making it with death

8/13/2019 Making It With Death

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Nick Land

Making it with Death

If Deleuze is to be salvaged from the inane liberal neo-Kantianismthat counts as Philosophy in France today it is necessary to re-assemble and deepen his genealogy. The Pseudo-Nietzscheanism of the late !"#$s reaction against %egel isscarcely a conte&t commensurate 'ith a thin(er of ma)orimportance. and the same could be said of his )ousting 'ithstructuralized psychoanalysis. Deleuze$s po'er stems from thefact that he succeeds in detaching himself from Parisiantemporality much more successfully than most of his

contemporaries. including even *uattari. The time of Deleuze+ste&t is a colder. more reptilian. more *erman time. or at least. atime of the anti-*erman *ermans of ,chopenhauer andNietzsche in particular for 'hom millennia 'ere to be scanned'ith scorn. ost of all it is a /ucretian or ,pinozist time a time ofindifferent nature0 engineering bizarre couplings across thecenturies.I

odernity is $$essentially$$ reeonstructive. a characteristic capturedboth in the merely abstract continuity of its productiveorganization 1 capital is al'ays neo-capital 1 and in the

transcendental dynamic of its predominant 2Kantian3 philosophicalmode. 4riti5ue belongs to capital because it is the first inherentlyprogressive theoretical procedure to emerge upon the earth0avoiding both the formal conservatism of inductive natural scienceand the material conservatism of dogmatic metaphysics. In thecase both of the mode of production and the mode of reason 'hatis evident is a self-perpetuating movement of deregulation 'hosetendency is to'ards an increasingly radical prioritization of theinterrogative impulse. 6f course. as Deleuze and *uattarithemselves indicate so graphically in their 'or( this process ofimmanent liberation is constrained by active reconstitution ofarchaic control mechanisms0 faiths. state machinery parochialaffinities neo-tribalisms an increasing ludicrous farce of authoritymorals marriages and mortgages.

The tra)ectories of modern philosophy map themselves out inresponse to this social and theoretical predicament. 6ne streamof thin(ing flo'ing through ,chopenhauer and Nietzsche into therepressed strata of Freud$s psychoanalysis and metapsychologytraces out the recurrence of the base formative impetus throttledby 6ccidental theo-politics. 7nother stream associated primarily'ith %egel is guided by the implicit ideal of a speculative

reconstruction of the political in the 'a(e of 4apital. 8oth of thesetendencies point in the direction of a post-transcendendtal


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thin(ing0 in the former case dissolving the polarized differencesbet'een the empirical and its conditions into an open hierarchy ofintensive strata in the second collapsing the abstract compositionof this polarity into the infinite self-legislation of the concreteconcept. 7 third current perhaps the most topographically

intricate of the three is characterized above al by ,chelling andis driven by the dynamic of criti5ue to'ards a completion of the

transcendental programme9 substituting the immanent continuityof ,pinoza$s cosmology for the uninterrogated piety of logicalidentity inherited from Kant.

Deleuze is the most po'erful e&emplar of this transcendental,pinozism amongst contemporary thin(ers. Derrida$sdeconstruction 'hilst in the end programmatically similar to aschizo-analysis or genealogical criti5ue of a Deleuzean (ind ismassively 'ea(ened by an influ& of neo-humanist themespassing through %eidegger from Kier(egaard and %usserl. 'hiche&acerbate the 5uasi-theological compromise from 'hich,chelling himself 'as very far from e&empt. %eidegger. 'hilstsubsidizing the more sordidly regionalistic and idealist elements ofthis inheritance vigorously continues 'ith the erasure of,pinoza$s influence. academicizing and de-naturalising thethought of impersonal ground or Indifferenz. :hilst both Deleuzeand Derrida criti5ue illegitimate articulation the former tends to aconsummate materialism in 'hich intensive substance istranscendentally released from its paralyzation in e&tension'hilst the latter prosecutes a ;udaic meditation mar(ed-out in

theo-graphisms indefinitely radicalizing an anti-iconic relation tothe absolute. Deus sive naturais not an identity but an inclusivedis)unction0 ,pinoza the disappearing ;e' or ,pinoza thee&plosive psychotic deconstruction or schizoanalysis.

