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Race, a History of Modern Ethnic Theories ^ M lii LIBRARY OF WELLESLEY COLLEGE PURCHASED FROM LIBRARY FUNDS __j RACE A History of JS/lodern Ethnic Theories BY LOUIS L. SNYDER, Ph.D. Department of History The College of the City of New Yor\ 1939 LONGMANS, GREEN AND CO. ALLIANCE BOOK CORPORATION NEW YORK—TORONTO JUN 2 4 1940 V^i(, Copyright 1939 By LOUIS L. SNYDER All rights reserved—no part of this book may be reproduced in any form without permission in writing from the publisher. l- s7V Ir PRINTED IN THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA TO MY WIFE, TO WHOM I OWE SO MUCH, THIS BOOK IS AFFECTIONATELY INSCRIBED AS A SLIGHT MEASURE OF APPRECIATION k] 'Man is nothing but a heap of errors. Nothing shows him truth, everything deceives. Pascal. TABLE OF CONTENTS PART i—THE PROBLEM OF RACE PAGE Chapter i. The Meaning of Race ^ Introduction: Racialism as a Factor in Contemporary Civilization i What is Race? 5 Race Classification: Early Attempts Based on Biological Interpretation 7 Somatic Differentiations A. Craniological Measurements and Facial Form 10 B. Skin-colour 12 C. Stature 13 D. Hair 15 E. Eye, Nose and Face 16 The Problem of Racial Purity 19 Racial Superiority 23 Conclusions 29 Chapter 2. Race and History 30 The Racial Interpretation of History 30 Race and Culture 36 Race and Psychology: Heredity versus Environment 40 Race and the Individual 44 Race and Language 45 Race and Nationalism 48 Racial Prejudice and Racial Hatred 49 Ethics of Racial Theorists 54 Conclusions 56 PART 2—THE ARYAN MYTH Chapter 3. Linguistic Paleontology Creates the Elusive Aryan 58 The "Inferior" Races 58 The Role of Linguistic Paleontology 62 Friedrich Max Miiller 67 Completion of the Aryan Myth 71 Chapter 4. The Aryan Controversy 73 The Problem of Origin 73 The Theory of Asiatic Origin 75 The Theory of European Origin 77 The Theory of African Origin 79 The Physical Character of the "Aryan" 80 The Controversy over Aryan Cultural Superiority 82 Conclusions 85 V vi CONTENTS FAQB PART 3—THE NORDIC MYTH Chapter 5. The Aryan Evolves into the Nordic 90 Terminology of Racialism 9° The Influence of Gobineau 93 Development of the Nordic Conflict 95 The Anti-Nordic School 98 Chapter 6. Count Arthur de Gobineau and the Crystalliza- tion OF NORDICISM ^°3 Gobineau 103 Gobineau and Germany 105 Effects in France of Gobineau's Success 106 Gobineau and Chamberlain 108 The Cult of Gobinism 109 Gobineau and Pan-Germanism 112 Gobineau and Race Belief 112 Chapter 7. Gobinism: The "Essay on the Inequality of Hu- man Races" ^^4 Publication of the "Essay" 114 Gobineau's Ethnological Thesis 115 Gobineau: Scientist 122 Inconsistencies and Contradictions 124 Chapter 8. Houston Stewart Chamberlain and Teutonic Nor- DicisM 131 The Emergence of Teutonism 131 Effects of Chamberlain's Teutonism on Germany i34 Chamberlain and Hider i37 Chapter 9. Teutonism: "The Foundations of the Nineteenth Century" 140 Publication and Reception of Chamberlain's "Foundations" 140 "The Foundations of the Nineteenth Century" 143 History as Pseudo-Science 148 The Teuton as Creator and Bearer of Civilization 151 Fallacies of Teutonism 152 Chamberlain, Jews and Judaism 157 Chapter ID. The Development of the Nordic Myth in Germany 162 The Economic Basis of German Racialism 162 The Role of Anthropo-Sociology: G. Vacher de Lapouge and Otto Ammon 164 Richard Wagner and the "German Spirit" 168 Adolf Stoecker and the "National Soul" 169 Adopted Apostles of German Racialism: Heinrich von Treitschke and Friedrich Nietzsche 171 Who Arc the Germans ? 176 Chapter ii. Racialism in the Third Reich: Pan-Nordicism . ... 180 The Racialist Ideology of "Mein Kampf" 180 Racialism in the Twenty-Five Point Program of National Socialism. ... 181 ' CONTENTS vii FAGB Alfred Rosenberg: Philosophical Fiihrer 183 "The Myth of the Twentieth Century" 184 Race and Scholarship: Hans F, K. Giinthcr 188 The Rassenliteratur 1 90 The Campaign for Racial Improvement 192 The Triumph of Racial Doctrine: The Nuremberg Laws 194 The Doctrine of Pan-Nordicism 195 PART 4—RACE MYTHS IN FRANCE Chapter 12. Gallo-Romanism versus Teutonism ^99 The Race Conflict in France 199 Historical Development of the Gallo-Tcutonic Conflict 200 Gobineau and the Gallo-Roman-Teutonic Conflict 202 Fustel de Coulanges 202 French Nationalism and Racialism 203 Maurice Barres 205 The French "Race" 207 PART s—THE ANGLO-SAXON MYTH: RACE AND IMPERIAUSM Chapter 13. The White Man's Burden 210 Development of Racial Mysticism in England 210 Building the Anglo-Saxon Myth 212 1. Philologists and Linguistic Paleontologists 212 2. Historians 213 3. Publicists 217 4. Poets: Rudyard Kipling 218 Practical Proponents 221 The British "Race" 224 PART 6—THE EXTENSION OF RACIAL THEORIES Chapter 14. Racialism Invades the United States 226 Race Craft in the United States 226 The Historians 228 The Nordic Movement in the United States 231 1. Madison Grant: Amateur Anthropologist 231 2. Henry Fairfield Osborn: Elder Doyen of American Racialism 233 3. Lothrop Stoddard: Apostle of Nordicism 235 4. The Psychologists 238 The Negro in the United States 240 The Problem of Immigration 242 The Anti-Nordic School in the United States 244 Chapter 15. Neo-Romanism: The Vague Racialism in Fascism 251 Who Are the Italians ? 