Nick Land

Making it with Death

If Deleuze is to be salvaged from the inane liberal neo-Kantianism that counts as Philosophy in France today it is necessary to reassemble and deepen his genealogy. The PseudoNietzscheanism of the late !"#$s reaction against %egel is scarcely a conte&t commensurate 'ith a thin(er of ma)or importance. and the same could be said of his )ousting 'ith structuralized psychoanalysis. Deleuze$s po'er stems from the fact that he succeeds in detaching himself from Parisian temporality much more successfully than most of his contemporaries. including even *uattari. The time of Deleuze+s te&t is a colder. more reptilian. more *erman time. or at least. a time of the anti-*erman *ermans of ,chopenhauer and Nietzsche in particular- for 'hom millennia 'ere to be scanned 'ith scorn. .ost of all it is a /ucretian or ,pinozist time- a time of indifferent nature0 engineering bizarre couplings across the centuries. I .odernity is $$essentially$$ reeonstructive. a characteristic captured both in the merely abstract continuity of its productive organization 1 capital is al'ays neo-capital 1 and in the transcendental dynamic of its predominant 2Kantian3 philosophical mode. 4riti5ue belongs to capital because it is the first inherently progressive theoretical procedure to emerge upon the earth0 avoiding both the formal conservatism of inductive natural science and the material conservatism of dogmatic metaphysics. In the case both of the mode of production and the mode of reason 'hat is evident is a self-perpetuating movement of deregulation- 'hose tendency is to'ards an increasingly radical prioritization of the interrogative impulse. 6f course. as Deleuze and *uattari themselves indicate so graphically in their 'or(- this process of immanent liberation is constrained by active reconstitution of archaic control mechanisms0 faiths. state machinery- parochial affinities- neo-tribalisms- an increasing ludicrous farce of authoritymorals- marriages- and mortgages. The tra)ectories of modern philosophy map themselves out in response to this social and theoretical predicament. 6ne stream of thin(ing- flo'ing through ,chopenhauer and Nietzsche into the repressed strata of Freud$s psychoanalysis and metapsychologytraces out the recurrence of the base formative impetus throttled by 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 these tendencies point in the direction of a post-transcendendtal

thin(ing0 in the former case dissolving the polarized differences bet'een the empirical and its conditions into an open hierarchy of intensive strata- in the second collapsing the abstract composition of this polarity into the infinite self-legislation of the concrete concept. 7 third current- perhaps the most topographically intricate of the three- is characterized above al by ,chelling- and is driven by the dynamic of criti5ue to'ards a completion of the transcendental programme9 substituting the immanent continuity of ,pinoza$s cosmology for the uninterrogated piety of logical identity inherited from Kant. Deleuze is the most po'erful e&emplar of this transcendental ,pinozism amongst contemporary thin(ers. Derrida$s deconstruction- 'hilst in the end programmatically similar to a schizo-analysis or genealogical criti5ue of a Deleuzean (ind- is massively 'ea(ened by an influ& of neo-humanist themespassing through %eidegger from Kier(egaard and %usserl. 'hich e&acerbate the 5uasi-theological compromise from 'hich ,chelling himself 'as very far from e&empt. %eidegger. 'hilst subsidizing the more sordidly regionalistic and idealist elements of this inheritance- vigorously continues 'ith the erasure of ,pinoza$s influence. academicizing and de-naturalising the thought of impersonal ground or Indifferenz. :hilst both Deleuze and Derrida criti5ue illegitimate articulation- the former tends to a consummate materialism- in 'hich intensive substance is transcendentally released from its paralyzation in e&tension'hilst the latter prosecutes a ;udaic meditation- mar(ed-out in theo-graphisms- indefinitely radicalizing an anti-iconic relation to the absolute. Deus sive natura is not an identity but an inclusive dis)unction0 ,pinoza the disappearing ;e' or ,pinoza the e&plosive psychotic- deconstruction or schizoanalysis. lf reconstruction is propelled by capital$s ephemeralizing pietiesschizoanalysis is driven by its magpie ruthlessness. 7l'ays recode- the te&t of deconstruction tells us. but each time more subtly. more elusively- developing a little further the la'$s protracted parody of itself. 7l'ays decode- chatters schizoanalysis0 believe nothing. and e&tinguish all nostalgia for belonging. 7s( al'ays 'here capital is most inhumaneunsentimental- and out of control. 7bandon all attachment to the state. It is not %egel$s social managerialism that is most relevantly contrasted 'ith Deleuzean nomadism- %egelianism 'as only ever the blac( humour of modest history. It is rather the non-e&clusive polity of reconstruction or cruder nee-Kantian liberal theories- 'ith their abstractly re-composable humanities- 'hich are the true counterpole to Deleuze$s anti-political economism. In contrast to the obsessional neurosis of ethical thought. 'ith its futile attempt to consolidate a transcendent principle of )ustice out of that sad puppet of contractual labour trading codes (no'n as $$the agent$$schizoanalysis shares in the delicious irresponsibility of everything anarchic- inundating and harshly impersonal.

