Summary

Erik Maria Ritter von Kuehnelt-Leddihn (Tobelbad (Styria), July 31, 1909 - Lans in Tirol (Tyrol), May 26, 1999) was an Austrian Catholic aristocratic philosopher and intellectual who described himself as an "extreme-conservative primal liberal. Kuehnelt-Leddihn is the father of the thesis that majority decision-making in democracies is a threat to individual freedoms (libertates). He was further a self-proclaimed monarchist and an enemy of all forms of totalitarianism. He opposed in writing and word national socialism, fascism, racism, communism, progressive-liberalism and also any variant of unbridled nationalism. Kuehnelt-Leddihn was described by friend and foe alike as a walking encyclopedia; he was a traveler, a polyglot, spoke eight foreign languages besides German fluently and could read seventeen languages. His early publications such as Menace of the Herd and Liberty or Equality were influential in the conservative movement in the United States. He was a columnist for the National Review for 35 years. Called a paleo-conservative by some, others point out that Kuehnelt-Leddihn cannot be placed in one group of thinkers and that the description extreme-conservative primal liberal is effective. He was a man of the world, but not secularized, Kuehnelt-Leddihn remained a devout Catholic Christian throughout his life. Marxist-engaged historians and critics therefore branded Kuehnelt-Leddihn a reactionary.

Kuehnelt-Leddihn was born in Austria-Hungary. He experienced the collapse of the multi-ethnic empire at the age of nine. At the tender age of 16, the gifted and well-educated Erik became an official correspondent in Vienna for The Spectator. From then on, he would remain active as a writer throughout his life. Kuehnelt studied civil and canon law at the University of Vienna after his 18th birthday. After completing his law studies, Kuehnelt left for the University of Budapest, where he graduated as an economist and received his doctorate in political science. After returning to Vienna, he began studying Catholic theology. In 1935, Kuehnelt-Leddihn traveled to England to become a teacher at Beaumont College, a prestigious Jesuit boarding school. He then moved to the United States, where he taught at Georgetown University (1937-1938), at Saint Peter's College in New Jersey (1938-1943), at Fordham University (lecturer in Japanese linguistics, 1942-1943) and at Chestnut Hill College in Philadelphia (1943-1947).

After publishing his book Jesuiten, Spießer und Bolschewiken (Jesuits, Philistines and Bolsheviks) in 1933 (with Pustet in Salzburg), which would be followed by The Menace of the Herd in 1943, he was unable to return to the German Reich and Austria. He had firmly criticized and condemned the Marxists in Austria, but above all had portrayed the National Socialists as barbarians and extremists. The book was initially welcomed by the strongly anti-Nazi and anti-communistVaterländische Front of Engelbert Dollfuß, but was later declared unwelcome, as it also rejected the fascism and populism of then Austrian ally Benito Mussolini.

After the end of World War II in Europe, Von Kuehnelt-Leddihn was able to return to the western occupation zone of Austria. He settled in Lans in Tyrol where he would remain until his death. Kuehnelt remained a renowned traveler: he had visited and studied the hard-to-accessSoviet Union in 1930 and 1931 and witnessed firsthand the horrors of the NKVD and the plan system there. He also visited every state in the US. Even before the beginning of World War II, Kuehnelt recognized that these two powers would one day dominate the world.

Kuehnelt-Leddihn wrote for a whole spectrum of magazines and newspapers, including Chronicles and The Catholic World. He also worked with the Acton Institute in his later years. The A.I. called him a great friend and supporter after his death.

His sociological and political science works dealt mainly with the origins and philosophical and cultural currents that had produced National Socialism. Furthermore, he sought to explain the coherence of monarchist concepts, and dealt with European insurrectionary movements such as Protestantism and the movement around Jan Hus. He also denounced the anti-monarchist bias that he believed determined U.S. foreign policy and had led to disasters in Central European countries after World War I.

He directed some of his criticism against Woodrow Wilson's foreign policy and Wilson's followers, to which he included Franklin Delano Roosevelt. He also considered incorrect the American view that for all countries of the world, regardless of culture and local situation, liberal democracy was the best system. Kuehnelt-Leddihn was convinced that Americans did not understand many features of Central and Eastern European, Asian and African countries. In particular, Kuehnelt-Leddihn considered the dissolution and division of the Austro-Hungarian Empire, with American support, to be one of the greatest causes of the later rise of National Socialism, revanchism and World War II.

Kuehnelt-Leddihn dealt with many peculiarities and characteristics of German society and German-speaking cultural countries in his scholarly tracts and opinion works. He paid particular attention to the difference between Catholic and Protestant-Lutheran parts, but also proved the similarities across the gap of confessions. He also exposed the social attitudes that would later root National Socialism.

Contrary to the later and to this day prevailing opinion of many historians, Kuehnelt-Leddihn considered National Socialism (Nazism) to be a leftist and even democratic movement that had its roots in the French Revolution of 1789-1796 that aimed at egalitarianism, conformism, materialism and centralization. In this sense, Kuehnelt considered Nazism, fascism, radical liberalism and Marxism to be essentially democratic movements based on mobilizing the popular masses for revolution. These ideologies, according to Kuehnelt, were all aimed at destroying the old, organic forms of society. He claimed, following Aristotle, that any democracy is doomed to fall into an autocracy or dictatorship of a particular elite or person. He went so far as to say that democracy is essentially totalitarian. He saw the destruction of the old structures of society that he saw in the aforementioned ideologies realized in the last decades of the 20th century in inner-church revolutions, the social introduction of abortion provocatus and the de facto erosion of marriage and the family.

In his magnum opus Liberty or Equality, Kuehnelt-Leddihn contrasts monarchy with democracy and presents his arguments for the superiority of a partially monarchical system: - diversity is better preserved in monarchical states than in democratic ones - monarchy is not based on the government of a single party - monarchy "fits seamlessly into the ecclesiastical and familial patterns of Christian society. Also, it would be easier to depose a single mad monarch than an entire party caste. Furthermore, a monarch would be bound to his predecessors and on personal conscience be obliged to serve the common good and not the party interest. Furthermore, it would be more preventable that a single monarch is good than the entire party or a majority in a democratic political party. After all, party politics operates on the principle of social Darwinism. However, the strongest is not always the best for the interests of the whole society or the whole people. From this, Kuehnelt-Leddihn concludes that monarchy is in fact more liberal and, above all, offers more guarantees regarding individual freedoms. Especially for family, religion, choice of education, urban community and the right to life. Diversity would also fall less easily prey to partisan politics. Moreover, overturning and influencing social mores and norms by lobby groups within the political elite is not possible. Therefore, the monarchy is not easily manipulated because the monarch already holds power and does not have to constantly reacquire it through populism and lobbyism, for example.

As modern life becomes increasingly complicated and takes place in different and numerous sociopolitical fields and levels, Kuehnelt-Leddihn teaches that the Scita - the political, economic, technological, scientific, military geographical and psychological knowledge of the masses and their people's representatives - and the Scienda - the minimal knowledge in these fields needed to make logical-rational-moral policy conclusions - are separated by a ceaseless and immeasurably growing gap and that democratic governments are inherently inept and incapable of wisely employing and fulfilling these tasks and forms of knowledge.

Against capitalism, Kuehnelt-Leddihn shows himself sometimes fierce, sometimes approving, especially in the area of innovation by global corporations. He sees the free market and especially the right to private property as great goods, but at the same time he desires far-reaching social solidarity and community thinking, especially toward the weak. The influence of corporatism emerges in some features. However, he criticizes the social democratic welfare state as prone to abuse and profiteering. The duty to work for healthy people is paramount, while he does wish the government to spend money on good education.

Sources

1. Erik von Kuehnelt-Leddihn
2. Erik von Kuehnelt-Leddihn
3. William F. Buckley, A walking book of knowledge, in: National Review, p. 104, 31 december 1985.
4. ^ Regarding personal names: Ritter was originally a title, translated approximately as Sir (denoting a Knight). In 1919 all titles of nobility were abolished in Germany and Ritter, together with the noble particles von and zu, became part of the surname.
5. ^ Campbell, William F. (18 September 2008). "Erik Ritter von Kuehnelt-Leddihn: A Remembrance". American Conservative Thought. Archived from the original on 24 September 2015.
6. ^ [a b] Internet Speculative Fiction Database, Erik von Kuehnelt-Leddihn, läst: 9 oktober 2017.[källa från Wikidata]
7. ^ William F., Jr., Buckley (1985-12-31). ”A Walking Book of Knowledge”. National Review: s. 104.
8. ^ ”Erik Ritter von Kuehnelt-Leddihn” (på engelska), Religion & Liberty 9 (5): 3, 1999-09-01, https://acton.org/pub/religion-liberty/volume-9-number-5/erik-ritter-von-kuehnelt-leddihn
9. ^ St. Mary's University (San Antonio, Tex ) (5 December 1958). ”The Rattler (San Antonio, Tex.), Vol. 41, No. 7, Ed. 1 Friday, December 5, 1958”. The Portal to Texas History. https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth842096/m1/2/.
10. ^ Von Kuehnelt-Leddihn, Erik (1969-02-11), ”No Quick Peace In Vietnam”, National Review
11. William F. Buckley, Jr. (31 de diciembre de 1985). «A Walking Book of Knowledge». National Review. p. 104.
12. Erik v. Kuehnelt-Leddihn, Letter to the Editor, Our Coins Criticized: Visitor Finds Artistic Faults in All Except the Quarter, N.Y. Times, Nov. 26, 1939, at 75.
13. «Erik Ritter von Kuehnelt-Leddihn (1909–1999)». Acton Institute. Archivado desde el original el 26 de junio de 2009. Consultado el 16 de abril de 2009.
14. Rockwell, Lew. "Remembering Erik von Kuehnelt-Leddihn." LewRockwell.com Blog, July 31, 2008.