When the French Revolution swept across France in 1789, after the French had supported American independence from Britain, the early socialism took form.
Under the guise of “helping the people,” violent mobs and trained agitators flooded the streets and caused havoc. Clashes erupted, the aristocracy fled, their properties confiscated, thousands of priests killed, and anarchy was established in France.
This early French socialism did not help the people, but rather led to immense atrocities against regular citizens who suffered even more under the new rulers. Maximilien Robespierre, the radical Jacobin leader, administered guillotines on almost every corner in Paris and citizens who disagreed the slightest were killed. It was not until Napoleon took control over France that law and order was reinstated in the nation.
Since then, the Jacobin radicals who were later called socialists and communists, have always worked to overthrow governments, remove the middle-class and the “bourgeoisie”, replacing current conservative leaders with their own elite, the Marxist overlords.
The 1700s English philosopher and founder of modern conservatism, Edmund Burke, was a strong opponent against the leaders of the French Revolution. He detested violent revolutions and anarchy.
As the father om modern conservatism, he believed that law and order is of utmost importance, since man has an inherent tendency to exploit others to his own benefit. Man needs to control his selfish desires whether he is rich or poor. Hence the need for ethics and a normative approach in order to avoid chaos and anarchy. Reforming society is not always for the better.
And today, as chaos and civil unrest seems to sweep across the United States’ political theatre, a study of Burke may serve as a reminder of the values that may help the U.S. return to stability, writes Hanne Nabintu Herland in the regular column at World Net Daily.
WND is America’s largest conservative network with columnists such as Ben Shapiro, Larry Elder, Ann Coulter, John Whitehead, Joseph Farah, Dinesh d’Souza, Pat Buchanan, Dennis Prager, David Kupelian, Jesse Lee Peterson and most of the leading conservatives in the United States.
Edmund Burke and Modern Conservatism: Burke deeply disagreed with the ideology of the French Revolution – which enhanced bloody overthrow of governments, civil wars, guillotines and beheadings in the streets.
This would not lead to prosperity and stability, he argued. And he was right.
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The French Revolution was the first major thrust towards the later 1840s Communist Manifesto and the entry of Marxism and later Socialism into European thought.
The aim became to remove European traditional values and replace them with a new set of ethics: Atheism and the Socialist mindset.
We live in the aftermath of this experiment today, as the Socialist way of thinking has broken down traditional ethics, order and the strength of the European culture.
Within the framework of law and order, Edmund Burke therefore sought to reform the British society gradually rather than rapidly, and aimed at halting the elites’ abuse of power without heading toward civil war.
According to “The Cambridge Companion to Edmund Burke,” Burke firmly believed that religion is one of the main foundational pillars of society.
He criticized deism and atheism and maintained that Christianity was vital to maintain in order to push for social progress, both for man’s soul on the personal level, as well as for political arrangements and the preservation of constitutional and civil liberties.
The idea of limited governmental authority was viewed as essential, the necessity of independent institutions, the need for the secular separation of church and state to ensure a free, democratic society.
Burke strongly believed in the liberty of the people and the need to protect them against the political elites’ abuse of power.
He felt that only with a full understanding of history, could one avoid repeating mistakes of the past.
Yale University professor David Bromwich points out in “The Intellectual Life of Edmund Burke” that Burke wished for a society built on trust, and felt that democracy in its modern form could easily mean the end of the loyalty between the generations and the breaking away of social bonds between family structures and cultural roots.
Burke believed that democracy would lead to new heights of misuse of power, that modern society could see crimes committed on a terrifying scale precisely under democratic rule.
He analyzed the French Revolution (1789) – its ideology later developed into Marxism, socialism and communism.
It also anticipated the Russian Revolution of 1917, as well as the elite’s atrocities against civilians in the Soviet Union, for example, under Lenin and Stalin.
Historically, communism and socialism led to the rise of an immense state elite controlling the nation where the ideology was implemented. The aim was for all to unite across borders, in a borderless society freed from traditional religion and morality. This very doctrine is at the heart of what has undermined and weakened the European civilization.
Edmund Burke Conservatism: A strict socialism effectively means the end of personal freedom and totalitarian state rule. Many forget that the Nazi movement in Germany was a socialist movement. NAZI is the abbreviation of National Socialist Labour Party in Germany.
It saw Adolf Hitler come to power in a Western democratic nation, heavily controlled by mainstream media propaganda. The people were silenced by the strict ideology of socialist consensus, with diversity forbidden and freedom defined as the right to agree with the National Socialist elites.
Burke’s almost prophetic analysis of the future of democracies makes him a refreshingly different voice to this day.
Edmund Burke and Modern Conservatism: Bromwich points out that Burke was heavily engaged in criticizing the British Empire and especially the East India Company, which he felt misused its economic power and subdued Indians in a way that never would have been accepted if it were done to Englishmen.
He was one of the very first in modern Europe to discuss international justice at length and the need for Britain to keep its responsibilities toward the citizens of India, which it had colonized.
Today, the antiwar movement is largely identified as leftist, yet Burke demonstrated a clear-cut conservative voice who fought for international justice. He discussed freedom in terms of national sovereignty and the need for respect for differences, free speech and the voice of the people.
So, the rise of totalitarianism in democratic states has worried Europe’s intellectuals for a long time. Conservatism and its respect for plurality, freedom of religion, traditions and reluctancy to reform society too quickly may be the right path forward to regain stability.