4apital cannot diso'n schizoanalysis 'ithout de-fanging itself. The madness it 'ould fend-off is the sole resource of its o'n future0 a fringe of de-socialized e&perimentation 'hich corrodes its essence and anticipatively moc(s the entirety of the currently e&isting modes of civility. The real energetic liberty 'hich annihilates the priest$s cage of human freedom is refused at the level of the political secondary-process during the precise period in 'hich the economic primary-process is slipping ever more deeply into its embrace. The deep secret of capital-as-process is its incommensurability 'ith the preservation of bourgeois civilization- 'hich clings to it li(e a d'arf riding a dragon. 7s capital $$evolves$$ the increasingly absurd rationalization of production-for-profit peels a'ay li(e a cheap veneer from the positive-feedbac( detonation of production-for-production. If capital is a social suicide machine. it is because it is compelled to advantage its assassins. 4apital produces the first sociality in 'hich the pouvoir of dominance is perpetually submitted to the hazard of e&perimental puissance. 6nly by an intensification of neurotic attachments does it mas( the eruption of madness in its infrastructure- but 'ith every passing year such attachments become more desperate- cynical- fragile. 7ll of 'hich is to raise the issue of the notorious $$death of capitalism$$- 'hich has been predominantly 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 is that death is not an e&trinsic possibility of capital- but an inherent function. The death of capital is less a prophecy than a machine part. The immanent voluptuousity of every unprecedented deal ta(es off from the end of the bourgeoisie. 4onsider the finance capital usage of cocaine9 both a 5uantitative high traced out as a deviation from zero and a sumptuary e&penditure voiding the historical sense of 'ealth. The co(ed-out futures dealer passing a drun( on a .anhattan street translates the destiny of class difference into an immanent intensity traced on a smooth surface of social disappearance. The bum inhabits the social zero preferred 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 derelict on co(e. 'hich is integral to the cynicism of frontier capital. This is the advance modernity of 8ec(ett- 'here high culture is immanently differentiated from inarticulate. absolving itself from ontological specifier. It is thus that there is a becoming-zombie of the bum )ust as there is a becoming-'ired of the real managers of the social9 the s(agged-out housing estate as base line for the effervescence of the stoc( mar(et floor. It is 5uite inaccurate to suggest that yuppie financiers are oblivious of deprivation- since the limit oblivion of an absolute proletarianization is consumed 'ith each bubble of champagne. There is a familiar humanist response to this becoming zombie at the limit possibility of the modern 'or(er- 'hich is associated

