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{{Short description|Book by Eric Hoffer}}
{{refimprove|date=April 2020}}▼
{{Other uses|True believer (disambiguation)}}
▲{{refimprove|date=April 2020}}
{{Infobox book
| name = The True Believer
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| country = United States
| language = English
| subjects = [[Extremism]] and [[fanaticism]]<ref name="Teske 2009">{{cite book |last=Teske |first=Nathan |author-link= |year=2009 |origyear=1997 |title=Political Activists in America: The Identity Construction Model of Political Participation |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=7B38I2UEPa0C&pg=PA5 |location=[[University Park, Pennsylvania]] |publisher=[[Pennsylvania State University Press]] |pages=5–7 |isbn=978-0-271-03546-8 |lccn=2008053095}}</ref><br/>[[Social psychology]]<br/>[[Identity (social science)|Personal identity]]
| publisher = [[Harper (publisher)|Harper & Brothers]]
| pub_date = 1951
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| oclc = 422140753
}}
'''''The True Believer: Thoughts On The Nature Of Mass Movements''''' is a non-fiction book authored by [[United States|American]] philosopher [[Eric Hoffer]]. Published in 1951, it depicts a variety of arguments in terms of applied [[world history]] and [[social psychology]] to explain why mass movements arise to challenge to status quo, Hoffer discussing the sense of individual [[Identity (social science)|identity]] and the holding to particular [[Ideal (ethics)|ideals]] that can lead to [[fanaticism]] among both leaders and followers.{{fact|date=April 2020}}▼
▲'''''The True Believer: Thoughts
Hoffer initially attempts to explain the motives of the various types of personalities that give rise to mass movements in the first place and why certain efforts succeed while many others fail. He goes on to articulate a cyclical view of history such that why and how said movements start, progress and end is explored. Whether indented to be [[Culture|cultural]], [[Ideology|ideological]], [[Religion|religious]], or whatever else, Hoffer argues that mass movements are broadly interchangeable even when their stated goals or values differ dramatically. This makes sense, in the author's view, given the frequent similarities between them in terms of the psychological influences on its adherents. Thus, many will often flip from one movement to another, Hoffer asserts, and the often shared motivations for participation entail practical effects. Since, whether radical or reactionary, the movements tend to attract the same sort of people in his view, the author describes them as fundamentally using the same tactics including possessing the rhetorical tools. As examples, he often refers to the purported political enemies of [[communism]] and [[fascism]] as well as the religions of [[Christianity]] and [[Islam]].{{fact|date=April 2020}}▼
▲Hoffer initially attempts to explain the motives of the various types of personalities that give rise to [[mass
The first and best-known of Hoffer's books, ''The True Believer'' has been published in twenty-three editions between 1951 and 2002. He later touched upon similar themes in other works.{{fact|date=April 2020}} Prominent leaders and social commentators who have remarked publicly about their interest in the book include [[President of the United States|American President]] [[Dwight D. Eisenhower]] as well as [[Secretary of State (United States)|American Secretary of State]] and [[First lady of the United State|First Lady]] [[Hillary R. Clinton]].▼
▲The first and best-known of Hoffer's books, ''The True Believer''
Although receiving widespread popular acclaim, the socio-political debate spurred on by the book in terms of academic analysis and commentary has been ongoing. The core thesis of the interchangeability of mass movements and the inherent weakness within them that can cause adherents to slide into dogma and absolutism has attracted significant challenge; multiple scholars have used historical examples of solid group identities that rarely became interchangeable with other communities. Hoffer himself stated that he intended his analysis not to inherently condemn all mass movements in all contexts, particularly citing figures such as [[Jesus of Nazareth]] as those who promoted positive ideals. However, he continued to stress the central argument of his work.{{fact|date=April 2020}}
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Hoffer states that mass movements begin with a widespread "desire for change" from discontented people who place their [[locus of control]] outside their power and who also have no confidence in existing culture or traditions. Feeling their lives are "irredeemably spoiled" and believing there is no hope for advancement or satisfaction as an individual, true believers seek "self-renunciation".<ref>Hoffer, 1951, p. 12</ref> Thus, such people are ripe to participate in a movement that offers the option of subsuming their individual lives in a larger collective. Leaders are vital in the growth of a mass movement, as outlined below, but for the leader to find any success, the seeds of the mass movement must already exist in people's hearts.
