The Socialist Phenomenon 1.2

Part 2: Chiliastic Socialism; the Socialism of the Heresies

The following is part of a series looking at The Socialist Phenomenon by Igor Shafarevich (1923-2017), first published in 1975 under the title Sotsializm kak iavlenie mirovoi istorii by YMCA Press. My intention is to offer summaries only - I cannot hope to provide robust commentary - Shafarevich provides a masterful historical analysis of socialism in a rare systematic and scientific manner. He was a mathematician of some significance in Russia and applied a similar disciplined and objective approach in his study of socialism. He, like Solzhenitsyn, believed that socialism was ultimately nihilistic and motivated by a death drive that destroys individualism.

For those interested you can find the full English translation here http://robertlstephens.com/essays/shafarevich/001SocialistPhenomenon.html

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Last time we talked about the seeds of socialism from antiquity. If you missed it here it is:

The Socialist Phenomenon 1.1

In this post we will move forward to look at chiliastic (utopian) socialism in Europe during the Middle Ages. During this time socialist ideas appeared under the guise of religion. Which makes sense, because it is essentially a religious doctrine. Shafarevich takes us through a few of the Medieval heresies that typified this age of socialist experimentation.

CATHARS

During the 11th century, and with roots from much earlier, Western and Central Europe saw the rise of the Cathars (“the pure”). This sect had many different groups, but there were commonalities among them, and it’s these common elements that we will explore.

One of the fundamental beliefs of the Cathars was that the physical world was the source of all evil and the spiritual world was the essence of good. In this dualistic view of things an evil god created the physical realm and a good god created the spiritual realm. One group of Cathars, the Monarchian’s, believed that Satan or Lucifer was the creator of the world and the God of the Old Testament, and the New Testament was the teaching of the good God. However they denied the bodily incarnation, death and resurrection of Christ, because the physical body is evil and Jesus could not have been in a physical body.

They considered themselves souls imprisoned in evil bodies, souls and the ultimate goal of mankind was in principle universal suicide. At the core this was a death cult. There were stringent rules for members in an attempt to avoid sinful matter, however those initiated in the highest ranks of the sect could no longer sin - however that worked. Sound familiar to modern iterations of communism where the leadership attains some god-like sinless perfection?

Because the physical realm was evil and a work of the devil, the propagation of humanity was also considered “Satan’s work”. Pregnant women were under the influence of demons and newborns were accompanied by a demon. Not unlike the demonisation of populating the planet today! You’ve seen the banners “Abortion IS healthcare”? Well for the Cathars it would be the work of God!

There was a hatred for the Catholic Church, plundering and burning churches which they saw as a symbol of the evil god. Nevertheless the Cathars had their own versions of priesthood, sacraments, and other rites. One of the most unsettling practices was called “endura”, which was basically suicide or murder - when a sick person received “consolation” by the perfecti (the high, perfected ones of the sect) in anticipation of their death, but then recovered, it was expected that the person should commit suicide (or murdered in the case of children). Again, a death cult if there ever was one.

But what about more of the explicitly socialist ideas among the Cathars? They preached common property, although not really adhering to it themselves. They also condemned marriage, but not promiscuity, and destruction of the family seemed to be the main thrust. Having “free” or “holy” love, and women in common was OK, but the family structure was of the evil one.

BRETHREN OF THE FREE SPIRIT AND THE APOSTOLIC BRETHREN

Two thinkers in the 12th century played a key role in the formation of the doctrines of these heretical movements - Joachim of Flore and Amalric of Bena.

Joachim was a monk and abbot who saw history as a predetermined process with very precise epochs. He was in what he called the Kingdom of the Son epoch that was to end in 1260, but not before terrible wars and the appearance of the Antichrist, followed by a utopian epoch, the Kingdom of the Spirit. This last epoch would be a time of freedom, free of labor and suffering, where all was in common. Although Joachim wrote against the Cathars, excerpts of his writings would be employed by them to support their sects.

Amalric had similar views as Joachim in terms of progressive stages or epochs but saw the Kingdom of the Spirit epoch more as a spiritual state of the believer than a transformed world. This idea was then taken up by sects like the Brothers and Sisters of the Free Spirit (or “Free Spirits”). By renouncing property, family, will live by begging, they could be transfigured into a state of Godliness and become one of the Free Spirits. These Free Spirits rose above moral constraints because they equal to God and the notion of sin becomes meaningless - so they were free to do anything.

Nothing performed by the flesh of such a man can either decrease or increase his divinity. Therefore, he may give it complete freedom. “Let the whole state perish rather than he abstain from the demands of his nature,” says Hartman. Intimacy with any woman, even with a sister or his mother, cannot stain him and will only increase her holiness. Numerous sources dating from the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries report on rituals of the sects, which included indiscriminate sexual union. In Italy, such “masses” were called barilotto. In Germany, there were reports of special sanctuaries called “paradises” for this purpose. (Shafarevich, P. 27)

It was a new age for these Free Spirits who had obtained divinity, could revel in free sex (while sex within marriage was considered sinful) and the humanist ideology that would rise to unparalleled significance in the future. The epoch rejected the fundamental institutions of society: private property, the family, the church and the state. Hierarchy was to be destroyed, well at least in theory, but it certainly wasn’t in practice. It is here that we see the socialist phenomenon expressed as a destructive religious doctrine.

