Theos-Talk Archives (September 2004 Message tt00837)

In a message dated 9/28/04 10:57:17 AM Central Daylight Time, 
john_hopkinsphd_2000@y... writes:

<< 
That clarifies it then, as a Theosophist you say she would have 
only approved of a violent movement. Well that explains her Fascist 
leanings towards Mussolini and Evola who suggested the same. 
>>

That would be somewhat unfair to Mrs. Besant. She opposed Gandhi not because 
of the idea of nonviolence so much as out of fear that it would breed a 
disrespect for law which would lead to a total breakdown of order in society.

Mrs. Besant was, at heart, a Victorian and much into order and you must 
remember that the end of WWI left Europe in a total shambles. The lights went out 
in 1914 and in 1918 everyone was stumbling around in the dark trying not to 
crash into the furniture. Her, and the TS in general's, flirtation with fascism 
was the result of that. And it must be considered that the idea of the World 
Teacher fit in very well with the cult of the leader that is at the heart of 
fascism.

As her former lover, George Bernard Shaw pointed out, she could not think 
consecutively and tended to follow whichever voice shouted loudest in her ear. 
At that time the loudest voice was George Arundale, a villainous character if 
ever there was one, and there is no question of his fascist sympathies. In 
fact, it may stated, without stretching things too much, that the aversion to 
politics that we find in the TS is not only the result of the fact that TS 
members have radically different political opinions, but also as a reaction to the 
behavior of Arundale during the Besant period and during his own inauspicious 
presidency of the Society.

Chuck the Heretic