above all 'ith the 'ord alienation. The processes of de-s(illing- or ever accelerated re-s(illing- the substitution of craft by abstract labour- and the increasing intere&changability of human activity 'ith technological processes- all accompanied by the dissolution of identity- loss of attachment- and narcotization of affective lifeare condemned from the basis of a moral criti5ue. 7 rea'a(ening of the political is envisaged- aimed at the restoration of a lost human integrity. .odern e&istence is understood as profoundly deadened by the real submission of humane values to an impersonal productivity- 'hich is itself comprehended as the e&pression of dead or petrified labour e&erting a vampiric po'er over the living. The bloodless zombie proletarian is to be resuscitated by the political therapist- ideologically cured of the unholy love for the undead- and bonded to a ne' eternal life of social reproduction. The death core of capital is thought as the ob)ect of criti5ue. Deleuze is differentiated utterly from a socialist humanism of this (ind since in the schizoanalytic programme death is the impersonal sub)ect of criti5ue- and not an accursed value in the service of a condemnation. 7n intricate passage to'ards the end of AntiOedipus runs9 The body 'ithout organs is the model of death. 7s the authors of horror stories have understood so 'ell. it is not death that serves as the model for catatonia. it is catatonic schizophrenia that gives its model to death- zero intensity. The death model appears 'hen the body 'ithout organs repels the organs and lays them aside9 no mouth- no tongue- no teeth 1 to the point of self-mutilation. to the point of suicide. <et there is no real opposition bet'een the body 'ithout organs and the organs as partial ob)ects9 the only real opposition is to the molar organism that is the common enemy. In the desiring-machine- one sees the same catatonic inspired by the immobile motor that forces him to put aside his organs- to different parts of the machinedifferent and co-e&isting- different in their very coe&istence. %ence it is absurd to spea( of a death desire that 'ould presumably be in 5ualitative opposition to the life desires. Death is not desired- there is only death that desires- by virtue of the body 'ithout organs or the immobile motor- and there is also life that desires- by virtue of the 'or(ing organs. =76e >?!@ It is not therefore that the 'or(er is transformed by a process of privation into a zombie. it is rather that primary production migrates from personality to'ards zero- populating a desert at the end of our 'orld. It is important at this stage to note that ,pinoza changes the sense of desert religion- no longer a religion sprung from the desert. it becomes a desert at the heart of religion. ,pinoza$s substance is a desert *od. *od as impersonal zero- as a death that remains the unconscious sub)ect of production. :ithin ,pinozism *od is dead- but only in the sense of a baseline of zombie becomings- as that 'hich Deleuze calls $$the plane of consistency$$- described in 7 Thousand Plateaus by the 'ords

$$fusionability as infinite zero$$ 2TP AB3. 6ne cannot differentiate on the plane of consistency bet'een bodies 'ithout organs and the body 'ithout organs- bet'een machines and the machine. 8et'een machines there is al'ays a coupling that conditions their real difference- and all couplings are immanent to a macromachine. The machines produce their totality alongside themselves as the undifferentiated or communicated element- a becoming a catatonic *od- erupting li(e a tumour out of presubstantialized matter- by 'hich nature spa'ns death ad)acent to itself. 7lmost inevitably. 'hen it is a matter of the body 'ithout organs it is a matter of ,pinoza. In AntiOedipus 'e are told that9 The body 'ithout organs is the matter that al'ays fills space to given degrees of intensity- and the partial ob)ects are these degrees- these intensive parts that produce the real in space starting from matter as intensity C #. The body 'ithout organs is the immanent substance- in the most ,pinozist sense of the 'ord0 and the partial ob)ects are li(e its ultimate attributes- 'hich belong to it precisely insofar as they ate really distinct and cannot on this account e&clude or oppose one another. 276e >?D3

7nd in A Thousand Plateaus9 7fter all- is not ,pinoza$s Ethics the great boo( of the 8'6E The attributes are types or genuses of 8'6$s- substance- po'erszero intensities as matrices of production. The modes are everything that comes to pass9 'aves and vibrations. migrations. thresholds and gradients- intensities produced in a given type of substance starting from a given matri&. =TP A>@. These remar(s are obviously additional to others in the (ey schizoanalytic 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 is unpersuasive in relation to Nietzsche+s. The name $$body 'ithout organs$$ is itself sufficient clue to 'hat is primarily at sta(e in the thought- that is to say0 the reality of abstraction. The body 'ithout organs is an abstraction 'ithout being an achievement of reason. It is the transcendental desert of primary production- or the reproduction of production as a continuum of ma&imum indifference. It is described in Antioedipus as $$the unproductive- the sterile- the unengendered- the unconsumable$$ 276e B3. 7fter all- 'hat could be burnt to in)ure ,pinoza$s *od or NatureE :hat could be created to e&ult itE Nothing. Fertility and corrosion modulate substance 'ithout

