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L. Fessler. Psa. Rev., XXVIII, 1941, pp. 372–383. Fessler's article is an unsatisfactory discussion of nationalism which leads to the conclusion, on psychological grounds, that nationalism and its stress on aggression are bad. It is better to restrain an uncritical aggression with conscience and morality, and thus avoid guilt and anxiety.
He begins by discussing the relative merits of economics and psychology as a way of understanding social events. Psychology is an easy victor in a brief debate. He then takes up the psychology of nationalism which he apparently uses as a synonym for fascism. He deals with the nature of the appeal that nationalism has for people by giving them a feeling of superiority and by permitting them an expression of their aggression. Opposed to nationalism is religion, which is the opposite of nationalism in every way. Nationalism cannot last, because guilt follows aggression, as melancholia follows mania. One cannot negotiate with nationalism. Conscience and morality enable one to cope with uncritical aggression and thus avoid an accumulation of guilt and anxiety.