lf reconstruction is propelled by capital$s ephemeralizing pietiesschizoanalysis is driven by its magpie ruthlessness. 7l'aysrecode the te&t of deconstruction tells us. but each time moresubtly. more elusively developing a little further the la'$sprotracted parody of itself. 7l'ays decode chattersschizoanalysis0 believe nothing. and e&tinguish all nostalgia forbelonging. 7s( al'ays 'here capital is most inhumane

unsentimental and out of control. 7bandon all attachment to thestate. It is not %egel$s social managerialism that is most relevantlycontrasted 'ith Deleuzean nomadism %egelianism 'as only everthe blac( humour of modest history. It is rather the non-e&clusivepolity of reconstruction or cruder nee-Kantian liberal theories 'iththeir abstractly re-composable humanities 'hich are the truecounterpole to Deleuze$s anti-political economism. In contrast tothe obsessional neurosis of ethical thought. 'ith its futile attemptto consolidate a transcendent principle of )ustice out of that sadpuppet of contractual labour trading codes (no'n as $$the agent$$schizoanalysis shares in the delicious irresponsibility of everything

anarchic inundating and harshly impersonal.


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4apital cannot diso'n schizoanalysis 'ithout de-fanging itself.The madness it 'ould fend-off is the sole resource of its o'nfuture0 a fringe of de-socialized e&perimentation 'hich corrodesits essence and anticipatively moc(s the entirety of the currentlye&isting modes of civility. The real energetic liberty 'hich

annihilates the priest$s cage of human freedom is refused at thelevel of the political secondary-process during the precise periodin 'hich the economic primary-process is slipping ever moredeeply into its embrace. The deep secret of capital-as-process isits incommensurability 'ith the preservation of bourgeoiscivilization 'hich clings to it li(e a d'arf riding a dragon. 7scapital $$evolves$$ the increasingly absurd rationalization ofproduction-for-profit peels a'ay li(e a cheap veneer from thepositive-feedbac( detonation of production-for-production.

If capital is a social suicide machine. it is because it is compelledto advantage its assassins. 4apital produces the first sociality in

'hich the pouvoir of dominance is perpetually submitted to thehazard of e&perimental puissance. 6nly by an intensification ofneurotic attachments does it mas( the eruption of madness in itsinfrastructure but 'ith every passing year such attachmentsbecome more desperate cynical fragile. 7ll of 'hich is to raisethe issue of the notorious $$death of capitalism$$ 'hich has beenpredominantly treated as a matter of either dread or hopescepticism or belief. 4apital one is told 'ill either survive or not.

,uch pro)ective eschatology completely misses the point 'hich isthat death is not an e&trinsic possibility of capital but an inherent

function. The death of capital is less a prophecy than a machinepart. The immanent voluptuousity of every unprecedented dealta(es off from the end of the bourgeoisie. 4onsider the financecapital usage of cocaine9 both a 5uantitative high traced out as adeviation from zero and a sumptuary e&penditure voiding thehistorical sense of 'ealth. The co(ed-out futures dealer passing adrun( on a anhattan street translates the destiny of classdifference into an immanent intensity traced on a smooth surfaceof social disappearance. The bum inhabits the social zeropreferred by capital as the vanishing point of pre-modern legality.from 'hich the co(e rush is repulsed as an anonymous distance

from death. There is a becoming a rich bum becoming a derelicton co(e. 'hich is integral to the cynicism of frontier capital. This isthe advance modernity of 8ec(ett 'here high culture isimmanently differentiated from inarticulate. absolving itself fromontological specifier. It is thus that there is a becoming-zombie ofthe bum )ust as there is a becoming-'ired of the real managers ofthe social9 the s(agged-out housing estate as base line for theeffervescence of the stoc( mar(et floor. It is 5uite inaccurate tosuggest that yuppie financiers are oblivious of deprivation sincethe limit oblivion of an absolute proletarianization is consumed'ith each bubble of champagne.

