Richard Koenigsberg and Edward O. Wilson

The Fuhrer is himself the bearer of the collective will of the people. In his will the will of the people is realized. His will is not the subjective will of a single man, but the collective national will is embodied within him in all its objective, historical greatness.

The people's collective will has its foundation in the political idea which is given to a people. It is present in the people, but the Fuhrer raises it to consciousness and discloses it. (in Murphy 1943)

In other words, the Hitler articulated a fantasy that is present within a people, but not quite conscious. The Fuehrer disclosed this fantasy: raise it into consciousness." Nazism did not arise out of the subjective will of a single man. Rather, Hitler embodied the “collective will of the people.”

The will of a people has its foundation in a political idea which is “given to a people.” This idea already is “present in the people;" but the Fuehrer “raises it to consciousness and discloses it.” In other words, a people’s political idea is latent. The role of the leader is to manifest this latent idea. 

Once a latent idea has become conscious within a people--becoming transformed into an ideology--what follows is development of a will to act upon this idea: to activate the idea. The leader sets a path allowing a people to express its collective will.

I theorize that an ideology reflects a fantasy that has been given shape by a leader and that comes to be shared by members of a society. This shared fantasy constitutes the heart and soul of a given culture. The leader’s role is to “divine” the  unconscious fantasy and give it voice and shape by creating a cultural form that contains the fantasy.

Through his language, the leader invents images and metaphors that contain the fantasy. His role, like that of a psychoanalyst, is to “make conscious the unconscious;” to enable society’s members to become aware of a fantasy that had been hidden or latent.

To have a significant impact, the leader himself must be deeply immersed within his society's fantasies. He processes his own fantasies (the cultural fantasies that exist within him), then develops methods for presenting or “returning” the fantasy to his people. The ideology becomes the container for a people’s shared fantasies.

Why was Hitler able to hold his audiences spellbound? Why did Germans become so excited when he spoke? Because what he said evoked something deep within many of them. People were “turned on” by Hitler’s words; what he said.

We are on the wrong track if we imagine that ideas put forth by political leaders contain, or are intended to contain some form of “truth;” that ideas must correspond to “external reality.” Rather, fantasies create external reality.

Highly successful leaders are deeply plugged into the their society's fantasies. No one was more turned on by Hitler’s ideas than Hitler himself. By virtue of his ability to share his excitement and passion, he was able to evoke a similar experience within his listeners, who thus became "followers."

Ideologies constitute modus operandi for the expression and enactment of shared fantasies. They become central within a society because they allow unconscious fantasies to be expressed and articulated. Ideologies are the containers for shared fantasies that structure and drive the historical process.

Where Freud interpreted individual dreams and dreaming, I interpret collective dreams and dreaming, seeking to ascertain latent thoughts beneath manifest content. This is what I mean by “making conscious the unconscious in social reality.”

The Nazi revolution constituted the enactment of a dream that many people were having at the same time—a shared fantasy powerful enough to give rise to an ideology and social movement. Dreaming this dream most deeply, Hitler was able to articulate the Nazi fantasy. To know why Nazism achieved popularity, we seek to determine precisely what it was that Hitler said--causing Germans to rise to their feet and shout "Heil Hitler."