While mass movements are usually some blend of nationalist, political and religious ideas, Hoffer argues there are two important commonalities: "All mass movements are competitive" and perceive the supply of converts as [[zero-sum]]; and "all mass movements are interchangeable".<ref
===Part 2. The Potential Converts===
The "New Poor" are the most likely source of converts for mass movements, for they recall their former wealth with resentment and blame others for their current misfortune. Examples include the mass evictions of relatively prosperous tenants during the [[English Civil War]] of the 1600s or the middle- and working-classes in Germany who passionately supported Hitler in the 1930s after suffering years of economic hardship. In contrast, the "abjectly poor" on the verge of starvation make unlikely true believers as their daily struggle for existence takes pre-eminence over any other concern.<ref>Hoffer, 1951, pp. 26–27</ref>
Racial and religious minorities, particularly those only partly assimilated into mainstream culture, are also found in mass movements. Those who live traditionalist lifestyles tend to be content, but the partially assimilated feel alienated from both their
A variety of what Hoffer terms "misfits" are also found in mass movements. Examples include "chronically bored", the physically disabled or perpetually ill, the talentless, and criminals or "sinners". In all cases, Hoffer argues, these people feel as if their individual lives are meaningless and worthless.<ref>Hoffer, 1951, pp. 46–55</ref>
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Mass movements demand a "total surrender of a distinct self".<ref>Hoffer, 1951, p. 117</ref> One identifies the most as “a member of a certain tribe or family," whether religious, political, revolutionary, or nationalist.<ref>Hoffer, 1951, p. 62</ref> Every important part of the true believer's persona and life must ultimately come from their identification with the larger community; even when alone, the true believer must never feel isolated and unwatched. Hoffer identifies this communal sensibility as the reappearance of a "primitive state of being" common among pre-modern cultures.<ref>Hoffer, 1951, p. 63</ref> Mass movements also use play-acting and spectacle designed to make the individual feel overwhelmed and awed by their membership in the tribe, as with the massive ceremonial parades and speeches of the Nazis.
While mass movements idealize the past and glorify the future, the present world is denigrated: "The radical and the reactionary
Mass movements aggressively promote the use of doctrines that elevate faith over reason and serve as "fact-proof screens between the faithful and the realities of the world".<ref>Hoffer, 1951, p. 79</ref> The doctrine of the mass movement must not be questioned under any circumstances. Examples include the [[Japanese holdout]]s, who refused to believe that the [[Second World War]] was over, or the staunch defenders of the [[Soviet Union]], who rejected overwhelming evidence of [[Bolshevik]] atrocities.
To spread and reinforce their doctrine, mass movements use persuasion, coercion, and proselytization. Persuasion is preferable but practical only with those already sympathetic to the mass movement. Moreover, persuasion must be thrilling enough to excite the listener yet vague enough to allow "the frustrated to... hear the echo of their own musings in the impassioned double talk".<ref name="
Successful mass movements need not believe in a god, but they must believe in a devil. Hatred unifies the true believers, and "the ideal devil is a foreigner" attributed with nearly supernatural powers of evil.<ref>Hoffer, 1951, p. 93</ref> For example, Hitler described Jews as foreign interlopers and moreover an ephemeral Jewishness, alleged to taint the German soul, was as vehemently condemned as were flesh-and-blood Jews. The hatred of a true believer is actually a disguised self-loathing, as with the condemnation of capitalism by socialists while Russia under the Bolsheviks saw more intensive [[monopoly|monopolization]] of the economy than any other nation in history. Without a devil to hate, mass movements often falter (for example, [[Chiang Kai-shek]] effectively led millions of Chinese during the Japanese occupation of the 1930s and the 1940s but quickly fell out of favor once the Japanese were defeated).
