Page - 61 - in JRFM - Journal Religion Film Media, Volume 05/02

In Thus Spake Zarathustra, Nietzsche argues that the main lesson of history is that at exceptional times a man of destiny would use his will to rise above the herd of ordinary men.56 Clearly, Nordenholt is drawn as such a man, emerg- ing at an exceptional time of crisis to found a dictatorship driven by a “master morality”, which is presented as essential to progress. As Clarke points out, in post-First World War Britain, the “old faith in humanity had given way to a belief in the powers of an exceptional individual, a saviour far above the rest of the community in determination and intelligence, who is the only concili- ate means of achieving the ‘ideal state’”.57 In its advocacy of dictatorship as a means of efficient government, Nordenholt’s Million indicates that survival and cultural transformation can only be achieved through a drive towards Na- tional Efficiency untrammelled by conventional morality. The appeal for the reader comes from identification not with the starving millions or even with the Clyde workers suffering to fulfil Nordenholt’s plans, but with the survivors enjoying new, post-catastrophe luxuries. Thus, the text offers an exaggeration of the wish-fulfilment fantasies found in many “cosy catastrophe” science-fic- tion disaster novels which focus on survival and rebuilding over the tragedy of cataclysm, by presenting the case for selection and efficiency to enable social change.58 THE NATIONAL EFFICIENCY MOVEMENT Stone argues that the National Efficiency movement influenced many “ex- tremes of Englishness” texts, which sought to respond to fears of degenera- tion.59 Indeed, National Efficiency and eugenics were both offered as popular solutions to contemporary political and social crises.60 In accordance with the movement, Nordenholt’s Million emphasises the importance of reinvigorating industrial production, creating new housing and rejecting the capitalist sys- tem existing before the blight. Freed from capitalist ideology, survivors are no longer compelled to consider loss of profits over mass starvation and thus work collectively towards social responsibility. Once the crisis has passed, industrial production is maintained in a rebuilding programme that ensures full employment. The emphasis on National Efficien- cy contrasts directly with the situation in the Britain of the early 1920s, which was defined by industrial decline, economic downturn and increased unemploy- 56 Eatwell 1995, 8. 57 Clarke 1979, 230. 58 Aldiss/Wingrove 2001, 279. 59 Stone 2002, 10; 116. 60 Stone 2002, 6–7. Totalitarian Opportunism | 61www.jrfm.eu 2019, 5/2, 51–68