There is a familiar humanist response to this becoming zombie atthe limit possibility of the modern 'or(er 'hich is associated


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above all 'ith the 'ord alienation. The processes of de-s(illing orever accelerated re-s(illing the substitution of craft by abstractlabour and the increasing intere&changability of human activity'ith technological processes all accompanied by the dissolutionof identity loss of attachment and narcotization of affective life

are condemned from the basis of a moral criti5ue. 7 rea'a(eningof the political is envisaged aimed at the restoration of a losthuman integrity. odern e&istence is understood as profoundlydeadened by the real submission of humane values to animpersonal productivity 'hich is itself comprehended as thee&pression of dead or petrified labour e&erting a vampiric po'erover the living. The bloodless zombie proletarian is to beresuscitated by the political therapist ideologically cured of theunholy love for the undead and bonded to a ne' eternal life ofsocial reproduction. The death core of capital is thought as theob)ect of criti5ue.

Deleuze is differentiated utterly from a socialist humanism of this(ind since in the schizoanalytic programme death is theimpersonal sub)ect of criti5ue and not an accursed value in theservice of a condemnation. 7n intricate passage to'ards the endofAntiOedipusruns9

The body 'ithout organs is the model of death. 7s the authors ofhorror stories have understood so 'ell. it is not death that servesas the model for catatonia. it is catatonic schizophrenia thatgives its model to death zero intensity. The death modelappears 'hen the body 'ithout organs repels the organs and

lays them aside9 no mouth no tongue no teeth 1 to the point ofself-mutilation. to the point of suicide.


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$$fusionability as infinite zero$$ 2TP AB3. 6ne cannot differentiateon the plane of consistency bet'een bodies 'ithout organs andthe body 'ithout organs bet'een machines and the machine.8et'een machines there is al'ays a coupling that conditions theirreal difference and all couplings are immanent to a macro-

machine. The machines produce their totality alongsidethemselves as the undifferentiated or communicated element abecoming a catatonic *od erupting li(e a tumour out of pre-substantialized matter by 'hich nature spa'ns death ad)acent toitself.

7lmost inevitably. 'hen it is a matter of the body 'ithout organs itis a matter of ,pinoza. InAntiOedipus'e are told that9

The body 'ithout organs is the matter that al'ays fills space togiven degrees of intensity and the partial ob)ects are thesedegrees these intensive parts that produce the real in spacestarting from matter as intensity C #. The body 'ithout organs isthe immanent substance in the most ,pinozist sense of the'ord0 and the partial ob)ects are li(e its ultimate attributes 'hichbelong to it precisely insofar as they ate really distinct andcannot on this account e&clude or oppose one another. 276e>?3

7nd inA Thousand Plateaus9

7fter all is not ,pinoza$s Ethicsthe great boo( of the 8'6E The

attributes are types or genuses of 8'6$s substance po'erszero intensities as matrices of production. The modes areeverything that comes to pass9 'aves and vibrations. migrations.thresholds and gradients intensities produced in a given type ofsubstance starting from a given matri&. =TP A>@.

These remar(s are obviously additional to others in the (eyschizoanalytic te&ts as 'ell as to the e&tended discussions of,pinoza in the t'o boo(s Deleuze dedicates to his life and 'or(and to innumerable comments scattered amongst other 'ritings.In Nietzsche and Philosophy for instance Deleuze isolates,pinoza as Nietzsche$s sole modern forebear in a remar( that is

as significant for understanding Deleuze$s thin(ing as it isunpersuasive in relation to Nietzsche+s.