impinging upon it- playing out its icy permutations 'ithout preference. :hatever its empirical configuration there is al'ays production as such once again9 the senseless lu&uriance of the impersonal. Feal abstraction is the transcendental conception of ,pinozistic substance. 7lready 'ith the 'ave of Deleuzean te&ts of the late !"#$s 1 and more particularly 'ith the appearance of Difference and Repetition 1 a consistent philosophical pro)ect is discerniblemost precisely described as transcendental ,pinozism- or a criti5ue of identity. Parallel in a certain sense to ,chelling- but 'ithout any obvious direct influence- Deleuze is delighted by the naturalistic basis of ,pinoza$s thin(ing- but understands it as lac(ing an e&plicit transcendental comprehension of identity. Deleuze$s response is typically generous0 smuggling in the re5uired machine-part and pretending it 'as already there. 4riti5ue operates by mar(ing the difference bet'een ob)ects and their conditions- understanding metaphysics as the importation of procedures 'hich are adapted to ob)ects into a discussion of their constitutive principles. This means that criti5ue is primarily a philosophy of production- e&tracting the genetic or pre-ob)ective from the discourse0 one concerned 'ith constitutive relations- or syntheses. In the elementary identity statement 7 C 7 the 5uestion of transcendental interpretation is left open. Does $7$ represent an ob)ect of some (ind- 'hether possible- ideal- formal. etc.E 6r does it designate identity as such- as a conditioning principleE In the former case the relation of identity 'ould be an e&trinsic one- 'ith an ulterior ground- 'hilst in the latter its relation to a possible ob)ect remains problematic. The critical 5uestion remains unaddressed9 ho' is it possible for something to be the ob)ect of a )udgement of identityE 6r- ho' is the ob)ect produced in its identity 'ith itselfE Identity is traditionally conceived as absolutely abstract essenceor- correlatively- the final principle of intelligibility. 8oth of these formulations correspond to the pure logical sub)ect in advance of predication. ,omething is 'hat it is. Gssence is conceived- at least implicitly- on the basis of Platonic Eidos0 the timeless truth or pure possibility of the thing- the unproduced- the sterile- the unengendered. In this 'ay the traditional conception of essence runs together specificity and identity- and the syllogism operates from its origin according to generic hierarchies of essence or type 'hich culminate in the logical theory of sets. From 7ristotle to Kant reason is thus ad)usted to the thought of the $$same thing$$una'are that a transcendental topic is thus conflated 'ith an empirical one. The body 'ithout organs is the real differentiation bet'een these topics9 the same de-thinging itself. 7n astonishing philosophical rigor begins to emerge from the delireal 'ords of 7rtaud cited early in AntiOedipus 9 The body is the body $ it is all by itself

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. The compromise peace bet'een the body and its organs that founds 6ccidental ontology is threatened by a violent movement of scission. and one that does not come from the sub)ect- but from the body. It is thus that 7rtaud anticipates difference in the Deleuzean sense- 'hich is to say0 radically transcendental identity. The reality of identity is death- 'hich is 'hy the organism cannot coe&ist 'ith 'hat it is. 6n the smooth surface of the body 'ithout organs $$'hat$$ and $$is$$ recoil allergically from each other- opening an inclusive dis)unction at the heart of essence. This dis)unction separates the identity pole of the body 'ithout organs from the unfettered difference of the detenitorialized organs- splitting apart the ob)ectivism 'hich implants an empirical identity into rigidified configurations of difference. Pre-critical ob)ectivism thin(s syntheses on the basis of their conse5uences. 'hich can be described 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 'ithout organs is described as a $$giant molecule$$ 276e >?D3- 'hilst the organism is al'ays a molar construct9 co-opting identity to specificity. Death too bifurcates along this fissure0 on the one hand death as the desert identity of difference- the catatonic cavity of absolute criti5ue at the end of capital- and on the other death as the molar ob)ect of a negatively constituted desire- reinvesting the intensive zero into the social order. In AntiOedipus the relative molecularization of molar death is described in the follo'ing terms9 Freud himself indeed spo(e of the lin( bet'een his $$discovery$$ of the death instinct and :orld :ar I- 'hich remains the model of capitalist 'ar. .ore generally. the death instinct celebrates the 'edding of psychoanalysis and capitalism0 their engagement had been full of hesitation. :hat 'e have to tried to sho' apropos of capitalism is ho' it inherited much from a transcendent deathcarrying agency- the despotic signifier- but also ho' it brought about this agency$s effusion in the full immanence of its o'n system9 the full body- having become that of capital-moneysuppresses the distinction bet'een production and antiproduction9 every'here it mi&es antiproduction 'ith the productive forces in the immanent reproduction of its o'n al'ays 'idened limits 2the a&iomatic3 . The death enterprize is one of the principal and specific forms of the absorption of surplus value in capitalism. It is this itinerary that psychoanalysis rediscovers and retraces 'ith the death instinct . . . =76e >>A@

