Reich coined the term “sex-economy” around 1930. By it he meant “that body of
knowledge which deals with the economy of the biological energy in the organism, with its
energy household.”^14 The use of the word “economy” also reflects a Marxist influence:
The safeguarding of the distribution of goods requires a rational economic policy. A ration-
al sexual policy is not different if the same obvious principles are applied to sexual instead
of economic needs. In his sex-political work, Reich soon met with difficulties that he blamed
on everyone else but the “average individual.” Work seemed to go poorly when he was not
present. The Communist functionaries complained that nothing but sexual questions were
discussed. Emphasis on the class struggle receded. There was also a falling off of commit-
ment from the allied sex reform groups, for which Reich blamed the party functionaries^15.
In later years, Reich was critical not only of the Communists but also of his own
approach. In his interview with Kurt Eissler, he commented that he moved too rapidly and
stirred up more interest among the people than he had the resources to deal with effective-
ly. By the time of the interview, he believed that one should not approach sexual questions
politically. However, one should change antisexual laws.
Reich’s aversion to politics after about 1936 is a subject for future chapters. I will
simply note here an apparent contradiction: the injunction against “doing it politically” com-
bined with the injunction to “change the laws,” which cannot be done except politically.
In the context of the Berlin period, however, we return to the question of why
Reich “did it politically.” He was quite aware of the argument advanced by one psychoana-
lyst against sex-politics: “How is it possible to overcome sexual repression in the masses if
one does not have a mass technique corresponding to the individual analytic technique?”^16
Reich’s answer was that perhaps a technique would emerge from the practice of
sex-politics.He was working with two hypotheses:that without positive sex-politics, Hitler’s
diabolical manipulation ofdistorted sexuality would triumph; and that his own sex-politics
could win, if the leadership was right. Although he never abandoned the first conviction, in
later years he realized that the second hypothesis overlooked the depth of sexual anxiety in
people;that any leadership would have failed with the people responding to Hitler’s “unity
ofcontradictions.”
The very naiveté of his optimism provided learning experiences a more cautious
person would have missed. Thus, Reich noted that while he did not have a technique for
mass therapy,there were certain advantages to group meetings over individual therapy:
She [the patient] does not feel alone. She feels that all the others also listen to these
“prohibited” things. Her individual moral inhibition is countered by a collective
atmosphere of sexual affirmation, by a new, sex-economic morality. ... It is a mat-
ter ofmaking the suppression conscious, of setting the fight between sexuality and
mysticism into the focus ofconsciousness,or arousing it ... and of channeling it
into social action^17.Even later he never disavowed this mass therapy approach entirely, although he did13 : The Sex-political Furor: 1930-1934 161