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Notes -
A summary of The Socialist Phenomenon by Igor Shafarevich
A free online version of the text can be found here.
The first entry in this series was lost in the 02/24 site rollback. This post will cover the first chapter of part one, and the first section of the second chapter.
Part One: Chapter 1: The Socialism of Antiquity (p. 23-33)
In Chapter 1, Shafarevich examines socialism and socialist themes in ancient societies and literature. He begins with a discussion of Plato’s Republic, which represents chiliastic socialism in its ideal form. He then examines how the ideals of Plato’s Republic can be found throughout the ancient world, in the utopian writings of other Hellenistic authors, in the teachings of religious sects which sprung up around early Christianity, and in the desired of mass-movements of the pre-medieval era.
The Republic sets out Plato’s vision of the perfect state. The essential quality of this ideal state is justice, which Plato defines as meaning “that each one man must perform one social service in the state for which his nature was best adapted. (433a).” From this axiom, Plato’s ideal republic is stratified into four castes: philosophers, guardians, artisans, and peasants. The castes are rigidly structured and largely hereditary, with artisans and peasants prevented from upward mobility. Guardians may be demoted for poor behavior.
The philosophers are men with gnosis, “the kind of knowledge which reveals to them something of that essence which is eternal, and is not wandering between the two poles of generation and decay….such a man will not suppose death to be terrible (485b-486b).” Because of their special knowledge, the philosophers wield absolute power. They control the guardians, who are raised from birth as child soldiers meant to have the temperament of obedient guard dogs who neither “by sorcery nor by force can be brought to expel from their souls…this conviction that they must do what is best for the state. (412e).”
The philosophers inculcate obedience through compulsory education from birth to the age of thirty-five. Strict censorship over all information, especially art, is exercised to eliminate the possibility of children becoming aware of any concept which was not specifically designed to support the state. Censorship extends to speech and there is a strict moratorium on any talk implying that death is frightening, of the injustice of fate, of criticism against the state, any manifestation of fear, grief, famine or death. All lying is forbidden, except for the philosophers, who are encouraged to lie in order to ensure that the other castes remain in absolute unity.
According to Plato, the absence of absolute unity among the people is the primary defect of all other states. In his view, the primary cause of disunity is the ability to conceive of differences between people, or to conceive of private property. “That city, then, is best ordered in which the greatest number use the expression 'mine' and 'not mine' of the same things in the same way. (462c)"
“The guardians' life is regulated accordingly.” Their communities are organized as military detachments. Private property and money are illegal. They are given strict diets and must eat communally. There is no freedom of movement.
As the concept of families would threaten to create differences between guardians, families are also strictly forbidden. Women are held in common and cannot cohabit privately with the men. Children are raised in common and cannot know their parents, nor can the parents know their children. Rather than marriage, the philosophers allow temporary unions for physical satisfaction and to ensure a stable population.
From this examination of Republic, Shafarevich concludes that Plato’s system is a “scheme for the destruction of the subtlest and most profound features of human personality and the reduction of human society to the level of an ant hill….[and] founded on the denial of personality…[and] egoism.”
Pivoting away from Plato, Shafarevich discusses the extensive utopian socialist literature in the Hellenistic era. Plato’s ascetic ideals where often replaced by friendlier utopian descriptions of happiness and free love. These ideals often played a role in sects which arose around the early Christian faith.
The sect of the Nicolaites, for example, preached the communality of property and women. In the second century, the Carpocratians, a gnostic sect located in Alexandria, taught that faith and love elevated man beyond morality and that distinctions between persons were evil:
Similarly, Manicheism gave rise to many sects in the third and fourth centuries which professed socialist doctrines. In the fifth century, a Persian movement inspired by Manicheism and Mazdak taught that “contradictions, anger and violence are all related to women and material things” and therefore all women and material wealth must be held in common. This movement spread across the country. Historian Tabari wrote that "[f]requently, a man did not know his son nor the son his own father, and no one possessed enough to be guaranteed life and livelihood."
Part One: Chapter 2: The Socialism of the Heresies (p. 35-102)
In Chapter two, Shafarevich discusses the chiliastic socialism of the Christian heresies. Chapter two is split into two sections. First, Shafarevich conducts a general survey of chiliastic heresies and demonstrates key and consistent features of their theology, morality, and behavior. Second, Shafarevich more closely examines the role that the ideas of chiliastic socialism played in the overall ideologies of the heretical movements.
