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Invoking the Gods: Pagan Imperialism in the Context of Julius Evola's Life and Thought
In the preface to the new English edition of Julius Evola’s Pagan Imperialism (1928) Dmitry Moiseev discusses Evola’s main political ideas of the Interwar period in the context in which they developed, both in terms of the historical events and Evola’s personal background. During the Interbellum Evola hoped for a renaissance of pre-Christian Roman spirituality and the return of the heroic element to everyday life. In this sense, Catholicism turned out to be his main enemy, a greater threat to his project than Bolshevism. In 1928, Julius Evola wrote a work that brought him fame in the field of radical political thought—Pagan Imperialism (the title was inspired by Arturo Reghini). In this polemical work, Evola passionately criticizes Christianity, democracy, and Western culture, contrasting them with the ideal of the “traditional empire,” the Roman imperial state. Some ideas that Evola formulated in Pagan Imperialism in a radical and harsh tone were later developed in his major work Revolt Against the Modern World (1934).