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Hoffer identifies three main personality types as the leaders of mass movements, "men of words", "fanatics", and "practical men of action". No person falls exclusively into one category, and their predominant quality may shift over time.
Mass movements begin with "men of words" or "fault-finding intellectuals" such as clergy, journalists, academics, and students who condemn the established social order (such as
Eventually, the fanatic takes over leadership of the mass movement from the man of words. While the "creative man of words" finds satisfaction in his literature, philosophy or art, the "noncreative man of words" feels unrecognized or stifled and thus veers into an extremism against the social order. Though the man of words and the fanatic share a discontent with the world, the fanatic is distinguished by his viciousness and urge to destroy. The fanatic feels fulfilled only in a perpetual struggle for power and change. Examples include [[Jean-Paul Marat]], [[Maximilien de Robespierre]], [[Benito Mussolini]], and [[Adolf Hitler]].
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==Reception==
[[President of the United States|U.S. President]] [[Dwight Eisenhower]] read ''The True Believer'' in 1952, gave copies to friends, and recommended it to others. In 1956, ''[[Look (American magazine)|Look]]'' ran an article calling Hoffer "Ike's Favorite Author".<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.eisenhowermemorial.org/presidential-papers/second-term/documents/1051.cfm |work=Eisenhower Presidential Papers |title=Document #1051 Personal To Robert J. Biggs |publisher=Eisenhower Memorial |date=10 February 1959 |quote=see footnote 7 |accessdate=2012-09-15 |url-status=dead |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20111114143910/http://www.eisenhowermemorial.org/presidential-papers/second-term/documents/1051.cfm |archivedate=14 November 2011 }}</ref> British philosopher [[Bertrand Russell]] called the book "as sound intellectually as it is timely politically."<ref>{{Cite web |last=Shachtman |first=Tom |title=The Dockworker Is In – A second life for America's "longshoreman philosopher" |url=http://news.tufts.edu/magazine/fall2011/think-tank/guest.html |access-date=2020-07-14 |website=[[Tufts Magazine]]}}</ref>
''The True Believer'' earned renewed attention after the [[September 11 attacks|terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001]],<ref>{{cite journal |first=Tim |last=Madigan |title=The True Believer Revisited |journal=[[Philosophy Now]] |issue=34 |url=http://www.philosophynow.org/issue34/The_True_Believer_Revisited |accessdate=2011-03-24}}</ref> and this occurred again also after the [[Tea Party
[[Hillary Clinton]] wrote in her 2017 book ''[[What Happened (Hillary Clinton book)|What Happened]]'', a work discussing her loss to [[Donald Trump]] in the [[2016 United States presidential election|2016 presidential race]], cited ''The True Believer'' as a book that she recommended to her staff during the campaign.<ref>{{
==Editions==
* {{cite book |last1=Hoffer |first1=Eric |title=The True Believer: Thoughts on the Nature of Mass Movements |date=1980 |publisher=Time-Life Books |location=Alexandria, Va. |isbn=0809436035}}
* {{cite book |first=Eric |last=Hoffer |title=The True Believer: Thoughts on the Nature of Mass Movements |publisher=Harper Perennial Modern Classics |year=2002 |isbn=978-0-060-50591-2}}
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* [[Political extremism]]
* [[Psychology of self]]
* [[Wilhelm Reich]]
** ''[[The Mass Psychology of Fascism]]''
* [[Revolution]]
** [[Revolutionary wave]]
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==References==
{{Wikiquote
{{Reflist}}
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[[Category:American history books]]
[[Category:American political books]]
[[Category:Books about authoritarianism]]
[[Category:Books about ideologies]]
[[Category:Books about social psychology]]
[[Category:English-language books]]
[[Category:Harper & Brothers books]]
[[Category:Popular psychology books]]
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