The name $$body 'ithout organs$$ is itself sufficient clue to 'hat isprimarily at sta(e in the thought that is to say0 the reality ofabstraction. The body 'ithout organs is an abstraction 'ithoutbeing an achievement of reason. It is the transcendental desert ofprimary production or the reproduction of production as acontinuum of ma&imum indifference. It is described inAntioedipusas $$the unproductive the sterile the unengendered theunconsumable$$ 276e B3. 7fter all 'hat could be burnt to in)ure

,pinoza$s *od or NatureE :hat could be created to e&ult itENothing. Fertility and corrosion modulate substance 'ithout


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impinging upon it playing out its icy permutations 'ithoutpreference. :hatever its empirical configuration there is al'aysproduction as such once again9 the senseless lu&uriance of theimpersonal.

eal abstraction is the transcendental conception of ,pinozistic

substance. 7lready 'ith the 'ave of Deleuzean te&ts of the late!"#$s 1 and more particularly 'ith the appearance of Differenceand Repetition1 a consistent philosophical pro)ect is discerniblemost precisely described as transcendental ,pinozism or acriti5ue of identity. Parallel in a certain sense to ,chelling but'ithout any obvious direct influence Deleuze is delighted by thenaturalistic basis of ,pinoza$s thin(ing but understands it aslac(ing an e&plicit transcendental comprehension of identity.Deleuze$s response is typically generous0 smuggling in there5uired machine-part and pretending it 'as already there.

4riti5ue operates by mar(ing the difference bet'een ob)ects andtheir conditions understanding metaphysics as the importation ofprocedures 'hich are adapted to ob)ects into a discussion of theirconstitutive principles. This means that criti5ue is primarily aphilosophy of production e&tracting the genetic or pre-ob)ectivefrom the discourse0 one concerned 'ith constitutive relations orsyntheses.

In the elementary identity statement 7 C 7 the 5uestion oftranscendental interpretation is left open. Does $7$ represent anob)ect of some (ind 'hether possible ideal formal. etc.E 6r doesit designate identity as such as a conditioning principleE In the

former case the relation of identity 'ould be an e&trinsic one 'ithan ulterior ground 'hilst in the latter its relation to a possibleob)ect remains problematic. The critical 5uestion remainsunaddressed9 ho' is it possible for something to be the ob)ect ofa )udgement of identityE 6r ho' is the ob)ect produced in itsidentity 'ith itselfE

Identity is traditionally conceived as absolutely abstract essenceor correlatively the final principle of intelligibility. 8oth of theseformulations correspond to the pure logical sub)ect in advance ofpredication. ,omething is 'hat it is. Gssence is conceived atleast implicitly on the basis of Platonic Eidos0 the timeless truth or

pure possibility of the thing the unproduced the sterile theunengendered. In this 'ay the traditional conception of essenceruns together specificity and identity and the syllogism operatesfrom its origin according to generic hierarchies of essence or type'hich culminate in the logical theory of sets. From 7ristotle toKant reason is thus ad)usted to the thought of the $$same thing$$una'are that a transcendental topic is thus conflated 'ith anempirical one. The body 'ithout organs is the real differentiationbet'een these topics9 the same de-thinging itself.

7n astonishing philosophical rigor begins to emerge from thedelireal 'ords of 7rtaud cited early inAntiOedipus 9

The body is the body $

it is all by itself


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and has no need of organs

the body is never an organism

organisms are the enemies of the body 276e !3

%ere 'e find a )udgement of identity of a historically aberrant (ind.The body is the body but only as a repulsion of the organs or the

retraction of the same from any specific organization. Thecompromise peace bet'een the body and its organs that founds6ccidental ontology is threatened by a violent movement ofscission. and one that does not come from the sub)ect but fromthe body. It is thus that 7rtaud anticipates difference in theDeleuzean sense 'hich is to say0 radically transcendentalidentity.

The reality of identity is death 'hich is 'hy the organism cannotcoe&ist 'ith 'hat it is. 6n the smooth surface of the body 'ithoutorgans $$'hat$$ and $$is$$ recoil allergically from each other openingan inclusive dis)unction at the heart of essence. This dis)unctionseparates the identity pole of the body 'ithout organs from theunfettered difference of the detenitorialized organs splitting apartthe ob)ectivism 'hich implants an empirical identity into rigidifiedconfigurations of difference. Pre-critical ob)ectivism thin(ssyntheses on the basis of their conse5uences. 'hich can bedescribed as their transcendent or illegitimate usage. :here Kant'rites of legitimacy and illegitimacy the te&ts of schizoanalysis'rite of the molecular and the molar. Thus the body 'ithoutorgans is described as a $$giant molecule$$ 276e >?3 'hilst theorganism is al'ays a molar construct9 co-opting identity to

specificity.Death too bifurcates along this fissure0 on the one hand death asthe desert identity of difference the catatonic cavity of absolutecriti5ue at the end of capital and on the other death as the molarob)ect of a negatively constituted desire reinvesting the intensivezero into the social order. In AntiOedipus the relativemolecularization of molar death is described in the follo'ingterms9

