Fire in the Minds of Men (Conclusion)
The conclusion section on the combined three books, additional / supplementary article.
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Conclusion: Fire in the Minds of Men - An Arc of Revolutionary Faith
Drawing upon the detailed overviews, summaries, and key points from the three books of "Fire in the Minds of Men," the text traces the origins and evolution of a modern revolutionary tradition in Europe from the late eighteenth through the early twentieth centuries. This tradition is characterized as a "revolutionary faith," a secular belief system held by passionate intellectuals, positing that a perfect secular order can be achieved through the forcible overthrow of traditional authority. Described metaphorically as "fire," this faith is an internal, almost spiritual, force that is consuming, transformative, and profoundly fascinating, having migrated from Christian altars to secular spaces like Masonic lodges and occult circles. It arose particularly in societies lacking sanctioned ideological and political dissent, becoming a form of opposition rooted in a quest for a new world order.
Book I: Foundations of the Revolutionary Faith (Late Eighteenth and Early Nineteenth Centuries)
Book I establishes the genesis of this revolutionary faith, focusing on its early intellectual innovators and the specific historical context of the French Revolution. The core of this faith rested on three fundamental ideals that gained mystical significance: Liberty, Fraternity, and Equality. Initially perceived as a "trinitarian unity," these ideals held deep, inherent differences that would later cause significant conflict within the revolutionary movement.
The concept of "revolution" itself evolved during this period, moving from an older meaning of cyclical return to an original state towards the modern understanding of a radical, man-made break with the past aimed at creating a fundamentally new society. This shift was precipitated by the "hard fact" of the French Revolution (1789-1794), which demonstrated the possibility of a total secular upheaval.
The origins of revolutionary organization are traced not solely to rational Enlightenment thought or practical politics, but significantly to occultism, mysticism, and proto-romanticism, particularly influenced by German ideas. Groups like the Bavarian Illuminists, Freemasonry, and Pythagorean thought provided structural models, symbols, and rituals. The "Circle," symbolizing egalitarian perfection, and the "Triangle," representing hierarchical organization and the means to achieve the ideal, became key symbols. The Illuminists, with their secret, hierarchical structure and mission of moral perfection, were perhaps the first to apply the term "circle" to a political organization, and their influence was paradoxically amplified by the fears and denunciations of conservative forces.
Parisian cafe culture and literary figures played a vital role as incubators for new political discourse and revolutionary imagination, fostering irreverence and utopian speculation. Journalism emerged as a critical force, the "Fourth Estate," replacing the Church as a propagator of values and symbols. Figures like Restif de la Bretonne, an eccentric writer credited with introducing the word "communist" into print, and Nicholas Bonneville, a key figure in revolutionary journalism and the founder of the Social Circle, exemplified this trend. Symbols and language, including capitalizing key words and employing shock tactics, were consciously used to shape the revolutionary faith and create a new lexicon. German ideas and culture, transmitted through border cities like Strasbourg and figures like Bonneville, influenced the development of French nationalism and concepts like "the people".
The core objects of belief unfolded with Liberty, associated with the republican ideal of constitutional government and law, gaining prominence, significantly influenced by the American Revolution. Fraternity, the emotional ideal of brotherhood within a new nation, emerged as central, particularly in France, where the concept of the "nation" became a unifying and legitimizing force, militantly spread by Napoleon. Equality, the intellectual vision of a nonhierarchical socio-economic community based on collective sharing, found roots in Rousseau and emerged more fully in figures like Babeuf and Marechal, who advocated for a "social revolution" beyond mere political change. The tension between national and social revolution became a fundamental conflict within the tradition. Following the Thermidorean reaction and the fall of Robespierre, the revolutionary hopes retreated into secret societies, fueled by the myth of an "unfinished revolution" and anticipating a second, social revolution. Filippo Buonarroti is presented as a key figure linking the earlier era to subsequent international organizations, formulating blueprints for secret, hierarchical groups drawing on Masonic and Illuminist models.
Book II: The Dominance of the National Revolutionaries (Mid-Nineteenth Century)
Book II focuses on the period after Napoleon's defeat (1815-1871), during which national revolutionaries, fueled by romanticism and aiming for constitutionalism and national unity, largely dominated the revolutionary landscape. The earlier universal ideals of the French Revolution shifted towards national goals, with Italy and Poland becoming major centers for nationalist movements. Revolutionary organizations in this era often drew inspiration from nature and ancient traditions, adopting names reflecting these themes, such as the "Society of the Swan" or the Italian Carbonari ("charcoal burners").
The Italian Carbonari were particularly significant, originating as a rural form of Masonry and spreading throughout Italy, mobilizing masses through secret local cells aiming for a united Italy and constitutionalism. Other movements like the Greek Philiki Hetairia and the Spanish Liberal movement also contributed to this wave of constitutional rebellions. The Russian Decembrist revolt (1825) is seen as the last echo of this period's constitutional uprisings, influenced by Spanish and Italian movements and showing early signs of characteristics that would define later Russian revolutionaries.
Giuseppe Mazzini emerged as a key figure, founding Young Italy and Young Europe, prototype national revolutionary organizations that emphasized a moral "apostolate" and a universal rationale for nationalism, viewing nations as organic units in a harmonious international order. His approach contrasted with the centralized, hierarchical methods of figures like Buonarroti.
