Totalitarismens lockelser : Tore Zetterholm och kulturradikalismen 1945–50

Sammanfattning: The aim of this study is to analyze the Swedish writer, translator and debater Tore Zetterholms’ (1915 – 2001) views on the origins and growth of the totalitarian movements in Europe. By examining his work, I seek to provide a more complex understanding of the Swedish debate on the causes of fascism, nazism, and communism that took place in the early post-war era (1945 – 1950). While earlier research has focused almost entirely on the more intellectualistic explanations that were prominent in the liberal daily press, only few studies have been conducted on the views held by a more idealistic school of thought that took part in the deliberations, let alone on other arenas of debate. Consequently, the period has been depicted as governed by an almost hegemonic cultural radicalism. Whilst this faction saw totalitarian regimes as an absolute antithesis to the enlightenment heritage, Zetterholm, however, understood them rather as a fulfillment of modernity than as its antipode. His conception of history was founded on the idea of it as an ongoing and degenerative process of rationalization, a process which he meant had alienated man from his intrinsic moral sentiments, his original spirituality, and his fellow human beings. Therefore, the vitalism and collectivism of the totalitarian movements, as well as its religious cult of one infallible leader, spoke to the deepest psychological and spiritual needs of contemporary society. Ultimately, the study culminates in the statement that the alleged hegemony never existed.