Freud himself indeed spo(e of the lin( bet'een his $$discovery$$ ofthe death instinct and :orld :ar I 'hich remains the model ofcapitalist 'ar. ore generally. the death instinct celebrates the

'edding of psychoanalysis and capitalism0 their engagement hadbeen full of hesitation. :hat 'e have to tried to sho' apropos ofcapitalism is ho' it inherited much from a transcendent death-carrying agency the despotic signifier but also ho' it broughtabout this agency$s effusion in the full immanence of its o'nsystem9 the full body having become that of capital-moneysuppresses the distinction bet'een production andantiproduction9 every'here it mi&es antiproduction 'ith theproductive forces in the immanent reproduction of its o'n al'ays'idened limits 2the a&iomatic3 . The death enterprize is one of theprincipal and specific forms of the absorption of surplus value incapitalism. It is this itinerary that psychoanalysis rediscovers andretraces 'ith the death instinct . . . =76e >>A@


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:hat separates the reinvested antiproduction of capitalist 'arfrom the absolute repulsion of the body 'ithout organs is the finalli5uidation of death into its function. This is still no more than theissue of consummate criti5ue since capital is the historicallyconcrete illegitimate usage of the con)unctive synthesis. This

means that the production of e5uivalence is crushed under thepre-critical or segregated identity of capital. It is thus by occupyingthe space of a transcendent condition for production that capitalpersists perpetuating the molar order of social production. Thelimit of capital is the point at 'hich transcendent identity snaps'here the same is nothing but the absolutely abstractreproduction of difference produced alongside difference 'ithutter plasticity. It is not that difference too must have an identitybut rather that density is the identity of difference. and nothingbesides. Difference does not have a transcendent essence butonly an immanent plane of consistency 'ithout ulterior foundation.

IITheAntiOedipusinterpretation of fascism is no doubt crude but itis also of enormous po'er. The revolutionaryHfascist dis)unction isused to discriminate bet'een the broad tendencies ofdeterritorialization and deterritorialization0 bet'een the dissolutionand reinstitution of social order. evolutionary desire allies itself'ith the molecular death that repels the organism facilitatinguninhibited productive flo's 'hilst fascist desire invests themolar death that is distributed by the signifier0 rigidly segmentingthe production process according to the borders of transcendentidentities. This is a priestless and guiltless politics emerging from'riters stretched bet'een ,pinoza and eich and furtherdeveloped by Klaus The'eleit 'hose study of National ,ocialismin his t'o volume Male Fantasies is 1 despite its theoreticalnaivety 1 the fullest flo'ering of schizoanalytic anti-fascism.

The identity of revolutionary and anti-fascist politics lies inresisting capital$s molar pro)ection of its death. 7ll the supposedlyalien sources of disorder 'hich capital represents as thee&teriority of its end such as 'or(ing class agitation feminismdrugs racial migration and the disintegration of the family are asessential to its o'n development as the attributes of a substance.

The revolutionary tas( is not to establish a bigger more authenticmore ascetic e&teriority but to unpac( the neurotic refusalmechanisms that separate capital from its o'n madness luring itinto the li5uidation of its o'n fall-bac( positions. and coa&ing itinto investing at the deterritorialized fringe

that 'ould other'ise fall sub)ect to fascist persecution. ,chizo-politics is the coercion of capital into immanent coe&istence 'ithits undoing.