:hat separates the reinvested antiproduction of capitalist 'ar from the absolute repulsion of the body 'ithout organs is the final li5uidation of death into its function. This is still no more than the issue of consummate criti5ue- since capital is the historically concrete illegitimate usage of the con)unctive synthesis. This means that the production of e5uivalence is crushed under the pre-critical or segregated identity of capital. It is thus by occupying the space of a transcendent condition for production that capital persists- perpetuating the molar order of social production. The limit of capital is the point at 'hich transcendent identity snaps'here the same is nothing but the absolutely abstract reproduction of difference- produced alongside difference- 'ith utter plasticity. It is not that difference- too- must have an identitybut rather that density is the identity of difference. and nothing besides. Difference does not have a transcendent essence- but only an immanent plane of consistency 'ithout ulterior foundation. II The AntiOedipus interpretation of fascism is no doubt crude- but it is also of enormous po'er. The revolutionaryHfascist dis)unction is used to discriminate bet'een the broad tendencies of deterritorialization and deterritorialization0 bet'een the dissolution and reinstitution of social order. Fevolutionary desire allies itself 'ith the molecular death that repels the organism- facilitating uninhibited productive flo's- 'hilst fascist desire invests the molar death that is distributed by the signifier0 rigidly segmenting the production process according to the borders of transcendent identities. This is a priestless and guiltless politics emerging from 'riters stretched bet'een ,pinoza and Feich- and further developed by Klaus The'eleit- 'hose study of National ,ocialism in his t'o volume Male Fantasies is 1 despite its theoretical naivety 1 the fullest flo'ering of schizoanalytic anti-fascism. The identity of revolutionary and anti-fascist politics lies in resisting capital$s molar pro)ection of its death. 7ll the supposedly alien sources of disorder 'hich capital represents as the e&teriority of its end- such as 'or(ing class agitation- feminismdrugs- racial migration- and the disintegration of the family- are as essential 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 refusal mechanisms that separate capital from its o'n madness- luring it into the li5uidation of its o'n fall-bac( positions. and coa&ing it into investing at the deterritorialized fringe that 'ould other'ise fall sub)ect to fascist persecution. ,chizopolitics is the coercion of capital into immanent coe&istence 'ith its undoing. This !D? position becomes fundamentally problematical by !B#- 'ith the appearance of A Thousand Plateaus. 8et'een AntiOedipus and A Thousand Plateaus a massive shift ta(es place in the diagnosis of National ,ocialism. 'hich is dislodged from the general category of fascism. 7nd sub)ected to a more

specific analysis. This mutation is necessitated by an insight 1 in part derived from Iirilio 1 that 'hilst fascism is driven by an imperative to social order under the molar dominion of the stateNational ,ocialism is essentially suicidal0 employing the state as the tool of an over'helming death impulse. This is summarized in a sentence from the end of J.icropolitics and ,egmentarity+ 1 scandalously mistranslated in the Gnglish 1 as a Jwar achine that no lon!er had anythin! "ut war as an o"#ect and 'ould rather annihilate 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 one desires. 7nd not only because it is the plane of consistency or the field of immanence of desire. Gven 'hen it falls into the void of too-sudden dis5ualification- or into the proliferation of a cancerous stratum- it is still desire. Desire stretches that far9 desiring one$s o'n annihilation- or desiring the po'er to annihilate. 2 "A3 The politics of AntiOedipus. allied to the molecular dissolution process flo'ing out of the impersonal energy-core of capital- are threatened by a familiar neuroticization. In the end this is nothing less than the contemporary citadel of 6edipus9 if you don$t obey daddy you$ll become a Nazi. 7ttach yourself to the molar aggregates and you become li(e .ussolini. but attach yourself to the untamed molecular flo's and you become li(e %itler. The historical impact of this oedipal usage of the National ,ocialist episode- and most particularly 1 of course 1 the holocaust- can scarcely be overestimated. .orality has become the complacent 'hisper of a triumphant priest9 you better (eep the lid pressed do'n on desire- because 'hat you really 'ant is genocide. 6nce this is accepted there is no limit to the resurrection of prescriptive neoarchaisms that come creeping bac( as a bul'ar( against the )ac(-booted unconscious0 liberal-humanism- 'atered-do'n paganism- and even the stin(ing relics of ;udaeo-4hristian moralism. 7nything is 'elcome- as long as it hates desire and shores up the cop in everyone$s head. 7ny politics that has to police itself has lost aIl schizoanalytic impetus- and reverted to the sad interest-group based reforming 'hich characterizes the loyal opposition to capital throughout its history. lts detenitorialization is to be treated as suspect- dissent finds itself in the conservative role of regenerating a faculty of moral censure- occupying a space of accusation. In this 'ay the ta'dry pact bet'een the preconscious and the superego that has dominated socialism since its inception 'ould be reinstated at the heart of a 1 no' 'holly spurious 1 schizophrenic neonomadism. It is no e&aggeration to suggest that the theory of a $$blac(-hole effect$$ or $$too-sudden destratification$$ 2TP A#>3 threatens to cripple and domesticate the entire massive achievement of Deleuze and *uattari$s )oint 'or(. Throughout A Thousand Plateaus the 'arnings against precipitate deterritorialization are incessant. 6n three successive

