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2026-05-02T17:06:55Z

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[[File:Gérard - Louis XVIII of France in Coronation Robes.jpg|right|thumb|[[Louis XVIII]] of [[France]], a reactionary ruler who gained power after the initial defeat of the [[French Revolution]].]]
'''Reaction''' is a label used by [[Marxist]]s and some [[liberal]]s to refer 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''' or '''reactionaryism'''. Reaction is an inevitable consequence of social revolution as it collides with the [[political]] power of the [[ruling class]]es 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 "[[Thermidor|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.<ref>[https://books.google.com/books?id=xMdDAAAAYAAJ&q=reactionaries&pg=PA149#v=snippet&q=reactionaries&f=false ''Reply of L. N. M. Carnot: Citizen of France to the Report Made on the Conspiracy of the 18th Fructidor, 5th Year''], p.149, Google Books.</ref> 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-[[Napoleon]]ic Europe as progressive due to its rivalry with the [[Russian Empire]], the "last great reserve of all European reaction".<ref name="cmeng82">Friedrich Engels, [https://www.marxists.org/archive/marx/works/1848/communist-manifesto/preface.htm#preface-1882 Preface to the 1882 Russian Edition of ''The Manifesto of the Communist Party''], at Marxists.org.</ref> Indeed, Russia, along with [[Prussia]] and [[Austrian Empire|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 [[Revolutions of 1848|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",<ref>K. Marx and F. Engels, [https://www.marxists.org/archive/marx/works/1848/communist-manifesto/ch01.htm ''Manifesto of the Communist Party'', Chapter I. Bourgeois and Proletarians], at Marxists.org.</ref> such as during the February Revolution in France.<ref>[https://www.marxists.org/archive/marx/works/1850/class-struggles-france/ch01.htm ''The Class Struggles in France, 1848 to 1850''; Part I: The Defeat of June 1848], at Marxists.org. Marx describes the role of the ''Lumpen'' Mobile Guard in suppressing the workers' revolution.</ref>

[[Fascism]] and political [[anti-communism]] were the two major forms of reaction in the 20th century. 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 [[Italy|Italian]] ''[[Biennio rosso]]'' and the [[German Revolution|German Revolution of 1918]]. Other important reactionary groups include the Russian and Finnish [[White movement]]s, the [[Kuomintang|Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT)]], 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 [[monarchist]]s 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 of America|United States]] compared to these other terms, but in other places it remains in use.

==References==
{{Reflist}}
[[Category:Ideologies]][[Category:Politics]]

Reaction - Revision history

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