a far-right politics, far-right political party in Germany active between 1920 and 1945 that crea ...
was a radical right-wing movement with only superficial and minimal leftist elements, Kuehnelt-Leddihn asserted that Nazism (National Socialism) was a strongly
leftist Left-wing politics describes the range of political ideologies that support and seek to achieve social equality and egalitarianism, often in opposition to social hierarchy. Left-wing politics typically involve a concern for those in soci ...
, democratic movement ultimately rooted in the
French Revolution The French Revolution ( ) was a period of radical political and societal change in France that began with the Estates General of 1789 and ended with the formation of the French Consulate in November 1799. Many of its ideas are considere ...
that unleashed forces of
egalitarianism Egalitarianism (), or equalitarianism, is a school of thought within political philosophy that builds from the concept of social equality, prioritizing it for all people. Egalitarian doctrines are generally characterized by the idea that all hu ...
,
conformity Conformity is the act of matching attitudes, beliefs, and behaviors to group norms, politics or being like-minded. Norms are implicit, specific rules, shared by a group of individuals, that guide their interactions with others. People often choo ...
,
materialism Materialism is a form of philosophical monism which holds matter to be the fundamental substance in nature, and all things, including mental states and consciousness, are results of material interactions. According to philosophical materiali ...
and
centralization Centralisation or centralization (see spelling differences) is the process by which the activities of an organisation, particularly those regarding planning and decision-making, framing strategy and policies become concentrated within a particu ...
. He argued that Nazism,
fascism Fascism is a far-right, authoritarian, ultra-nationalist political ideology and movement,: "extreme militaristic nationalism, contempt for electoral democracy and political and cultural liberalism, a belief in natural social hierarchy an ...
, radical-liberalism,
anarchism Anarchism is a political philosophy and movement that is skeptical of all justifications for authority and seeks to abolish the institutions it claims maintain unnecessary coercion and hierarchy, typically including, though not necessa ...
,
communism Communism (from Latin la, communis, lit=common, universal, label=none) is a far-left sociopolitical, philosophical, and economic ideology and current within the socialist movement whose goal is the establishment of a communist society, a s ...
and
socialism Socialism is a left-wing economic philosophy and movement encompassing a range of economic systems characterized by the dominance of social ownership of the means of production as opposed to private ownership. As a term, it describes the e ...
were essentially democratic movements, based upon inciting the masses to revolution and intent upon destroying the old forms of society. Furthermore, Kuehnelt-Leddihn claimed that all democracy is basically
totalitarian Totalitarianism is a form of government and a political system that prohibits all opposition parties, outlaws individual and group opposition to the state and its claims, and exercises an extremely high if not complete degree of control and regul ...
and that all democracies eventually degenerate into
dictatorship A dictatorship is a form of government which is characterized by a leader, or a group of leaders, which holds governmental powers with few to no limitations on them. The leader of a dictatorship is called a dictator. Politics in a dictatorship are ...
s. He said that it was not the case for "republics" (the word, for Kuehnelt-Leddihn, has the meaning of what Aristotle calls πολιτεία), such as Switzerland, or the United States, as it was originally intended in its constitution. However, he considered the United States to have been to a certain extent subject to a silent democratic revolution in the late 1820s. In ''Liberty or Equality'', his masterpiece, Kuehnelt-Leddihn contrasted monarchy with democracy and presented his arguments for the superiority of monarchy: diversity is upheld better in monarchical countries than in democracies. Monarchism is not based on party rule and "fits organically into the ecclesiastic and familistic pattern of Christian society." After insisting that the demand for liberty is about ''how'' to govern and by no means ''by whom'' to govern a given country, he draws arguments for his view that monarchical government is genuinely more liberal in this sense, but democracy naturally advocates for equality, even by enforcement, and thus becomes anti-liberal. As modern life becomes increasingly complicated across many different sociopolitical levels, Kuehnelt-Leddihn submits that the ''Scita'' (the political, economic, technological, scientific, military, geographical, psychological knowledge of the masses and of their representatives) and the ''Scienda'' (the knowledge in these matters that is necessary to reach logical-rational-moral conclusions) are separated by an incessantly and cruelly widening gap and that democratic governments are totally inadequate for such undertakings. In February 1969, Kuehnelt-Leddihn wrote an article arguing against seeking a peace deal to end the
Vietnam War The Vietnam War (also known by #Names, other names) was a conflict in Vietnam, Laos, and Cambodia from 1 November 1955 to the fall of Saigon on 30 April 1975. It was the second of the Indochina Wars and was officially fought between North Vie ...
. Instead, he argued that the two options proposed, a reunification scheme and the creation of a coalition Vietnamese government, were unacceptable concessions to the Marxist
North Vietnam North Vietnam, officially the Democratic Republic of Vietnam (DRV; vi, Việt Nam Dân chủ Cộng hòa), was a socialist state supported by the Soviet Union (USSR) and the People's Republic of China (PRC) in Southeast Asia that existed f ...
. Kuehnelt-Leddihn urged the US to continue the war until the Marxists were defeated. Kuehnelt-Leddihn also denounced the US Bishops' 1983 pastoral '' The Challenge of Peace''. He wrote that "The Bishops' letter breathes idealism... moral imperialism, the attempt to inject theology into politics, ought to be avoided except in extreme cases, of which abolition and slavery are examples."