Part One: Chapter 2: Section 1: General Survey (p. 35-89)
Shafarevich’s general survey examines five heresies in largely chronological order: (1) the Cathars, (2) the Brethren of the Free Spirit and the Apostolic Brethren, (3) the Taborites, (4) the Anabaptists, and (5) sects in the English Revolution of 1648. This general survey provides a clear description of socialist theology, the link between theology and morality, and the results of putting that morality into practice.
Cathars (p. 35-41)
In this section, Shafarevich discusses the Cathars, a religious sect that played a pivotal role in the development and spread of chiliastic socialism. Shafarevich’s examination of the Cathars highlights several key themes, including the origins of socialist morality, the link between socialist morality and anti-human behavior, and the historical origin of socialism as a driver of mass-movements.
The Cathars (“the pure” in Greek) spread across Europe in the eleventh century. The movement came westward from Bulgaria in the wake of the Bogomil heresy of the preceding century. The Cathars were composed of many sub-sects and shared doctrines with other sects, chiefly the Albigenses. All of these groups are usually categorized as gnostic of Manichean heresies. For the sake of clarity and complexity, Shafarevich describes the beliefs common to all such groups.
The foundational contention of all these groups “was belief in the irreconcilable contradiction between the physical world, seen as the source of evil, and the spiritual world, seen as the essence of god” resulting in a great deal of dualism and the belief in two gods. The evil god created the material world while the good god created the spiritual world. They identified the god of the old testament to be the evil creator of the physical world, and the god of the new testament to be the good god of the spiritual world. Because of these views, they considered the material and spiritual realms to be irreconcilable and denied the bodily incarnation of Christ.
Material things, including their own bodies, were evil. They believed that their souls transmigrated through time and space, eventually ending up in their current bodies so as to receive liberation from the imprisonment of matter. “The ultimate goal and the ideal of all mankind was in principle universal suicide. This was conceived either as in the most direct sense…or through ceasing to bear children.”
This theology shaped the Cathars’ social structure. Although the hierarchy of the Catholic church was rejected outright, the Cathars’ had their own system. The Cathars were divided into two groups, the perfecti (or “perfect”) and the faithful. Like Plato’s philosophers, the clergy were drawn from the perfecti and were the only group privy to all doctrines of the sect, most of which was intentionally kept hidden from the faithful. The perfecti observed strict rules. They could neither touch women nor possess property (although they controlled the holdings of the sect). They could not keep a permanent dwelling and lived their lives in constant travel. In compensation for observing these rules, the faithful worshiped the perfecti as gods.
The Cathars’ theology also shaped their views on sin and salvation. The existence of free will was denied. Most persons, including the faithful, were trapped in their evil corporeal forms, and thus doomed to commit sinful behavior through no fault of their own. The perfecti, however, were incapable of sin by definition.
The society of the Cathars reflected many of the traits common to chiliastic socialism. Reproduction was the work of the devil and the sacraments, including matrimony, were denied. As the commandment to not commit adultery was the commandment of the evil god, some Cathars considered promiscuity to be free from sin. Writings of the period often accused the Cathars of practicing free love and holding women in common.
Eating meat or anything produced by sexual union was prohibited. Secular authority was also the work of evil, and so the Cathars rejected temporal laws, oaths, and arms. Contact with outsiders, except for proselytization, was often considered a sin. As property was of the material world, it was necessarily evil. Cathars preached that one could not be a true Christian unless property was held in common.
Although murder and violence were prohibited, exceptions were made for Catholics and Catholicism. Iconoclasm was common. Some sects systematically destroyed churches, killed priests, and burned crosses.
Catharism spread rapidly across Europe in the eleventh century. The heresy was particularly successful in southern France, where it was supported by the local nobility. The heresy was only routed out of France in the thirteenth century after several crusades and thirty years of warfare.