This !? position becomes fundamentally problematical by!B# 'ith the appearance of A Thousand Plateaus. 8et'eenAntiOedipus and A Thousand Plateaus a massive shift ta(es

place in the diagnosis of National ,ocialism. 'hich is dislodgedfrom the general category of fascism. 7nd sub)ected to a more


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specific analysis. This mutation is necessitated by an insight 1 inpart derived from irilio 1 that 'hilst fascism is driven by animperative to social order under the molar dominion of the stateNational ,ocialism is essentially suicidal0 employing the state asthe tool of an over'helming death impulse. This is summarized in

a sentence from the end of Jicropolitics and ,egmentarity+ 1scandalously mistranslated in the Gnglish 1 as a Jwar achinethat no lon!er had anythin! "ut war as an o"#ectand 'ould ratherannihilate its o'n servants than stop the destruction+ =TP ?>@

This is possible because9

The 8'6 is desire9 it is that 'hich one desires and by 'hich onedesires. 7nd not only because it is the plane of consistency orthe field of immanence of desire. Gven 'hen it falls into the voidof too-sudden dis5ualification or into the proliferation of acancerous stratum it is still desire. Desire stretches that far9desiring one$s o'n annihilation or desiring the po'er toannihilate. 2"A3

The politics of AntiOedipus. allied to the molecular dissolutionprocess flo'ing out of the impersonal energy-core of capital arethreatened by a familiar neuroticization. In the end this is nothingless than the contemporary citadel of 6edipus9 if you don$t obeydaddy you$ll become a Nazi. 7ttach yourself to the molaraggregates and you become li(e ussolini. but attach yourself tothe untamed molecular flo's and you become li(e %itler. Thehistorical impact of this oedipal usage of the National ,ocialistepisode and most particularly 1 of course 1 the holocaust can

scarcely be overestimated. orality has become the complacent'hisper of a triumphant priest9 you better (eep the lid presseddo'n on desire because 'hat you really 'ant is genocide. 6ncethis is accepted there is no limit to the resurrection of prescriptiveneoarchaisms that come creeping bac( as a bul'ar( against the)ac(-booted unconscious0 liberal-humanism 'atered-do'npaganism and even the stin(ing relics of ;udaeo-4hristianmoralism. 7nything is 'elcome as long as it hates desire andshores up the cop in everyone$s head.

7ny politics that has to police itself has lost aIl schizoanalyticimpetus and reverted to the sad interest-group based reforming

'hich characterizes the loyal opposition to capital throughout itshistory. lts detenitorialization is to be treated as suspect dissentfinds itself in the conservative role of regenerating a faculty ofmoral censure occupying a space of accusation. In this 'ay theta'dry pact bet'een the preconscious and the superego that hasdominated socialism since its inception 'ould be reinstated at theheart of a 1 no' 'holly spurious 1 schizophrenic neonomadism. Itis no e&aggeration to suggest that the theory of a $$blac(-holeeffect$$ or $$too-sudden destratification$$ 2TP A#>3 threatens tocripple and domesticate the entire massive achievement ofDeleuze and *uattari$s )oint 'or(.

Throughout A Thousand Plateaus the 'arnings againstprecipitate deterritorialization are incessant. 6n three successive


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pages from the essay J%o' Do


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The death drive is not a desire for death but rather a hydraulictendency to the dissipation of intensities. In its primary dynamics itis utterly alien to everything human not least the three greatpettinesses of representation egoism and hatred. The deathdrive is Freud$s beautiful account of ho' creativity occurs 'ithout

the least effort ho' life is propelled into its e&travagances by theblindest and simplest of tendencies ho' desire is no moreproblematic than a river$s search for the sea.