Writings


Novels

* ''The Gates of Hell: An Historical Novel of the Present Day''. London: Sheed & Ward, 1933. * ''Night Over the East''. London: Sheed & Ward, 1936. * ''Moscow 1979''. London: Sheed & Ward, 1940 (with Christiane von Kuehnelt-Leddihn).
''Black Banners''
Aldington, Kent: Forty-Five Press & Hand and Flower Press, 1952.


Socio-political works


''The Menace of the Herd''
Milwaukee: The Bruce Publishing Co., 1943 (under the pseudonym of "Francis S. Campell" to protect relatives in wartime Austria).
''Liberty or Equality''
Front Royal, Virginia: Christendom Press, 1952; 1993. * ''The Timeless Christian''. Chicago: Franciscan Herald Press, 1969.
''Leftism, From de Sade and Marx to Hitler and Marcuse''
New Rochelle, New York: Arlington House Publishers, 1974. * ''The Intelligent American's Guide to Europe''. New Rochelle, N.Y.: Arlington House Publishers, 1979. * ''Leftism Revisited, From de Sade and Marx to Hitler and Pol Pot''. Washington, D.C.: Regnery Gateway, 1990.


Collaborations

* "Erik von Kuehnelt-Leddihn." In: F.J. Sheed (Ed.), ''Born Catholics''. New York: Sheed & Ward, 1954, pp. 220–238. * "Pollyanna Catholicism." In: Dan Herr & Clem Lane (Ed.), ''Realities''. Milwaukee: The Bruce Publishing Company, 1958, pp. 1–12. * "The Age of the Guillotine." In: Stephen Tonsor (Ed.), ''Reflections on the French Revolution: A Hillsdale Symposium''. Washington, D.C.: Regnery Gateway, 1990.


Articles

* “Credo of a Reactionary,” ''The American Mercury'' 57, July 1943. * “An Anti-Nazi Allegory,” ''The American Mercury'' 59, July 1944. * “Recuperating Spain,” ''Modern Age'' 1 (1), March 1957. * “Revolution, Crime, and Sin in the Catholic World,” ''Modern Age'' 2 (2), June 1958. * “The Artist and the Intellectual in Anglo-Saxonry and on the Continent,” ''Modern Age'' 3 (4), December 1959. * "The Thorny Problem of the Vernacular" ''The Catholic World'', December 1962. * "The Roots of Leftism in Christendom," ''The Freeman'' 18 (2), February 1968. * "Latin America in Perspective," ''The Freeman'' 18 (4), April 1968. * "The Woes of the Underdeveloped Nations," ''The Freeman'' 21 (1), January 1971. * "The Western Dilemma: Calvin or Rousseau?," ''Modern Age'' 15 (1), March 1971. * "We and the Third World," ''The Freeman'' 22 (2), February 1972. * "The Years of Godlessness," ''Modern Age'' 16 (1), March 1972. * "Free Enterprise and the Russians," ''The Freeman'' 22 (8), August 1972. * "The Roots of ‘Anticapitalism’," ''The Freeman'' 22 (11), November 1972. * "Portrait of an Evil Man," ''The Freeman'' 23 (9), September 1973.
"Scita Et Scienda: The Dwarfing of Modern Man,"
''Imprimis'', October 1974. * "The Unholy Ikons," ''Modern Age'' 20 (1), March 1976. * "Utopias and Ideologies: Another Chapter in the Conservative Demonology," ''Modern Age'' 21 (3), September 1977. * "Controversy," ''Policy Review'' 15, January 1981.
"The Problems of a Successful American Foreign Policy,"
''Imprimis'' 14 (11), November 1985. * "Democracy’s Road to Tyranny," ''The Freeman'' 38 (5), May 1988.

''Fidelity Magazine'', October 1989.
“The Four Liberalisms,”
''Religion & Liberty'' 2 (4), July/August 1992.
“Economics in the Catholic World,”
''Religion & Liberty'' 4 (4), July/August 1994.
“Christianity, the Foundation and Conservator of Freedom,”
''Religion & Liberty'' 7 (6), November – December 1997.
“Liberalism in America,”
''The Intercollegiate Review'' 33 (1), Fall 1997. * "Hebrews and Christians," ''The Rothbard-Rockwell Report'' 9 (4), April 1998. * "Monarchy and War," ''The Journal of Libertarian Studies'' 15 (1), December 2000.
“The Cultural Background of Ludwig von Mises,”
''Studies in Classical Liberalism'', n.d.