Brethren of the Free Spirit and the Apostolic Brethren (p. 41-46)
Moving on from the Cathars, Shafarevich next discusses two additional Christian heresies known as the Brethren of the Free Spirit and the Apostolic Brethren. Shafarevich’s discussion of these sects brings the praxis (a socialist term meaning a fusion of practice and theory) of socialist morality into sharp relief. It demonstrates the causal relationship between socialist morality and violent and amoral behavior. This section also shows the ideological roots of modern ‘humanist’ socialism in the man-as-divine theology of these chiliastic sects.
The Brethren of the Free Spirit and the Apostolic Brethren were influenced heavily by the twelfth century figures Joachim of Flore and Amalric of Bena. Joachim, an abbot, promulgated a doctrine he claimed was inspired by revelation, or gnosis. In essence, Joachim preached that the history of man involves progressively greater comprehension of god. History, for Joachim, was a predetermined process that could be calculated. Accordingly, he divided history into three epochs, the first of slavish submission, the second of filial obedience, and the third of freedom.
In the last epoch, the chosen “would abide in peace, freed from labor and suffering.” No one would understand “thine” or “mine.” It would be an era of perfection brought forth on earth by the hands of men.
Amalric taught a system of theology similar to Joachim’s. He conceived of history as a series of three stages of divine revelation. Amalric proclaimed that the third revelation had come, and that he and his followers had now become as Christ. Amalric’s new Christianity had three basic theses: (1) "God is all," (2) "Everything is One, for everything that is is God," and (3) "Whoever observes the law of love is above sin." Whoever followed these teachings could attain identity with God through ecstasy and was thus incapable of sin.
The “Free Spirits,” a sect with views very similar to Amalric’s teachings, arose in central Europe in the thirteenth and fourteenth centuries. The Free Spirits believed that man could become transfigured into god by passing through many years of novitiate in the sect and renouncing all property, family, and will.
Shafarevich explains that the extant historical sources agree that the state of godliness meant that Free Spirits were the complete equal of god “without distinctions” and were thus liberated from all moral constraint. A Free Spirit is sovereign over all of creation and may dispose of it at will. Those who resist can be killed. As one Free Spirit wrote, “[l]et the whole state perish rather than he abstain from the demands of his nature.” Free Spirits thus despised the Catholic Church because its doctrines purported to restrict their absolute freedom of will. In this absolute freedom, Free Spirits were equal.
A Free Spirit broke completely with his past. “What had been blasphemy for him in the past (and remained so for "rude" folk) now became a sign of the end of one historical epoch and tie beginning of another —the new Eon.” Accordingly, orgiastic masses and worship of Lucifer were considered ideologically and morally desirable as heralding the new epoch.
The Free Spirits considered man as divine and that divinity was intended to destroy earthly and spiritual hierarchy. The biblical Adam was conceived not as a sinner but as the perfection of man, and played a central role in their teachings. Some called themselves “New Adams.” Here, Shafarevich rightly observes that the Free Spirits arguably represent “the first prototype of the humanist ideology which would later attain worldwide significance.”
Shafarevich examines the 1320s anti-papal uprising in Umbria as a vehicle to explain how the Free Spirits influenced social life. The Free Spirit ideology was widespread among the Umbrian nobles and permitted and ends-justified approach to violence. Whole towns were slaughtered. Like the Cathars, the godly Free Spirits were relatively few but surrounded themselves with the Beghards and Beguines, groups of poor, celibate men and women engaged in petty labor. These masses knew little about the radical nature of the doctrine. The masses were concerned with the aspects of the doctrine common to chiliastic socialism of all sorts. All extant institutions of society were rejected, including private property, family, church, and state. All was to be held in common. Marital sex was considered a sin.
The Brethren of the Free Spirit influenced a later Italian sect known as the Apostolic Brethren. This sect followed Joachim’s teachings and declared themselves the inheritors of a new spiritual world. “Everything was permitted in defense of the faith, any violence against enemies, while, at the same time, the persecution inflicted by the Catholic Church on the Apostolic Brethren was considered to be the gravest of crimes.” These ideas were put into practice in 1404. Five thousand members of the sect followed their leader, Dolcino, into the mountains of norther Italy and proceeded to raid the surrounding villages and destroy all trace of Catholicism. This war lasted for three years until the sect was put down by force.
