After spending countless hours perusing the AltRight/Orthosphere Reactionary websites I have come to a conclusion that there are exactly 7 types of Reactionary. We are all undoubtedly Reactionaries, but of what particular ideological leaning depend largely upon which group you find yourself in. What is also noticable are the particular intellectual figures most emphasized by the members of each reactionary group and also their particular form of religiosity.
The 7 groups are listed below, in alphabetical order:
Aristocratists
High Culturists
Monarchists
OrthoConservatives
Right-wing Populists
Third Positionists
Traditionalist Conservatives
It is important to note that, since we are all Reactionaries, all the types listed above do have overlaps. This system of organizing must also be understood as a hierarchy. Because we are all Reactionaries, a classification along the lines of "Socialist" or "Liberal" or "Conservative", these are sub-groupings and within them are sub-sub-groupings. The following are the listings of sub-sub-groupings, to show what I mean:
Aristocratists - Nietzscheans, Neo-Pagans (Nouvelle Droite), and Conservative Revolutionists
High Culturists - High Tories and Elitists
Monarchists - Pan-Monarchists, Absolutists, Divine Rightists, Autocratists, and Caesarists
OrthoConservatives - Christian Reactionaries and Latin Conservatives
Right-wing Populists - Nationalists and Populists
Third Positionists - National Anarchists, Evolians, and White Nationalists
Traditionalist Conservatives - Paleoconservatives and "old school" Conservatives
All of the 7 types also have their own ideological figureheads, with certain figures this can overlap. Of the influential figures Joseph de Maistre has perhaps the largest influence. He has influenced all of the 7 types, although some more than others. Then there are figures specifically for a particular type who have very little, if any, influence outside of that type. In particular I believe Benito Mussolini has largely influenced only Third Positionists, others may enjoy some ideas of his but do not count him among their intellectual influences. The following are a list of significant figureheads in each type:
Aristocratists - Friedrich Nietzsche, Alain de Benoist, Oswald Spengler, Ernst Junger, and Carl Schmitt.
High Culturists - T.S. Eliot, Dante Alighieri, Aristotle, Niccolo Machiavelli, and Cicero
Monarchists - Joseph de Maistre, Louis de Bonald, Juan Donoso Cortes, and Jacques Bossuet
OrthoConservatives - Joseph de Maistre, Juan Donoso Cortes, Louis de Bonald, C.S. Lewis, and Charles Maurras
Right-wing Populists - Thomas Jefferson, Charles Coughlin, Pim Fortuyn, and Jean-Marie Le Pen
Third Positionists - Benito Mussolini, Julius Evola, and Francisco Franco
Traditionalist Conservatives - Edmund Burke, G.K. Chesterton, Benjamin Disraeli, Enoch Powell, and Joseph de Maistre
I find myself influenced in some way by most of these thinkers. Above all, for me at least, is the great Joseph de Maistre. He sits alone above the rest, as the greatest Reactionary intellectual in Western history. Of the types listed above, Right-wing Populist is the type I find least affiliation with. The group I identify with most is the OrthoConservatives; a good combination of tradition Christianity (specifically Roman Catholicism), moralism, hierarchy, and racial solidarity.
If you care to comment, of the 7 Reactionary types listed above, which do you believe best represents your philosophy?
Oh man, I'm definitely an OrthoConservative. Always have been in a sense, even before I knew what it was.
ReplyDeleteI need to start reading the works of those figureheads.
The works of most figureheads listed in this post can be found at the tab on this blog titled 'Canon'. I have a list of over two dozen free e-books available for everyone to read, all from Reactionary thinkers.
DeleteThis book may interest you: Catholic Political Thought.
ReplyDeleteInteresting list. I'm not sure where I fit in. I generally consider myself a Third Positionist, but my influences are all over the place. My figureheads include: CZ Codreanu, GK Chesterton, Ernst Juenger, Charles Maurras, Alain De Benoist (although I am NOT a neo-pagan), and Hilaire Belloc. I suppose I could call myself a Radical Reactionary.
ReplyDeleteThis is an interesting breakdown of the various positions on the right. I would primarily identify with the second, third, fourth and seventh, myself.
ReplyDeleteThose are the same four groups I find closest affiliation with. It is perhaps due to our more Christian and traditionalist orientation.
DeleteInteresting post. I suppose I identify most with the "High Culturists" or "Traditionalist Conservatives," based on the writers you list with those groups. I'm not really familiar with a lot of the people you list, though I'm working on that.
ReplyDeletePerhaps it's because I'm still relatively new to the reactionary worldview (I was a libertarian until a couple years ago), but I'd be interested in seeing you expand on what you mean by some of these divisions, since I only have a vague idea what you mean by some of them. For instance, wouldn't Aristocratists, High Culturists, and OrthoConservatives all be at least sympathetic to monarchy, if not monarchists outright? What distinguishes them from the Monarchists, then?
It is true; Aristocratists, High Culturists, and OrthoConservatives almost entirely favor Monarchism. Yet I made Monarchism its own classification for the fact that some people are Monarchist, without being too focused on the more political issues outside of legitimacy. This does not mean they lack any interest in cultural/social conservative issues, just that Monarchy is their specific interest. At the same time people such as us believe in Monarchy but do not regard it as our central issue. Consider the website ‘The Orthosphere’ or even my own blog here, I believe in Monarchism but at the same time do not talk much about it.
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