pages from the essay J%o' Do <ou .a(e <ourself 7 8ody :ithout 6rgansE+ one finds three typical e&amples9 <ou don$t reach the 8'6- and its plane of consistency. by 'ildly destratifying. =TP "#@ The 'orst that can happen is if you thro' the strata into demented or suicidal collapse- 'hich brings them bac( do'n on us heavier than ever. =TP " @ 7 body 'ithout organs that shatters all the strata- turns immediately into a body of nothingness- pure self-destruction'hose only outcome is death. =TP "?@ It is not obvious 'here this leaves Freud. Does the death drive culminate in Nazism- 'hich 'ould mean that the libidinal dynamics of the ,econd :orld :ar 'ere commensurate 'ith those of the FirstE This seems improbable for a number of reasons- not least because it 'ould mean that a l developed capitalist militarism has in a certain sense e&ceeded fascism. Perhaps- then- the desire of the Nazis goes beyond the reinvestable thanatos that emerges in psychoanalysis$ pact 'ith capital- to the point that it insidiously simulates the transcendental recession of the body 'ithout organsE It is tempting to thin( that the contortions such a thought demand e&pose an overhastiness in the !D? reading of thanatos- 'hich even in !B# is still being dismissed as $$the ridiculous death instinct$$ 2TP AA3. If by !B# the option is bet'een an adherence to paralyzing post-holocaust neurosis 1 %itler$s last and most devastating secret 'eapon 1 or a rethin(ing of Freudian thanatos- it is perhaps time to challenge 'hat might earlier have seemed a merely comically overblo'n antipathy to Freud. It is 'orth as(ing firstly9 is Freud ever really engaged in AntiOedipusE Is it not rather /acan- 'ho had already transformed the )ungle 'ilderness at the heart of psychoanalysis into a structureless par(ing-lot. before proceeding to analyse *uattari for seven years- 'ho programmes the supposed antiFreudianism of the boo(E 6f course- 6edipus is peculiarly nauseating Iiennese nursery pap- but 'here is 6edipus in $eyond the Pleasure PrincipleE 7 5uestion 'hich could be as(ed of the ma)ority of Freud$s te&ts. It is /acan 'ho insists on 6edipalizing the Fort-Da game- in the general process of 6edipalizing desire to its foundations0 ripping al the energyhydraulics- pathology- and shoc( out of Freud. and substituting lac(- the pathos of identity- and %eideggerian pomposity- 'hilst deepening the role of the phallus- and trivializing desire into the cringing aspiration to be loved. There is a neurotic and coformist stratum in Freud of course- but it floats upon the impersonal flo's of desire that erupt out of traumatized nature. :here are the flo's in /acanE :here 'ould one be less li(ely to find anything that flo's than in the gnarled post-,aussurian fetish of the signifier that dominates his te&tsE Deleuze and *uattari$s estimation of /acan as a schizophrenizing tendency in psychoanalysis is the most absurd contention of their 'or(. 8y !B# it has ceased to be a )o(e.

