Who is (still) afraid of spectres haunting Europe? : comparing the concepts of "Judeo-Bolshevism" and "Cultural Marxism" in their respective notions of ecology

Abstract: The concepts of “Judeo-Bolshevism” (used between approx. 1917-1945) and “Cultural Marxism” (used 1973-today) seem to have a lot in common: both are derogatory concepts used to classify the political opponent. This thesis aims to create a first insight into the meaning of the concepts of Judeo-Bolshevism and Cultural Marxism and the relation between them, with methods derived from Conceptual History and Critical Discourse Analysis, using primary sources as written by the far right. These concepts, embedded in their respective specific historio-political context, are rooted in a specific ontology and notion of ecology corresponding to the far right, which this thesis seeks to explain with help of a so-called “Framework of Oppositions”, in which the concept of Judeo-Bolshevism is elaborated upon using Marxist historical-materialist theory, while Cultural Marxism is elaborated upon with help of theories building onto the legacy of the Frankfurt School. This self-reflexive methodology uncovers that even though the concepts have different features making up the concepts, both are rooted in a similar notion of alienation, hierarchical ecology and existential anxiety, leading to tactics of palingenesis/palindefence. Therefore, I consider the concepts to be substantially comparable.