Reaction

King Louis XVIII of France, who gained power after the defeat of the French revolution and oversaw a period of monarchist reaction.

Reaction refers either to a movement which aims to reverse the effects of a social revolution, or to a period in which such a movement gains control of society. Supporters of reaction are called reactionaries, and their position, reactionism. Reaction is an inevitable consequence of social revolution as it collides with the political power of the ruling classes and disturbs elements of the superstructure — including social mores, traditions, and institutions — which support them. Hence, reactionaries tend to support conservative positions on issues like family planning, religion, gender relations, and social hierarchy. The term "reactionary" itself stems from the French réaction, first used during the French Revolution to refer to monarchist forces and, later, the "Thermidorian Reaction" (Réaction thermidorienne), a tempering of revolutionary activity following the defeat of the Jacobins. One of its earliest uses in English was in a 1799 translation of Lazare Carnot's letter on the Coup of 18 Fructidor. Its sense was soon generalized and used throughout Europe to apply to such a force in any social revolution. Karl Marx, whose great interest was the nature of social revolutions, uses the term in the short Communist Manifesto no less than thirteen times.

Governments or groups which oppose progressive forces are also considered to be reactionary, as they hold back the revolutionary development of the forces and relations of production. For example, although Great Britain had opposed the French Revolution and fought against it, Marx saw the British role in post-Napoleonic Europe as progressive due to its rivalry with the Russian Empire, the "last great reserve of all European reaction". Indeed, Russia, along with Prussia and Austria, held an interest in maintaining monarchist and feudal institutions across Europe, driving the three powers, collectively known as the Holy Alliance, to continuously intervene in foreign revolutions throughout the 19th century, most notably in 1848. In addition to the reactionaries of the old ruling classes, Karl Marx described the reactionary role of the French peasantry in his 1852 work The Eighteenth Brumaire of Louis Bonaparte, and was often wary of the ambiguous role of the peasantry in general. Marx also maintained, in the Communist Manifesto and elsewhere, that the Lumpenproletariat, or non-proletarian poor, were highly prone to becoming a "bribed tool of reactionary intrigue", such as during the February Revolution in France.

Fascism, now neo-fascism, and anti-communism are the two major forms of reaction. Fascism in particular resembled the 19th century reactionary movements in that it followed in the wake of serious threats from the left, such as the Italian Biennio rosso and the German Revolution of 1918. Other important reactionary groups include the Russian and Finnish White movements, the Kuomintang, and the Spanish Nationalists during the Spanish Civil War. Use of the term continues into the 21st century, but the concept is less clear than it was in the 19th and 20th, as monarchists and the aristocracy are no longer the political forces they once were. Reactionists therefore play a different role in the class struggle of today.

Etymology

The word is transparent in meaning, stemming directly from the "reaction" of the status-quo parties — what Marx called the "party of order" — to the upheaval of the revolution. The historical importance of the French Revolution meant that its concepts and terminology were quickly loaned or calqued into the major languages of Europe and, later, the world. In this sense, the very idea of "reaction" is inseparable from concepts like "conservative" (Fr. conservatif), "liberal" (libérale), and even "revolution" itself (révolution). The word "reaction" has fallen out of use in countries like the United States compared to these other terms, but in other places it remains in use.

See also

• Right-wing politics
• Counter-revolution