Taborites (p. 46-51)
This section discusses the Taborites, a chiliastic sect which played a critical role in spreading socialist writings and beliefs across Europe. Shafarevich’s examination of the Taborites shows how the socialist’s calculus of moral praxis repeatedly and reliably escalates to genocide and the attempt to devolve society to the level of hunter gatherers. The Taborite’s belief that destroying libraries would hasten the coming of the utopia in which no one had need of books, for example, was driven by the same, intentional moral calculus that caused identical behavior in more recent socialists like Pol Pot and the Khmer Rouge.
The 1415 burning of Jan Hus gave rise to the Bohemian anti-Catholic movement of the Hussites, the radical faction of which was located in Tabor. Preachers from heretical sects across Europe came to Tabor. Chiliastic socialist theories were common, as were attempts to put them into practice.
The Taborite’s believed that the end of the current world, the “dominion of evil,” world would occur in 1420. This would be accomplished by their hands, and so all evil people needed to be exterminated forthwith. The Christian concept of mercy was abolished and replaced with a duty to revolutionary violence. “Anyone who protests against the shedding of the blood of Christ's enemies shall be cursed and punished just as these enemies are. All peasants who refuse to join the Taborites shall be destroyed together with their property. (19: p. 81)."
This violence would establish God’s Kingdom for the elect. Evil would not be fully exterminated, only subjugated to the good. Christ would return, and with him the good would be liberated from material restrictions. “No one would sow or reap.”
To put their theory into practice, the Taborites proclaimed that all institutions and laws must be abolished, including the church, whose wealth was to be redistributed to the populace. Churches and church symbols were thus destroyed wherever they were found. Many priests were tortured and killed. All personal property was confiscated from the group’s enemies. Libraries were also destroyed as they believed that in the world to come, there would be “no need for anyone to teach another. There would be no need for books or scriptures and all worldly wisdom will perish. (19: 159).”
In Taborite areas, all money was seized. All private property was banned. It was written that “[i]n 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. (19: pp. 99-100).” Taborite preachers taught the communality of wives and, the abolition of marriage and of the family.
The emperor and the Pope launched crusades against the Hussites. However, the Hussites beat the crusaders back and launched a successful offensive campaign against neighboring countries across all of central Europe. The Pope was forced to make concessions and an agreement was reached with the Hussites in 1433. The Taborites rejected the agreement and were eventually destroyed in subsequent battles. These wars spread chiliastic ideas and writings across all of Europe.
Anabaptists (p. 51-57)
Following the Hussite wars, the reformation caused an upsurge in socialistic sentiment and the invention of the printing press magnified this effect. Socialist sentiment of the period was especially strong among Anabaptists, a sect which spread to Germany, Switzerland, Austria, Czechia, Denmark, Holland, and later, to England. This section highlights how socialist theology and morality became more expressly political and intentionally revolutionary.
Individuals within the sect called each other “brother” and were named by their enemies as Anabaptists for their rejection of baptism for the young and the practice of a second baptism for adults. Shafarevich describes the doctrine of the Anabaptists, which at this point should be very familiar. Anabaptists rejected the entire Catholic Church and all of its teachings which were not specifically present in the Gospels. They also believed the true meaning of the Gospels was revealed to every man through gnosis. Like the sects discussed above, Anabaptists rejected oaths, refused to participate in non-Anabaptist society, and considered murder to be a cardinal sin. Yet, in some periods, there were militant calls for the impious to be exterminated.
Anabaptists largely organized themselves like the Cathars. The movement was led by Apostles, who renounced marriage and property and lived a transient life. Apostles elected Bishops, who formed councils or “synods.” Often bishops from across Europe came together for synods. Anabaptist social views were highly variable, but the common threads of chiliastic socialism could be found throughout. One sect was described in the 16th century by Bullinger as follows:
Continuing to chronicle the movement, Shafarevich describes that in the 1520s the Anabaptists “renounced the conspiratorial character of their activities and entered into an open struggle with the ‘world’ and the Catholic Church.” The second baptism was to be practiced openly.
Anabaptists failed to gain primary control of the Reformation and were exiled. After this period, Anabaptist social behavior began to more closely resemble Plato’s ideal republic. In St. Gall in 1525, Anabaptists forbade participation in public life and adopted a uniform of coarse gray fabric. In bohemia, Anabaptist communes strictly regimented all aspects of society, which were overseen by “good police.” Clothing, sleeping, and work were centrally and strictly prescribed. It was forbidden to cook for oneself or to eat alone. Unmarried men and women slept in sex-segregated dorms. Children were separated from parents and raised in common. Marriages were arranged. Occupations were assigned.
