ABSTRACT
Our discussion of Žižek’s critique of the concept of totalitarianism drew out the different ways in which fascism and Stalinism responded to class struggle and organized enjoyment. Žižek argues that fascism condensed and displaced class struggle onto a naturalized and racialized figure of the Jew. The Nazis attempted to secure capitalism and society from capitalism, to have productivity without upheaval. Shifting our perspective, we saw how National Socialism functioned as the discourse of the Master, grounding knowledge in the Master’s word on one level, while relying on a fundamental fantasy on another. As Žižek makes clear, this fantasy structure accounts for the fascist organization of enjoyment. Fascism provided enjoyment by positing it as stolen by another.