Cultural expressions like opera and journalism played crucial roles in mobilizing sentiment and shaping narratives. Verdi's operas in Italy and German national opera reflected and amplified national aspirations. Journalism, particularly the mass press and ideological journals among emigres, became a powerful tool for organization and propaganda. The concept of "the people" continued to evolve, becoming a central, often vague, concept for romantic nationalism, seen as the regenerative life force and source of legitimacy. Theoretical reflections on revolutionary violence also emerged, particularly from Italian and Polish theorists, advocating guerrilla warfare and "national insurrection".
The mid-nineteenth century saw a sharpening conflict between national and social revolution. While nationalism remained dominant, the social revolutionary tradition, focused on equality and class transformation, gained prominence through figures like Buonarroti and Auguste Blanqui, who popularized the idea of a coming social revolution and developed blueprints for secret, hierarchical organizations. Pioneers of communism emerged, and German emigres like Marx and Engels became central to developing communist ideology, working through groups like the Communist League.
The revolutionary landscape was fundamentally altered by the unification of Germany and Italy in 1871, achieved not through popular revolution but through state power and diplomacy, leading to a "conservative nationalism" that prioritized unity over freedom. This marked the "waning of revolutionary nationalism" as the dominant force and highlighted the divergence between national unification and radical social change. The Paris Commune of 1871 is presented as a watershed, shifting the focus towards transnational social revolution and intensifying the conflict between Marx and Bakunin.
Book III: The Rise of the Social Revolutionaries (Late Nineteenth and Early Twentieth Centuries)
Book III explores the period after 1871, characterized by growing social and political conservatism and the rise of an industrial order. Revolutionary thought shifted from a focus on moral or charismatic power towards an embrace of thermodynamic, mechanical organization and violence. Power became identified increasingly with the "dynamic, standardized, fire-powered machine" and organized violence.
The frontiers of the revolutionary tradition shifted eastward, with Germany and Russia gaining prominence. German Social Democracy emerged as a deliberate effort to transform earlier revolutionary fervor into a disciplined, "slow-burning fire" of a modern political machine, organizing workers as rationally as engineers organized factories. Influenced by Marx and Engels, German Social Democracy grew into a significant political force through electoral gains and elaborate organization, presenting an image of a "global counter-society". However, this organizational strength eventually led to bureaucracy and an inability to resist the nationalistic rush to war in 1914. Fabian influence contributed to the "revisionism" debated within German Social Democracy, suggesting a possibility of growing into socialism without violent revolution.
In contrast to Germany, Russia developed a uniquely violent revolutionary tradition, which burst forth in the early twentieth century. Rooted in a student subculture of intense expectation from the 1860s, Russian revolutionaries embraced German materialism but were driven by rising political consciousness and a never-lost faith in revolution. Manifestos like "Young Russia" (1862) exalted the violent act sacramentally and identified violence with social revolution, advocating for a revolutionary elite and dictatorship. Figures like Chernyshevsky and Nechaev, with the "Revolutionary Catechism," distilled hatred and economic materialism, exalting violence and defining "comradeship" differently from Western groups.
Political terrorism became a chosen label and preferred course of action in Russia in the late 1860s and 1870s, seen as a "ministry of justice" and a "baptism in blood" for intellectuals, making them fit for the "struggle of equals". The bomb became a symbol comparable to the German machine, and assembling explosives a communally unifying force. The intelligentsia emerged as a self-conscious elite seeking connection with the masses, a union sought through Russian populism. The Tsarist secret police (Okhrana) developed sophisticated methods of surveillance, penetration, and provocation, sometimes inadvertently aiding the revolutionaries by creating martyrs.
Vladimir Lenin, aiming for the Bolshevik victory in 1917, built on this violent Russian tradition, seeking methods of organization appropriate to the modern industrial era. He blended the German model of a centralized party and ideological journal with the conspiratorial organization from Babeuf and the Russian tradition, emphasizing "party spirit" and countering "spontaneity". The Bolshevik victory marked the first decisive break in European civilization driven by this social revolutionary tradition.
Revolutionary Syndicalism also emerged in the Latin and English-speaking worlds, linking trade unions with mass action, particularly the "general strike," for a new social order. Figures like Georges Sorel theorized about the revolutionary myth and the essential role of violence as a "chivalric rite de passage". The Industrial Workers of the World (IWW) in the United States embodied syndicalism as a doctrine of "ecumenical social revolution".
Throughout these periods, women played increasingly crucial, though often overlooked, roles in revolutionary movements, demonstrating "greater disinterestedness, devotion and constancy," participating in various capacities including dangerous ones like terrorism, despite facing repression and often derogatory perceptions from male revolutionaries.
In sum, "Fire in the Minds of Men" traces the revolutionary tradition from its diverse, often occult-influenced origins among intellectuals seeking a secular alternative to religious faith in the late 18th century, through the dominance of romantic nationalism in the mid-19th century, and into the rise of disciplined, violent social revolutionary movements shaped by the industrial age in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. It details the evolving concepts of liberty, fraternity, and equality, the persistent tension between national and social goals, the development of organizational structures and symbolic systems, the changing perception and use of power, and the critical roles played by intellectuals, journalism, and technology across different national contexts, culminating in the first successful seizure of state power by a social revolutionary party.