Reactionary US
Reactionary
A reactionary (sometimes: reactionist) is someone who seeks to restore conditions to those of a previous era. The political attitude of a reactionary is reaction, reactionism. Reaction is always presented against something that it opposes. Reactionary comes from the French word réactionnaire , coined in the early 19th century.
It was the first of the two words coined (the other being conservative, from the French word conservateur) for the opposition to the French revolution. "In parliamentary usage, the monarchists were commonly referred to as the Right, although they were often called Reactionaries." (1) A reactionary is sometimes described as an extreme conservative, but whereas a conservative seeks, in the simplest terms, to preserve the status quo , a reactionary seeks to return to the situation of a prior time. In particular the term is used to describe those who are seen to oppose "progress" and particularly revolutionary change , and is used in revolutionary contexts interchangeably with the word counterrevolutionary.
Classical 19th century reactionaries and their heirs idealized either feudalism or the pre-modern era that preceded the Industrial Revolution and the French Revolution when economies were largely agrarian, the landed aristocracy (the financially "well-connected") dominated society, an hereditary king was on the throne and the church was the moral centre of society. Thus, reactionaries once favored the aristocracy over the middle class and the working class, even though they later favored the conservative bourgeoisie. In that context, reactionaries are against democracy and parliamentarism.
Reactionary is nowadays mostly used pejoratively by political groups, especially those of the "left-wing", to qualify politicians that they accuse of wanting to reverse (when not outright destroy) some progress (in the U.S., such progress as international cooperation, Social Security, civil justice, war crimes conventions, scientific facts) and that they claim has been beneficial to society.
In Marxist terminology, "reactionary" is generally used with a pejorative meaning, to refer to supporters of feudalism, capitalism or fascism (feudalists and fascists are considered the most reactionary, while left-wing capitalists are considered the least reactionary).
The term may be also be used in self-description by people who believe in strict obedience to a god or to various social structures that they consider immutable (the social hierarchy, the "natural law", the "original laws of the state", the "loyalty to one's tribe").
The term "reaction" appeared in Europe during the French Revolution, when conservative, and especially Catholic, forces organized to oppose the changes brought by the revolution and to fight to preserve the authority of the Church and Crown.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Reactionary
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Reactionary
A reactionary (sometimes: reactionist) is someone who seeks to restore conditions to those of a previous era. The political attitude of a reactionary is reaction, reactionism. Reaction is always presented against something that it opposes. Reactionary comes from the French word réactionnaire , coined in the early 19th century.
It was the first of the two words coined (the other being conservative, from the French word conservateur) for the opposition to the French revolution. "In parliamentary usage, the monarchists were commonly referred to as the Right, although they were often called Reactionaries." (1) A reactionary is sometimes described as an extreme conservative, but whereas a conservative seeks, in the simplest terms, to preserve the status quo , a reactionary seeks to return to the situation of a prior time. In particular the term is used to describe those who are seen to oppose "progress" and particularly revolutionary change , and is used in revolutionary contexts interchangeably with the word counterrevolutionary.
Classical 19th century reactionaries and their heirs idealized either feudalism or the pre-modern era that preceded the Industrial Revolution and the French Revolution when economies were largely agrarian, the landed aristocracy (the financially "well-connected") dominated society, an hereditary king was on the throne and the church was the moral centre of society. Thus, reactionaries once favored the aristocracy over the middle class and the working class, even though they later favored the conservative bourgeoisie. In that context, reactionaries are against democracy and parliamentarism.
Reactionary is nowadays mostly used pejoratively by political groups, especially those of the "left-wing", to qualify politicians that they accuse of wanting to reverse (when not outright destroy) some progress (in the U.S., such progress as international cooperation, Social Security, civil justice, war crimes conventions, scientific facts) and that they claim has been beneficial to society.
In Marxist terminology, "reactionary" is generally used with a pejorative meaning, to refer to supporters of feudalism, capitalism or fascism (feudalists and fascists are considered the most reactionary, while left-wing capitalists are considered the least reactionary).
The term may be also be used in self-description by people who believe in strict obedience to a god or to various social structures that they consider immutable (the social hierarchy, the "natural law", the "original laws of the state", the "loyalty to one's tribe").
The term "reaction" appeared in Europe during the French Revolution, when conservative, and especially Catholic, forces organized to oppose the changes brought by the revolution and to fight to preserve the authority of the Church and Crown.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Reactionary
..
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