Revolution of the Saints

The Revolution of the Saints: A Study in the Origins of Radical Politics by Michael Walzer, 320 pages

In a time of transition, there emerges an ideological elite which celebrates self-discipline, and seeks to reorder society along lines of its own devising.  The unwashed masses lacking the dedication and enthusiasm necessary for self-discipline, the faction embraces state-imposed repression to force the recalcitrant into the mold.  The faction is opposed to the existing, unpopular government - indeed, much of the elite spends time in exile - and so plots and ultimately carries out the violent, revolutionary overthrow of the old regime and the old, traditional relationships and ways of life associated with it.

This could accurately describe the Jacobins and the Bolsheviks, but in this book Walzer demonstrates that the Puritans also fit the description.  While the German Lutherans and French Huguenots were led by the native aristocracy, British Puritans, dominated by ministers from predominately middle-class backgrounds, were initially outside their national power elite.  In response, they evolved a revolutionary ideology which involved the use of force to reshape a natural political order which, in their Calvinist theology, was regarded as totally depraved.  The Puritans were led by an ideologically-pure intellectual elite, and pioneered techniques for control of the masses.  These developments led directly to the English Civil War, the execution of Charles I, and the rule of Cromwell's Protectorate, but also the demise of the "holy commonwealth" and its replacement by Lockean liberalism.

The book feels as if it could have been twice as long and still not exhausted the subject.