The hypothesis of self-preservative drives such as 'e attribute toalI living beings stands in mar(ed opposition to the idea that thelife of the drives as a 'hole serves to bring about death. ,een inthis light the theoretical importance of the drives for self-preservation po'er and prestige diminishes greatly. They arecomponent drives 'hose function is to assure that the organismshall follo' its path to death and to 'ard off any possible 'ays ofreturning to inorganic e&istence other than those 'hich are

immanent in the organism itself. :e have no longer to rec(on 'iththe organism$s puzzling determination 2so hard to fit into anyconte&t3 to maintain its o'n e&istence in the face of every obtacle.:hat 'e are left 'ith is the fact that the organism 'ants to dieonly in its o'n 'ay. Thus these guardians of life too 'ereoriginally the myrmidons of death. %ence arises the parado&icalsituation that the organism struggles most energetically againstevents 2dangers in fact3 'hich might help to attain its life$s aimrapidly 1 by a (ind of short-circuit. ,uch behavior is ho'everprecisely 'hat characterizes purely drive-based as opposed tointelligent efforts =6 >?@

:hat if 1 instead of J%o' Do 3 evere the principle of the great individual. Personalize andmythicize historical processes. /ove obedience above all things.and enthuse only for signs0 the name of the leader the symbol ofthe movement and the icons of molar identity.

3 Foster nostalgia for 'hat is ma&imally bovine infle&ible andstagnant9 a line of racially pure peasants digging the same patchof earth for eternity.

A3 7bove all. resent everything impetuous and irresponsible insistupon unrelenting vigilance crush se&uality under its reproductivefunction rigidly enforce the domestication of 'omen distrust art


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classicize cities to eliminate the disorder of uncontrolled flo'sand persecute all minorities e&hibiting a nomadic tendency.

Trying not to be a Nazi appro&imates one to Nazism far moreradically than any irresponsible impatience in destratification.Nazism might even be characterized as the pure politics of effort0

the absolute dominion of the collective super-ego in itsannihilating rigor. Nothing could be more politically disastrousthan the launching of a moral case against Nazism9 Nazism ismorality itself0 heir to Gurope$s respectable history0 that of 'itch-burnings in5uisitions and pogroms. To 'ant to be in the right isthe common substratum of morality and genocidal reaction0 thesame desire for repression 1 organized in terms of thedisapproving gaze of the father 1 thatAntiOedipusanalyzes 'ithsuch po'er. :ho could imagine Nazism 'ithout daddyE 7nd 'hocould imagine daddy being pre-figured in the energeticunconsciousE

Death is too simple. too fluid. too disdainful of races andfatherlands to have anything much to do 'ith the Nazis.essentiment 'as something they (ne' about. as 'as theaspiration to a mythic sacrifice a %&tterd'erun! that 'ouldinscribe them in the history boo(s but these things never stretchto dissolution-desire. 7fter all lose control and you might end upfuc(ing 'ith a ;e' becoming effeminate or creating somethingdegenerate li(e a 'or( of art. Does anyone really thin( thatNazism is li(e letting goE The'eleit$s studies of Nazi body postureshould be sufficient to disabuse one of such an absurdity. Nazism

can turn you into a stiff before the messy passage into death.7 consummate libidinal materialism is distinguished by itscomplete indifference to the category of 'or(. :herever there islabour or struggle there is a repression of the ra' creativity 'hichis the atheological sense of matter and 'hich 1 because of itsanegoic effortlessness 1 seems identical 'ith dying. :or( on theother hand. is an idealist principle used as a supplement orcompensation for 'hat matter cannot do. 6ne only ever 'or(sagainst matter 'hich is 'hy labour is able to replace violence inthe %egelian struggle for recognition. :or( is also complicit 'ithphenomenology 'hich grounds the e&perience of effort rather

than treating this e&perience as one other thing that matter caneffortlessly do. Gven in the deepest sic(ness of its illegitimacyeverything is effortless to the energetic unconscious and the'hole of our history 1 'hich seems so strenuous from theperspective of idealists 1 has pulsed 'ith hydraulic irresponsibilityout of a spontaneous and unconscious productivity. There can beno conception of 'or( that does not pro)ect spirit into the originmorally valorizing e&ertion such that ;ah'eh needed to rest onthe seventh day. In contrast matter 1 or ,pinoza$s *od 1 e&pectsno gratitude grounds no obligation establishes no oppressiveprecedent. 8eyond the gesticulations of primordial spirit it is

positive death that is the model and revolution is not a duty butsurrender.

making it with death

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