251 Race and Italian Nationalism 252 Mussolini's Attitude Towards Race 253 Neo-Romanism: Race without Biological Implication 255 viii CONTENTS PAGE PART y—RACE AND THE PAN MOVEMENTS Chapter i6. Pan-Slavism: "The Intelligible Ones" 258 Racial Aspects of Pan-Slavism 258 Who Are the Slavs? 259 The Intellectual Leaders of Pan-Slavism 262 Pan-Slavic Impetus from the South: the First Slavonic Congress, 1848 265 Pan-Slavic Impetus from the North: the Second Pan-Slavonic Congress, 1867 267 Pan-Slavism and the World War 269 Chapter 17. Pan-Turanism (Pan-Turkism) and the Roles of Pan-Islamism and Pan-Arabism 270 Pan-Turanism: Racialism with an Asiatic Tinge 270 Who Are the Turks? 271 The Role of Pan-Islamism 274 The Birth of Pan-Turanism 276 Pan-Turanism versus Pan-Arabism 277 Chapter 18. Pan-Africanism: "Africa for the Africans" — 280 The Negro Struggle for Expression 280 The Black Race 281 Whites versus Blacks 283 "Africa for the Africans": The Garvey Movement 286 Pan-African Ideals 288 Chapter 19. Pan-Asianism: Race in the Orient 291 Japanese Racial Pride 291 Ethnic Origin of the Japanese 293 Physical Character of the Japanese 296 Chinese Ethnology 297 Pan-Asianism: The Yellow Race as Kulturtrdger 298 The First Pan-Asiatic Congress, 1926 300 The Second Pan-Asiatic Congress, 1928 300 PART S—RACE AND ANTI-SEMITISM Chapter 20. Racial Aspects of Anti-Semitism 303 Arc the Jews a Race ? 303 The Development of Racial Anti-Semitism 307 The Effects of Racial Anti-Semitism 310 PART ^-CONCLUSION Chapter 21. Race in Modern Collective Life 312 The Race Myth 312 Re-Evaluation of Racial Theory 316 Bibliography 319 Index of Names 339 PREFACE Sir Norman Angell once characterized political nationalism as the most important thing in the world for the European of our age, "more important than civiHzation, humanity, decency, kindness, pity; more important than life itself". The word "race" might well be substituted in Sir Norman's observation for its intellectual twin, nationalism. No longer is race an academic phenomenon. An entire nation in the heart of Europe has adopted Race and Blood as the sine qua non of its existence. Italy, the other end of the Rome-Berlin axis, has been informed by Mussolini that she must maintain the purity of her Aryan blood, an amazing and not at all amusing discovery. In the conglomerate Balkans, powder keg of Europe, in the Holy Land and in Asia Minor, people who never before were aware of racial identity have found a community of interest based upon newly discovered ethnic homogeneity. Oppressed nationalities everywhere have turned to the Race credo in order to bolster demands for self- determination. In the United States race prejudice against the Negro continues unabated, with social discrimination and sporadic lynchings. Racialism in virulent form has even penetrated into the Far East, where yellow men knew nothing of race theory until its creation in the West. The entire world has become race-conscious, so much so that the long-prophesied white-yellow-black race war is regarded in many quarters as inevitable. The purpose of the present volume is to describe and analyze the various racial theories of the last century and a half, as well as to consider the roles played by individual theorists in constructing the race myth. The analysis is basically historical. By the very nature of the subject, it is impossible to avoid trespassing upon the ground of the anthropologist, paleontologist, ethnologist, biologist, philoso- X PREFACE pher, psychologist and even physician. The task, therefore, is an extraordinarily difficult one, especially in this age of academic specialization; even the versatile man of the Renaissance would feel lost in this broad and comprehensive field of race, as mysterious as life itself. The territory is debatable and the concept of race so sur- rounded by vagueness and mysticism that the historian finds himself in a hornet's nest. For the impetus that set me to work on this particular task I am indebted to Professor Carlton J. H. Hayes, of Columbia University. I wish to acknowledge my general debt for their encouragement and kindness to Professor Hans Kohn, of Smith College; Dr. Ira M. Freeman, of Central College, Chicago; Dr. Koppel S. Pinson and Dr. Henry David, of Queen's College; Dr. Harry Elmer Barnes; to my colleagues at the College of the City of New York, Acting President Nelson P. Mead, Professors Holland Thompson and J. Salwyn Schapiro, and Drs. O. I.
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