Reactionary

Reactionary (or reactionist) is a political epithet typically applied to extreme ideological conservatism, especially that which wishes to return to a real or imagined old order of things, and which is willing to use coercive means to do so. The term is primarily used as a term of opprobrium (groups rarely identify themselves as reactionary), meant to assert the idea that the opposition is based in merely reflexive politics rather than responsive and informed views.

Related Topics:
Ideological - Conservatism

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More specifically, the term "reactionary" is frequently used to refer to those who want to reverse (or prevent) some form of claimed "progressive" change.

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(An equivalent term would be "regressivism." The term reaction is sometimes used as a general term for the program or philosophy of designated reactionaries.)

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It was coined in the context of the French Revolution to refer to those who wished to restore the conditions of the Ancien Régime. Through the nineteenth century, it was used to refer to those who wished to preserve feudalism or aristocratic privilege against industrialism, republicanism or classical liberalism.

Related Topics:
French Revolution - Ancien Régime - Feudalism - Aristocratic - Industrialism - Republicanism - Classical liberalism

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Marxists used the term in a dialectical sense to refer to those who resist revolutionary change whether they be the conservatives who opposed the liberal revolutions of the eighteenth and early to mid nineteenth centuries or those in the bourgeoisie and their allies who opposed socialist demands for power to be given to the working class and particularly those who resisted socialist revolution.

Related Topics:
Marxists - Dialectical - Revolution - Liberal revolutions - Eighteenth - Nineteenth centuries - Bourgeoisie - Socialist - Working class

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The same bourgeois who is a "revolutionary" in one context could be considered to be a "reactionary" in another, as the bourgeoisie refers to an intermediate upper-middle class who thrived on service, but not absolute loyalty, to the aristocracy.

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