TABORITES

The Hussites (followers of the Bohemian religious reformer Jan Hus, who was condemned by the Council of Constance (1414–18) and burned at the stake) had a radical faction in a place they called Tabor near Prague - a veritable magnet for all sorts of heretical sects including the followers of Joachim of Flore. Socialist theories were prevalent and they attempted to put these ideas into practice.

For these “Taborites” their current world of evil was coming to an end in 1420 and they were rallying around a battle cry to war against the enemies of God, to eliminate the evil from the world. Anyone who didn’t join the fun and “wash his hands in the blood of the enemies of Christ”, will be destroyed together with their property. Once the slaughter of the evil ones was complete Christ would come and reign for a thousand years. The preachers went out and told the people to “do no work, to pull down trees and destroy houses, churches and monasteries… All human institutions and human laws must be abolished, for none of them were created by the Heavenly Father…. Wealth must be taken away and given to laymen.” The socialist rioters of today would have been proud!

You can see the direct parallels here of socialist revolutionary action in our recent history to those (albeit under a religious guise) back in 1415 and thereabouts. It was a liberation ideology - free from the order of the past, even free from the morality of the past. Even Engels pointed out that “every large revolutionary movement the question of ‘free love’ comes to the foreground.”

Here’s a snapshot of socialist life at Tabor…

"This winter and summer the preachers and elder headmen have been persistently duping the peasants to pour money into their barrels." In this manner all money in the community was socialized. Supervisors of the barrels were appointed to oversee the strict delivery of money and to distribute the communal fund. "In the town of Tabor there is nothing which is mine or thine, but all possess everything in common and no one is to have anything apart, and whoever does is a sinner." One point of the Taborite program stated: "No one shall possess anything, but everything must be communal." The preachers taught: "Everything will be common, including wives: there will be free sons and daughters of God and there will be no marriage as union of two--husband and wife." (Shafarevich, P. 31)

ANABAPTISTS

During The Reformation socialist movements were on the move, magnified by the invention of the printing press. The Anabaptists held a doctrine around the falling away of the Catholic Church, denying the traditions of the Catholic Church, the authority of the Pope, and held that only the Gospels were sacred and only the words of Christ within those Gospels. They also did not recognise the baptism of children and would perform a second baptism of adults, thus the name Anabaptists, “the rebaptized”.

Social views were in no way uniform among the Anabaptists but there were sects, like The Free Brethren” who behaved rather like the Cathars believing that all should be communal, including wives, and were free from any law.

Part of the Anabaptist movement fled from Switzerland to Bohemia, joining the Bohemian Brethren. These Brethren communities had a common treasury, and everything from clothing to marriage was strictly prescribed. Meanwhile the Anabaptists in Germany also pushed for everything to be held in common, that there be “no matrimonial union, whether secret or open… that on the contrary, each may take wives whenever his flesh demands it and his passion rises, and may live with them in intimacy at his will.” Attacks on priests, murdering them and plundering their houses, was encouraged - the priests were likely seen as being the leaders of a Middle Ages bourgeoisie class that needed to be deposed.

In 1534-1535, this rise of Anabaptist militancy led to an outbreak of violence which can be seen as an attempt to bring about an Anabaptist revolution in northern Europe. The main events were played out in northern Germany; Anabaptists had gravitated there earlier, having been driven out of southern and central Germany. The town of Münster became the center of these events.

Taking advantage of the struggle going on between Catholics and Lutherans, the Anabaptists gained control in the municipal council and then completely subjugated the town. All who refused to accept a second baptism were expelled after being stripped of their possessions. Thereafter all property in the city was appropriated for the common lot, everyone being obliged to deliver his possessions under the supervision of special deacons. Next polygamy was introduced, and women of a certain age were forbidden to stay unmarried. (Shafarevich, P. 39-40)

Shafarevich provides a lot of detail about these sects and goes onto describe more socialist ideology being established through revolutions into the 1500-1600s all under a religious guise. The parallels between the revolutionary actions of these sects, the war against institutions, marriage, family, private property ownership, the whole shebang is socialism to the core. But many of us have missed this - maybe assuming that those crazy religious sects were just, well, crazy religious sects. But they were the very long rise and rise of socialism. Yes outwardly a chameleon thorough the ages, but inwardly the same old doctrine. And I think doctrine is fitting as it’s religious in nature and continues to be so.

So when we see the likes of the WEF trying to convince us that owning nothing will make us happy, or when other lobby groups try to convince us that the institution of marriage is evil, or that children should be taught by the state and not by their parents, there’s a very deep history of these ideas. It’s the socialist phenomenon, and next time we will dig a bit deeper into the ideology of the heretical movements.