The True Believer

The True Believer: Thoughts on the Nature of Mass Movements is a non-fiction book authored by the American social philosopher Eric Hoffer. Published in 1951, it depicts a variety of arguments in terms of applied world history and social psychology to explain why mass movements arise to challenge the status quo. Hoffer discusses the sense of individual identity and the holding to particular ideals that can lead to extremism and fanaticism among both leaders and followers.

Hoffer initially attempts to explain the motives of various types of personalities that give rise to mass movements and why certain efforts succeed while others fail. He articulates a cyclical view of history and explores why and how said movements start, progress, and end. Whether intended to be cultural, ideological, religious, or whatever else, Hoffer argues, mass movements are broadly interchangeable even when their stated goals or values differ dramatically. This makes sense, in Hoffer's view, given the frequent similarities between them in the psychological influences on their adherents. Thus, many will often flip from one movement to another, Hoffer asserts, and the often shared motivations for participation entail practical effects. Whether radical or reactionary, such movements tend to attract the same types of dissatisifed people and use very similar tactics and rhetorical tools. As examples, he often refers to purported political enemies such as communism and fascism, and to the religions, such Christianity in its various denominations as well as Islam.

The first and best-known of Hoffer's books, The True Believer has been published in twenty-three editions between 1951 and 2002. He later touched upon similar themes in other works.^{[citation needed]} Interest in the book has been expressed by American President Dwight D. Eisenhower and by American Secretary of State and First Lady Hillary Clinton.

Though the book has received wide acclaim, it has also spurred ongoing academic analysis and controversy. The core thesis of the interchangeability of mass movements and the movements' inherent weakness which can cause adherents to slide into dogma and absolutism has attracted substantial challenge; many scholars have cited historical examples of solid group identities that rarely became interchangeable with other communities. Hoffer himself has said that he did not intend his analysis to condemn all mass movements in all contexts, and particularly cited figures such as Abraham Lincoln or Jawaharlal Nehru who promoted what Hoffer believed were positive ideals. However, he continued to emphasize the central argument of The True Believer.

Hoffer states that mass movements begin with a widespread "desire for change" from discontented people who place their locus of control outside their power and who also have no confidence in existing culture or traditions. Feeling their lives are "irredeemably spoiled" and believing there is no hope for advancement or satisfaction as an individual, true believers seek "self-renunciation". Thus, such people are ripe to participate in a movement that offers the option of subsuming their individual lives in a larger collective. Leaders are vital in the growth of a mass movement, as outlined below, but for the leader to find any success, the seeds of the mass movement must already exist in people's hearts.

While mass movements are usually some blend of nationalist, political and religious ideas, Hoffer argues there are two important commonalities: "All mass movements are competitive" and perceive the supply of converts as zero-sum; and "all mass movements are interchangeable". As examples of the interchangeable nature of mass movements, Hoffer cites how almost 2000 years ago Saul, a fanatical opponent of Christianity, became Paul, a fanatical apologist and promoter of Christianity. Another example occurred in Germany during the 1920s and the 1930s, when Communists and Fascists were ostensibly bitter enemies but in fact competed for the same type of angry, marginalized people: Nazis Adolf Hitler and Ernst Röhm, and Communist Karl Radek, all boasted of their prowess in converting their rivals.

The "New Poor" are the most likely source of converts for mass movements, for they recall their former wealth with resentment and blame others for their current misfortune. Examples include the mass evictions of relatively prosperous tenants during the English Civil War of the 1600s or the middle- and working-classes in Germany who passionately supported Hitler in the 1930s after suffering years of economic hardship. In contrast, the "abjectly poor" on the verge of starvation make unlikely true believers as their daily struggle for existence takes pre-eminence over any other concern.

Racial and religious minorities, particularly those only partly assimilated into mainstream culture, are also found in mass movements. Those who live traditionalist lifestyles tend to be content, but the partially assimilated feel alienated from both their forebears and the mainstream culture ("the orthodox Jew is less frustrated than the emancipated Jew").