Reactionary

Often, reactionaries idealise either feudalism or the pre-modern era that preceded the Industrial Revolution and the French Revolution when economies were largely agrarian, the landed aristocracy dominated society, a king was on the throne and the church was the moral centre of society.

Table of contents

1 Meanings of "Reactionary" in particular contexts 2 Reactionary feelings in Europe 3 American Reaction 4 References 5 Related Sites 6 External Links 7 Bibliography

Meanings of "Reactionary" in particular contexts

The term "reaction" appeared in Europe during the French Revolution, when conservative, and especially Catholic, forces organized to oppose what they saw as the radical tendencies of the French Revolution, fighting for preservation of Church and Crown.

In the context of 19th century European politics, the reactionary class were the Roman Catholic hierarchy (namely the clergy), the aristocracy, royal families and royalists and all those who supported traditional authoritarian monarchies and the involvement of the Catholic church in government. The term was also used in Protestant countries to describe those who support tradition against modernity.

In the 20th century the term was often used to describe opponents of socialist revolution such as the supporters of the White Army who opposed the Russian Revolution as well as generally to anti-socialists and anti-communistss.

Reactionary feelings in Europe

In France, at the beginnings of the Third Republic, the parliamentary left-wing consisted of the Republicans and the right-wing of the royalists, roughly speaking. "Reactionary", "right-wing" and "royalist" were thus almost synonymous.

Such feelings were often coupled with an hostility to modern, industrial means of production and a nostalgia for a more rural society. The Vichy regime in France, Francisco Franco's regime, the Salazar regime in Portugal, and the Action Française political movements are examples of such traditional reactionary feelings, in favor of authoritarian regimes with strong unelected leaders and with Catholicism as a state religion. As an example, the motto of Vichy France was travail, famille, patrie ("work, family, homeland") and its leader, marshal Philippe Pétain, declared that la terre, elle ne ment pas ("earth does not lie") in an indication of his belief that the truest life is rural and agrarian.

Clerical fascist movements in Europe were arch-reactionaries in their promotion of a corporatist model of social relations, in their opposition to the reforms brought in by the French Revolution and the Revolutions of 1848 and in their promotion of the the church against liberal anti-clericalism. Fascists of all varieties championed corporatism which, according to a number of theorists, was an attempt to order the relationship of classes to each other and to the state, was an attempt to create a "modern" version of feudalism or at least reverse the effects of the 18th and 19th century revolutions in Europe on class/state relations. Italian fascism, however, was a fusion of reactionary sentiments with a form of futurism. However, while the Italian fascists were secular and thus had an ambiguous relationship with the Church, they did appeal to older sentiments among Italians with an idealisation of the Roman Empire. The fascist salute, for example, was supposedly an appropriation of the ancient Roman salute.

Similarly, Nazi Germany invoked romantic notions of an idealised medieval Germany with constant references to Frederick the Great and the Teutonic Knights as well as Wagnerian imagery.

Parties such as the Front National may also be called reactionary, for they seek to revert changes brought to their countries in the last decades through European integration, free trade and immigration.

American Reaction

In American history, many have argued that the Confederacy was inherently reactionary in its desire to prevent economic industrialization. Others see it as a conservative effort to adhere to original Constitutional norms. In either case, the American South has produced figures and movements that seem reactionary in retrospect. Among these are the literary and cultural critics known collectively as the Southern Agrarians along with their sympathizers. The most reactionary of these was perhaps Donald Davidson, who adhered to his agrarian beliefs long after many of the other members of the original group had ceased to embrace much of their original agenda.

After the publication of the so-called agrarian manifesto, I'll Take My Stand, in 1930, many of the contributors to that book published in the periodical The American Review. Published and edited by the fascist Seward Collins, The American Review served as a vehicle for further examination of agrarian and anti-modern proposals, including the distributism of G.K. Chesterton and Hilaire Belloc.

During the same period, other areas of America saw the rise of reactionary spokesmen. Father Charles Coughlin of Detroit won over a huge audience with his radio broadcasts, which were notable for their harsh criticism of the New Deal and their anti-Semitic charges against Jewish bankers.

The reactionary is considered to be the antithesis to the radical, though dramatically reversive change can itself be considered radical.

References

Bibliography