Anabaptism became increasingly revolutionary in Germany. The Zwickau Prophets considered science and the arts unnecessary. The leader of this group, Klaus Storch, proclaimed that all priests must be immediately exterminated “[f]or once the sheep are deprived of a leader, it will go easy with the sheep. Next it will be necessary to attack also those who fleece others, to seize their houses, plunder their property, and raze their castles to the ground." (28: p. 53).”
This surge coincided with the 1525 peasant war in Germany. The socialist teachings of this time are typified by Thomas Muntzer, who put chiliastic ideas into practice in the town of Muhlhausen. In 1534-35, Anabaptist militancy led to an outbreak of violence which Shafarevich characterizes as an attempt to bring about an Anabaptist revolution in northern Europe.
The town of Munster was the focal point of these events. Anabaptists gained control of the municipal council and subjugated the town. All property in the town was seized and made communal. Polygamy was introduced. Women of a certain age were forced to marry.
Revolt spread out from Munster and Anabaptists came from across Europe to join the revolution. The local catholic bishop called up an army and laid siege to the town. Within the town, Johann of Leyden was proclaimed king of the world, and he surrounded himself with wives and spent his time beheading recalcitrants. Munster was eventually taken by assault and the leadership executed.
Sects in the English Revolution of 1648 (p.57-63)
Finally, Shafarevich examines chiliastic socialism in the English Revolution of 1648. This section highlights the evolution of the man-as-divine socialist theology into a more explicit atheism. It also provides key developments in socialist literature, including the increasing focus on political socialism and express apologia for illegal and amoral behavior on socialist moral grounds.
Shafarevich traces chiliastic socialism in the 1648 revolution to a 1536 synod in Westphalia that resulted in a schism between Anabaptists. All parties involved agreed that Munster-style armed struggle was necessary, but they disagreed about whether they should enact the struggle immediately or in the future (a schism which has recurred among socialists identically throughout history, such as in the schism between the Bolsheviks and Mensheviks). As a result of the schism, the militant faction emigrated to England and merged with the Lollards.
The 1648 revolution in England gave rise to a flurry of chiliastic sentiment. A Quaker book said of the suppression of Munster that “German tyrants, who literally like devils oppressed the souls and the bodies of the common folk….Their uprising was violent because their oppressors were still more violent.” A sect known as the Ranters arose which, like the Free Spirits, believed that good and evil were morally identical, man-made constructions. The Ranters denied morality and embraced an ostentatious amorality. They rejected property and marriage, and performed rituals which were parodies or inversions of Christian communion and marital sexual union.
Another sect, the Diggers, wrote literature which strongly echoes socialist writings of the modern period. Garrard Winstanley wrote pamphlets proclaiming the illegitimacy of private land ownership after these teachings were “revealed” to him in a vision. He wrote:
Diggers were one part of the wider Leveller movement. In a manner almost indistinguishable from Marx, One Leveller, William Walwyn, argued that abolishing property would necessarily cause all people to behave in perfect moral unity, thus causing the government to wither away:
Similarly, A newspaper called “The Moderate” criticized the execution of a group of robbers on the grounds that the existence of private property “forces them to violate the law in order to sustain life.” Extreme Leveller groups advocated for terror. One such pamphlet was entitled “Removal Is Not Murder.”
Shafarevich notes that socialism and atheism were common among Leveller groups. Some of these writings “exhibit a purely rationalist spirit” and belong to the group of utopian socialist literature discussed in Chapter 3.
I appreciate you taking the time to engage with my post but I think this comment is more heat than light.
I don't think that's a good standard of evidence. But more importantly, I don't think that your criticism of Shafarevich's characterization of Walwyn suits your claim that:
If that is your contention, I would appreciate your thoughts more directly on the thesis of the book itself. For example, do you disagree with Shafarevich's characterization of socialist morality? Or his thesis that socialist morality is consistent across time? Criticism on those, central aspects of his work would be better suited to your claim. "Walwyn said he wasn't guilty so Shafarevich's entire thesis is wrong and unworthy of attention" is just poisoning the well.
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