Special Chapter
A Political Revolution - 19th Century Ideologies
One of the most influential developments brought by the Enlightenment was the creation of political theory. In the past, monarchs and democratically elected rulers would rule according to what they saw to be best for either themselves for their nation, not really caring about a specific agenda or "ideology". It all started to change in the 17th century thanks to the foundation of the Republic of France - unlike it's neighbours, France was a democracy, and it's politics were quick to develop into party rule. Each party or movement, like, say, the Reds or the Blues, represented an idea, rather than a person, and this laid the foundations for the development of concrete political ideologies. The Great German Revolution, meanwhile, was the spark that set the stage for a new age in political thought.
Politics was now not just an art or a job, but an entire field of science and psychology.
Symbols and colors of the three main ideologies of the 19th century - Protectionism, Republicanism and Unitarianism
To some, especially the aristocracy and the more reactionary parts of the masses, the Great German Revolution and the wars that proceeded after it were a time of horror. They would point to revolutionary terror under Maximilian Schwarzburg and the millions dead in the battlefields across Central Europe as proof of the dangers of radicalism and radical changes. This was the ideology of
Protectionism, and it's primary ideologues was the French writer, entrepreneur and political figure
Emmanuel de Tassigny. de Tassigny was a businessman from Wallonia and watched in terror as the German Revolutionary Army marched across the Rhine and beyond, spreading it's ideology across Central Europe. In his "Contemplations about the German Rebelllion", he wrote that "revolution and rebellion are, by nature, only destructive and counterproductive - within those events, radicalism thrives, and it always leaves blood in it's wake". It is in this book that he formulated the primary ideas of Protectionism, that in some shape or form have survived until this day: "protecting the old structures of society from dangers; moderate, calculated reform with as many positives and as little negatives; mutual trust between the government and the people". It is why the symbol of this ideology is a shield - it sees itself as a means of defense against radicalism.
Red and purple are considered to be primary colors of Protectionism, and while there have been many attempts to explain the reasoning for this pallet with symbolism, the main reason for adopting these colors was the French Red Party, one of the first political movements in Europe to adopt this ideology.
While some saw the Revolution as a threat to the ways of old, others hailed it as the beginning of a new era in human history and as a symbol of the battle against oppression. The Enlightenment saw the beginning of many ideas and problems that we would now associate with the ideology of
Republicanism - universal enfranchisement, the need for basic human rights, establishing republics instead of absolute monarchies or oligarchies, so on and so forth. While it's name hints that it's main focus was reforming dictatorial regimes into democratic republics, it was just as prevalent in already established democracies, where it called for freedom, civil rights and liberty. Republicanism was born and forged in the short-lived Republic of Germania, and the Battle of Sopron and the Paris Conference did not end it's existence. After the Revolutionary Wars, the ideology was formalized by the Vespucian
Frederik von Hejer and French
Maximilian Robespierre, both philosophers and writers who sought to introduce Republican ideas to the masses. Later writers, like John Bradley, would tie free market economics to the ideology, relating it to the universal human desire for liberty and freedom, not just in politics, but also in economics.
Yellow and white are considered to be the primary Republican colors, representing liberty, equality and freedom, and many parties that adopted the Republican ideology have symbols associated with fire (like torches), much like "man's burning desire for freedom", or the dove, a symbol of purity, liberty and peace. With born Protectionism and Republicanism set in place, this breakthrough in political thought seemed to be over.
A third movement originated in the 1850s, however, and it was directly tied to the Industrial Revolution. The age of machines sharpened the differences between the rich and the poor, the common workers and the bourgeoisie, and the struggle between these two classes was what marked many conflicts in the 19th century. While entrepreneurs and aristocrats bathed in newfound wealth, many workers lived in awful conditions, with no security or government support, living off tiny wages and anything they can find in charities and on the street. Was this really what society should be like? Does our divided world need to stay divided. While thinkers who fought for the common classes have existed for centuries, the 19th century finalized this long development and led to the birth of
Unitarianism. In many ways, this ideology was the result of one man -
Theodore Weber. Weber was not a politician nor a philosopher - he was a biologist and spent most of his time studying insects and plant life. However, in his many years of studies, he came to a conclusion - the difference between man and animals is that unlike his fellow forms of life, man has purposefully divided himself into different groups that exploit one another, and Weber saw no purpose in this division of society. In his famous "Treatise on the Future of Politics", he gave the example of ants - there is no subjugation nor bourgeoisie exploitation in ant colonies, all workers in that society are completely equal, and thus they are able to build structures and destroy opponents many times their size. Extrapolating from this, Weber figured that the main thing that holds back human development is this class division, and should that "antiquated structure" be torn down and all of humanity were to be turned into an equal, free and united society with nothing separating one individual from another, then humanity will enter a new era of unmeasurable prosperity and power.
In his work, Weber mostly wrote about what he wanted to happen in the future, not what should be done to achieve such goals - and even though he planned a follow-up to the Treatise which would explain the path that humanity needs to take to achieve this perfect envisioned society, he died before he could finish it. Nevertheless, Weber's utopian ideas of Unitarianism spread across Europe like wildfire, and soon, parties following this new ideology began to crop up across the continent. However, the movement almost instantly fractured into sub-movements, as nobody actually knew how to accomplish this dream. The widest branch of the movement, called
Democratic Unitarians, believed that the power of the upper classes can be weakened through the democratic process, especially releasing pro-worker laws like minimum wage, child labor bans and social security. Others, called
Revolutionary Unitarians, believed that the perfect society can only be accomplished by destroying the old system and building a Unitarian society from scratch. The end of the 19th century saw a third branch of the Unitarian movement, which was a distortion of Weber's work, believing that the biologist was actually calling for national unity, chauvinism and the "purification" of society from minorities. The other Unitarian movements nicknamed them
Purple Unitarians, as they believed that they were "infected" by Protectionist beliefs, represented by the purple color. While it started as a fringe movement among ultra-nationalist circles, it later became directly responsible for one of the bloodiest dictatorships of the 20th century.
The color blue, as the symbol of Unitarianism, is actually a reference to one of Weber's allegories, where he compared a future Unitarian society to the waves of the ocean - a united, unstoppable force that erodes even the strongest boulders and mountains.
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The next chapter is going to be called "Rise from the Ashes"
