Gesammelte Werke

entirely disinterested in the arts. I do not think that the greatest danger lies here. There is no direct correlation between material wealth and artistic production and one might easily imagine situations where material wealth and the tremendous machinery of cultural industry may be a threat to artistic spontaneity rather than an enhancement of it. The present stage of technical civilization may call for a very ascetic art developed in the loopholes of poverty and isolation, as counter-balance against the business culture which tends to cover the whole world. Instead of dwelling on the crude economic issues, I want to finish this lecture with an attempt to briefly formulate four of the deeper-going tendencies towards a survival of the Fascist spirit in the arts.
    (1) The propagandistic aspect of all the arts which has been emphasized by the Nazis and which has destroyed almost completely artistic autonomy is not likely to disappear automatically. To be sure, European art after this war will not be allowed to serve the purpose of Fascist propaganda and the freedom of artistic creation will be restored at least formally. What is likely to remain, however, is the prevailing idea that art is essentially a force of manipulation, something that is to be directed this or the other way, that has to follow a set ideological pattern. The very fact that everything, that carries with itself associations of Fascism, however faint they may be, must be eradicated, is a symptom of an almost inescapable danger of artistic control. What threatens to develop in Europe as well as in the rest of the world may be called the end of the artistic subject. The artist is no longer called upon in order to express independently his experiences, visions and ideas, but has come to understand himself as a sort of a functionary who has to fulfill a social and productive duty. It is possible that this very fact destroys the true function of the arts. Certainly, the idea of the artist blindly following his intuition without thinking in technical terms and without conscientious work on his material is a romantic notion. Every true work of art has, what one might call malevolently a manipulative element about itself. But it makes all the difference whether this manipulative element remains a means of realizing the essence of the work, or whether it is put into the service of molding public opinion. As an aftermath of Fascism the latter seems to become more and more emphasized, not only because of external pressure put upon the artist but because the artists themselves nourish the illusion that, by surrendering to the calls made upon them and becoming functionaries or employees, they could escape their isolation and regain contact with broad social tendencies. But art does not fulfill its function in society by acting as a social functionary. Everything will depend on whether there will be loopholes enough left to the artists in order to dodge this evermore threatening danger. It should be added, cautiously, that the consciousness of this danger today seems to increase.
    (2) The aspect of being a functionary and expressing himself according to the wants and necessities of powerful social groups and tendencies is an aspect mainly affecting the artist. There is a no less dangerous tendency with regard to the attitude of the public. The foremost cultural organization of the Nazis bore the title
»Kraft durch Freude«
(»Strength Through Joy«). This barbarian name, which defines the arts, as Dr. Horkheimer says in one of his studies, in terms of massage, is significant of something which probably will be alive long after the Philistines of
Kraft durch Freude
will no longer command any official organization. Music, art and literature tend to become recreational activities, the means to help the tired masses to gain new strength and to get away from the drudgery of their practical existence. Fascism has taken up consciously this trend which automatically came to the fore all over the world long ago. The misery of the European post-war world as well as the vacuum left after the collapse of Nazi ideology is likely to strengthen rather than to weaken this tendency. What I envisage here is that the arts in Europe as far as they have contact with the broad masses, above all moving pictures, radio and popular literature, will indulge in a kind of streamlining in order to please the customer, a sort of pseudo-Americanization with poorer means and less efficiency,