Sayings

* "'Welfare State' is a misnomer, for ''every'' state must care for the common good." * "For the average person, all problems date to
World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...
; for the more informed, to
World War I World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...
; for the genuine historian, to the
French Revolution The French Revolution ( ) was a period of radical political and societal change in France that began with the Estates General of 1789 and ended with the formation of the French Consulate in November 1799. Many of its ideas are considere ...
." * "Liberty and equality are in essence contradictory." * "There is little doubt that the American Congress or the French Chambers have a power over their nations which would rouse the envy of a
Louis XIV , house = Bourbon , father = Louis XIII , mother = Anne of Austria , birth_date = , birth_place = Château de Saint-Germain-en-Laye, Saint-Germain-en-Laye, France , death_date = , death_place = Palace of Vers ...
or a
George III George III (George William Frederick; 4 June 173829 January 1820) was King of Great Britain and of Ireland from 25 October 1760 until the union of the two kingdoms on 1 January 1801, after which he was King of the United Kingdom of Great Br ...
, were they alive today. Not only
prohibition Prohibition is the act or practice of forbidding something by law; more particularly the term refers to the banning of the manufacture, storage (whether in barrels or in bottles), transportation, sale, possession, and consumption of alcoholic ...
, but also the income tax declaration,
selective service The Selective Service System (SSS) is an independent agency of the United States government that maintains information on U.S. citizens and other U.S. residents potentially subject to military conscription (i.e., the draft) and carries out contin ...
, obligatory schooling, the fingerprinting of blameless citizens, premarital blood tests—none of these totalitarian measures would even the royal absolutism of the seventeenth century have dared to introduce." * "I am for the word ''Rightist''. Right is right and left is wrong, you see, and in all languages 'right' has a positive meaning and 'left' a negative one. In Italian, typically, ''la sinistra'' is 'the left' and ''il sinistro'' is 'the mishap' or 'the calamity.' Japanese describes evil as ''hidar-imae'', 'the thing in front of the left.' And in the Bible, it says in
Ecclesiastes Ecclesiastes (; hbo, קֹהֶלֶת, Qōheleṯ, grc, Ἐκκλησιαστής, Ekklēsiastēs) is one of the Ketuvim ("Writings") of the Hebrew Bible and part of the Wisdom literature of the Christian Old Testament. The title commonly use ...
, which the Hebrews call ''Koheleth'', that “the heart of the wise man beats on his right side and the heart of the fool on his left.'


See also

*
Hermann Rauschning Hermann Adolf Reinhold Rauschning (7 August 1887 – February 8, 1982) was a German politician and author, adherent of the Conservative Revolution movement who briefly joined the Nazi movement before breaking with it. He was the President of the ...
*
Family as a model for the state The family as a model for the organization of the state is a theory of political philosophy. It explains the structure of certain kinds of state in terms of the structure of the family (as a model or as a claim about the historical growth of the st ...
*
Monarchism Monarchism is the advocacy of the system of monarchy or monarchical rule. A monarchist is an individual who supports this form of government independently of any specific monarch, whereas one who supports a particular monarch is a royalist. ...


Notes and references


Further reading

* Nash, George H. (2006). ''The Conservative Intellectual Movement in America since 1945''. ISI Books * Frohnen, Bruce; Jeremy Beer & Jeffrey O. Nelson (2006). ''American Conservatism: An Encyclopedia''. ISI Books * Bernhard Valentinitsch,Max-Erwin von Scheubner-Richter(1885-1923) - Zeuge des Genozids an den Armeniern und früher,enger Mitarbeiter Hitlers.Diplomarbeit.Graz 2012. (also digitalised at Harvard University Library,with many reflexions about books by Kuehnelt-Leddihn and similar ways of thinking in the work of his friend John Lukacs) * Bernhard Valentinitsch, Graham Greenes Roman 'The Human Factor'(1978) und Otto Premingers gleichnamige Verfilmung (1979).In: JIPSS(=Journal for Intelligence,Propaganda and Security Studies),Nr.14.(the first publication in which letters between Erik von Kuehnelt-Leddihn and Graham Greene were used and quite possibly also the first publication in which the unpublished memoirs by Kuehnelt-Leddihn were with allowance of his family used)


External links


Intellectual Conservative's Review of ''Leftism Revisited''




by his grandson.

* ttp://orawww.uibk.ac.at/apex/uprod/f?p=20090202:2:1241491285675680::NO::P2_ID,P2_TYP_ID:389 Info page at ''Lexikon Literatur'' {{DEFAULTSORT:Kuehnelt-Leddihn, Erik von 1909 births 1999 deaths 20th-century Austrian philosophers Austrian anti-communists Austrian monarchists Austrian classical liberals Austrian conservative liberals Austrian libertarians Catholic philosophers Conservative liberalism Conservatism in Austria Historians of fascism Historians of Nazism National Review people Austrian knights Austrian Roman Catholics Georgetown University faculty Fordham University faculty Saint Peter's University faculty University of Vienna alumni People from Graz-Umgebung District Austrian literary critics 20th-century Austrian historians Emigrants from Austria after the Anschluss Anti-Masonry Member of the Mont Pelerin Society