Julius Evola
Julius Evola was an Italian philosopher and writer born in Rome in 1898, known for his controversial views on race, society, and mysticism. Initially engaged in the European avant-garde as a painter, he later became associated with the Dada and Futurist movements, which linked art to nationalism and fascism. Evola's philosophical outlook included esoteric mystical beliefs and the idea that significant elements of European civilization stemmed from a northern race linked to the mythical Atlantis. Although he never formally joined a political party, his writings during the 1930s and 1940s suggested an alignment with fascist ideologies, particularly with figures like Mussolini.
After being wounded in World War II, which left him paralyzed, Evola continued to write on various esoteric topics. His influence has been noted among far-right groups and individuals in the mid-to-late twentieth century, as he became a prominent figure in what some describe as an esoteric form of Fascism. While his works remain obscure to many, they have persisted in publication and continue to resonate with certain ideological movements today. Despite facing legal challenges in post-war Italy, Evola's legacy endures, marked by a dedicated following and an ongoing debate about his impact on contemporary extremist thought.
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Subject Terms
Julius Evola
Italian right-wing fascist
- Born: May 19, 1898
- Birthplace: Rome, Italy
- Died: June 11, 1974
- Place of death: Rome, Italy
Cause of notoriety: A nobleman who had ties to Benito Mussolini’s Fascist Party, Evola was a prominent far-right thinker and an advocate of Italian Facsism. He became an important influence on modern fascist and neo-Nazi thinking.
Active: 1920’s-1940’s
Locale: Europe, mainly Italy
Early Life
Born in Rome to a family from Sicily, Giulio (Julius) Cesare Andrea Evola (EE-voh-lah) began his intellectual career as a member of the European avant-garde. After serving as an artillery officer during World War I, he became a painter associated with the Dada movement. He then became affiliated with the Futurist movement. Under the leadership of Filippo Tommaso Marinetti, the Italian Futurists connected their progressivism in art to an extreme nationalism that was one of the sources of Italian Fascism. In addition to art, Evola was interested in esoteric mystical philosophy. He developed the view that the most positive elements in European society were descendants of a race of people from the north, who had founded the civilization known as Atlantis.
Philosophy Career
Evola never became an active member of any political party, and his defenders have described him as an apolitical traditionalist with a mystical belief in the value of race and ethnicity. However, he did apparently approve of Italian Fascist leader Mussolini: Evola’s writings during the 1930’s and 1940’s seem to have been intended to move fascists toward reverence for the ethnic group.
In 1937, Evola translated the anti-Semitic Protocols of the Elders of Zion, a forgery that purported to document a Jewish conspiracy for world domination. When Mussolini fell from power and Italy surrendered to the Allies in 1943, Evola moved to Germany and then to Vienna, Austria, where he worked as a researcher for the German state police, the Schutzstaffel (SS). While in Vienna, Evola was seriously wounded while fighting with the Germans against the invading Russians. For the rest of his life, he was paralyzed from the waist down.
After the war, Evola continued to write on esoteric subjects. In 1951, the Italian state brought charges against him of trying to bring back Fascism, a crime under Italian law. He was acquitted, in part because his activities were limited to writing, and he took no part in active political organizing. He continued to have a small but dedicated following, and his followers laid his ashes into a glacier on Mount Rosa, in the Pennine Alps, after his death.
Impact
Julius Evola—along with American philosopher Francis Parker Yockey, Chilean writer Miguel Serrano, and French-born esotericist Savitri Devi—is often cited as one of the chief sources of an esoteric form of Fascism or Nazism. With the rise of neo-Nazism in Europe and North America during the mid-to late twentieth century, Evola’s influence grew among intellectually oriented far-rightists and racial supremacists. He was an influence on the Movimento Sociale Italiano (MSI), an Italian party frequently viewed as the heir to Mussolini’s Fascists. Although many of Eviola’s writings are obscure, they continued to be in print into the twenty-first century, both in English translation and in several other languages.
Bibliography
Drake, Richard H. “Julius Evola and the Ideological Origins of the Radical Right in Contemporary Italy.” In Political Violence and Terror: Motifs and Motivations, edited by Peter H. Merkl. Berkeley: University of California Press, 1986. Chapter 2 discusses late twentieth century right-wing tendencies in Italian politics and describes Evola’s role as intellectual founder of the extreme right in Italy after World War II.
Goodrick-Clarke, Nicholas. Black Sun: Aryan Cults, Esoteric Nazism, and the Politics of Identity. Albany: New York University Press, 2002. Explores the influence of mystical thinking on contemporary neo-Nazism and racist cults. The author considers Evola as one of the sources of fascism.
Griffin, Roger. The Nature of Fascism. New York: St. Martin’s Press, 1991. A comprehensive work that examines movements throughout history and attempts to arrive at a definition of fascism. Griffin examines Evola as one of the major intellectual influences on the extreme New Right in European politics, which Griffin treats as a modern branch of fascism.