The death drive is not a desire for death- but rather a hydraulic tendency to the dissipation of intensities. In its primary dynamics it is utterly alien to everything human- not least the three great pettinesses of representation- egoism- and hatred. The death drive is Freud$s beautiful account of ho' creativity occurs 'ithout the least effort- ho' life is propelled into its e&travagances by the blindest and simplest of tendencies- ho' desire is no more problematic than a river$s search for the sea. The hypothesis of self-preservative drives- such as 'e attribute to alI living beings- stands in mar(ed opposition to the idea that the life of the drives as a 'hole serves to bring about death. ,een in this light- the theoretical importance of the drives for selfpreservation- po'er- and prestige diminishes greatly. They are component drives 'hose function is to assure that the organism shall follo' its path to death- and to 'ard off any possible 'ays of returning to inorganic e&istence other than those 'hich are immanent in the organism itself. :e have no longer to rec(on 'ith the organism$s puzzling determination 2so hard to fit into any conte&t3 to maintain its o'n e&istence in the face of every obtacle. :hat 'e are left 'ith is the fact that the organism 'ants to die only in its o'n 'ay. Thus these guardians of life- too- 'ere originally the myrmidons of death. %ence arises the parado&ical situation that the organism struggles most energetically against events 2dangers- in fact3 'hich might help to attain its life$s aim rapidly 1 by a (ind of short-circuit. ,uch behavior is- ho'everprecisely 'hat characterizes purely drive-based as opposed to intelligent efforts- =6. > ?@ :hat if 1 instead of J%o' Do <ou .a(e <ourself 7 8ody :ithout 6rgansE+ 1 one 'ere to as(9 ho' do you ma(e yourself a NaziE For this is far more strenuous than the !B# diagnosis suggests. 3 :herever there is impersonality and chance introduce conspiracy- lucidity. and malice. /oo( for enemies every'hereensuring that they are such that one than simultaneously envy and condemn them. Proliferate ne' sub)ectivities0 racia sub)ectsnational sub)ects- elites- secret societies- destinies. ?3 8urn Freud- and ta(e desire bac( to the Kantian conception of 'ill. :herever there is impulse represent it as choice- decisionthe 'hole theatrical drama of volition. Introduce a gloomy atmosphere of oppressive responsibility by couching all discourses in the imperative form. >3 Fevere the principle of the great individual. Personalize and mythicize historical processes. /ove obedience above all things. and enthuse only for signs0 the name of the leader- the symbol of the movement- and the icons of molar identity. K3 Foster nostalgia for 'hat is ma&imally bovine- infle&ible- and stagnant9 a line of racially pure peasants digging the same patch of earth for eternity. A3 7bove all. resent everything impetuous and irresponsible- insist upon unrelenting vigilance- crush se&uality under its reproductive function- rigidly enforce the domestication of 'omen- distrust art-

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 more radically 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 its annihilating rigor. Nothing could be more politically disastrous than the launching of a moral case against Nazism9 Nazism is morality itself0 heir to Gurope$s respectable history0 that of 'itchburnings- in5uisitions- and pogroms. To 'ant to be in the right is the common substratum of morality and genocidal reaction0 the same desire for repression 1 organized in terms of the disapproving gaze of the father 1 that AntiOedipus analyzes 'ith such po'er. :ho could imagine Nazism 'ithout daddyE 7nd 'ho could imagine daddy being pre-figured in the energetic unconsciousE Death is too simple. too fluid. too disdainful of races and fatherlands to have anything much to do 'ith the Nazis. Fessentiment 'as something they (ne' about. as 'as the aspiration to a mythic sacrifice- a %&tterd' erun! that 'ould inscribe them in the history boo(s- but these things never stretch to dissolution-desire. 7fter all- lose control and you might end up fuc(ing 'ith a ;e'- becoming effeminate- or creating something degenerate li(e a 'or( of art. Does anyone really thin( that Nazism is li(e letting goE The'eleit$s studies of Nazi body posture should 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 its complete indifference to the category of 'or(. :herever there is labour or struggle there is a repression of the ra' creativity 'hich is the atheological sense of matter and 'hich 1 because of its anegoic effortlessness 1 seems identical 'ith dying. :or(- on the other hand. is an idealist principle used as a supplement or compensation for 'hat matter cannot do. 6ne only ever 'or(s against matter- 'hich is 'hy labour is able to replace violence in the %egelian struggle for recognition. :or( is also complicit 'ith phenomenology- 'hich grounds the e&perience of effort- rather than treating this e&perience as one other thing that matter can effortlessly do. Gven in the deepest sic(ness of its illegitimacy everything is effortless to the energetic unconscious- and the 'hole of our history 1 'hich seems so strenuous from the perspective of idealists 1 has pulsed 'ith hydraulic irresponsibility out of a spontaneous and unconscious productivity. There can be no conception of 'or( that does not pro)ect spirit into the originmorally valorizing e&ertion- such that ;ah'eh needed to rest on the seventh day. In contrast matter 1 or ,pinoza$s *od 1 e&pects no gratitude- grounds no obligation- establishes no oppressive precedent. 8eyond the gesticulations of primordial spirit it is positive death that is the model- and revolution is not a duty- but surrender.