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Dynamics of Counterrevolution in Europe, 1870-1956: An Analytic Framework
To probe into counterrevolution is to venture onto treacherous ground. The word-concept "counterrevolution" carries a considerable political and emotional load. The establishment dislikes it because of its censorious connotations, and left-wing dissenters embrace it for its critical thrust. Because it is so politically charged, historians and social scientists tend to shy away from it, insisting on its incompatibility with their value-free labors.
192 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 1971
About the author
Arno J. Mayer
16 books34 followersA specialist in modern Europe, diplomatic history, and the Holocaust, Arno Joseph Mayer was Dayton-Stockton Professor of History, Emeritus, at Princeton University. A self-proclaimed "left dissident Marxist", Mayer's major interests were in modernization theory and what he called "The Thirty Years' Crisis" between 1914 and 1945.
After fleeing the Nazi conquest of Europe in 1940, Mayer became a naturalized citizen of the United States and enlisted in the United States Army. During his time in the Army, he was trained at Camp Ritchie, Maryland and was recognized as one of the Ritchie Boys. He served as an intelligence officer and eventually became a morale officer for high-ranking German prisoners of war. He was discharged in 1946. He received his education at the City College of New York, the Graduate Institute of International Studies in Geneva and Yale University. He was professor at Wesleyan University (1952–53), Brandeis University (1954–58) and Harvard University (1958–61). He taught at Princeton University beginning in 1961.
After fleeing the Nazi conquest of Europe in 1940, Mayer became a naturalized citizen of the United States and enlisted in the United States Army. During his time in the Army, he was trained at Camp Ritchie, Maryland and was recognized as one of the Ritchie Boys. He served as an intelligence officer and eventually became a morale officer for high-ranking German prisoners of war. He was discharged in 1946. He received his education at the City College of New York, the Graduate Institute of International Studies in Geneva and Yale University. He was professor at Wesleyan University (1952–53), Brandeis University (1954–58) and Harvard University (1958–61). He taught at Princeton University beginning in 1961.
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Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews
March 16, 2023
Regarding its discussion of the class base and political and ideological style of counterrevolutionaries, a careful reading of this book is extremely useful for understanding fascist phenomena in our time like DeSantis, Trumpism, and alt right movements and their paramilitary street tough auxiliaries. Among the parallels:
Counterrevolutionaries, unlike conservatives or reactionaries, have a mass base in the petty bourgeoisie and other classes that see themselves as threatened, betrayed, or in retreat ("Remember what they took from you").
Counterrevolutionaries are also adept at the kind of mass politics and rabble-rousing that conservatives and reactionaries find distasteful. Their program generally includes a large component of economic populism, albeit very vague in regard to the concrete details of policy (and prone to become still more vague the closer they are to actually achieving power).
Counterrevolutionaries in the present-day U.S. contemptuously denounce traditional conservative elites as "RINOs," but quietly depend on their support for substantive inroads into centers of power; meanwhile traditional conservative elites act on the mistaken belief that they can harness counterrevolutionaries for their own purposes with no loss of power.
Counterrevolutionaries, unlike conservatives or reactionaries, have a mass base in the petty bourgeoisie and other classes that see themselves as threatened, betrayed, or in retreat ("Remember what they took from you").
Counterrevolutionaries are also adept at the kind of mass politics and rabble-rousing that conservatives and reactionaries find distasteful. Their program generally includes a large component of economic populism, albeit very vague in regard to the concrete details of policy (and prone to become still more vague the closer they are to actually achieving power).
Counterrevolutionaries in the present-day U.S. contemptuously denounce traditional conservative elites as "RINOs," but quietly depend on their support for substantive inroads into centers of power; meanwhile traditional conservative elites act on the mistaken belief that they can harness counterrevolutionaries for their own purposes with no loss of power.
July 25, 2022
Why are there so few studies about counterrevolutions, despite the fact that the modern history is overwhelmingly dominated by counterrevolutions than revolutions?
Mayer, a comrade historian, asks this question and attempts to conceptualise a working definition of "counterrevolution" based on a distinction between reactionaries, conservatives and counter-revolutionaries. There are insightful passages in Mayer's book, but more often than not he loses the narrative thread in very abstract, hypothetical scenarios, without giving the reader a general sense of his direction. This may be because this book was probably intended to be the preliminary draft of his next study titled The Persistence of the Old Regime: Europe to the Great War.
For me, the highlights of the book were his emphases i) on the international character of the clash between revolution and its counterpart; ii) on the intra-ruling class struggle and manoeuvring for hegemony among the counterrevolutionary alliance, iii) and on the fact that the main objective of any counterrevolution is to allow the ruling classes "to create the impression that they seek fundamental changes in government, society and community" while avoiding "any consequential changes in class structure and property relations".
Half a century after the publication of this book, "the" book on the counterrevolutions is still waiting to be written.
Mayer, a comrade historian, asks this question and attempts to conceptualise a working definition of "counterrevolution" based on a distinction between reactionaries, conservatives and counter-revolutionaries. There are insightful passages in Mayer's book, but more often than not he loses the narrative thread in very abstract, hypothetical scenarios, without giving the reader a general sense of his direction. This may be because this book was probably intended to be the preliminary draft of his next study titled The Persistence of the Old Regime: Europe to the Great War.
For me, the highlights of the book were his emphases i) on the international character of the clash between revolution and its counterpart; ii) on the intra-ruling class struggle and manoeuvring for hegemony among the counterrevolutionary alliance, iii) and on the fact that the main objective of any counterrevolution is to allow the ruling classes "to create the impression that they seek fundamental changes in government, society and community" while avoiding "any consequential changes in class structure and property relations".
Half a century after the publication of this book, "the" book on the counterrevolutions is still waiting to be written.
April 5, 2025
Solid read. Purely a work of theory imo, there is very little if any discussion of historical examples, yet presents a nice paradigm and research questions to better understand counterrevolution. Well written, probably need to read more Mayer to fully grasp the information content, good intro to his thought.
Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews