Failing to understand why and how things happen has the risk of resulting in poor decision-making, fostering unjustified frictions among competing ideals between individuals and groups. An accurate understanding of history is therefore crucial to building a better future, promoting informed citizenship, and preventing the repetition of past mistakes.

The Industrial Revolution as a Last Catalyst of Diverging Ideologies

In the XVIII^th century, in Great Britain, the world changes as never before. The Industrial Revolution changes everything that was known; the economy, politics, society, and the environment face a radical transformation that ushers in mankind’s era of machines. This epochal change is characterized by the introduction of machines, new energy sources and technological innovations. It also starts shaping the visions of tomorrow’s society. It would take two more centuries to bring about as impactful changes to the world.

The Revolution shifts Western economies from an agrarian and artisanal one to a large-scale industrial system. The introduction of machinery, as James Watt’s steam engine in 1769, brings production and efficiency to unparalleled results. Key industrial sectors, such as textile, minerals, and the steel industry, change the way newly industrialised countries create, build and live. High and efficient production makes people’s needs and desires available and accessible. The Industrial Revolution facilitates the expansion of international commerce and the creation of a global market (one that is currently at risk of deglobalization because of the constant rise of protectionism). With this revolution, the epoch of feudalism is over and capitalism is born. Cities start to develop and mass emigrations from rural to urban areas take place, which cause overcrowding, pollution, and poorer housing conditions. 

As this change in society occurs, society changes; there are new inseparable social classes, the bourgeoisie and the proletariat. Working conditions become harder and more dangerous, with long and under-compensated working days. These conditions start to activate the creation of social and syndicalist movements for the protection and rights of workers.

The Rise of Three Competing Visions

These changes inevitably bring adjustments to the political landscape. Established power structures are challenged, and new ideologies gain traction and are set to change and divide the world. However, our understanding of these shifts is often clouded by distortions in academic historical education due to the historical events that followed in the centuries. These distortions can lead to a misinterpretation of contemporary political dynamics, obscuring the complex relation of ideological influences that continue to shape the world.

Often, current political ideologies, especially those based on collectivism are defined as the result of the Industrial Revolution. These ideologies and movements, such as liberalism, communism, capitalism, imperialism, among others, are defined, opposed and compared. But could society be overlooking the broader context? And could this avoidance impact how we see political movements and affiliations? Or how political parties make coalitions and form governments? What if the Industrial Revolution did not directly create political movements? What if it created/reinforced a vision, or more precisely, three visions of tomorrow’s ideal world and society (ultimately impacting political decisions)?

These three different ideal societies can be grouped under collectivism, individualism and religionism. For simplicity, monarchies during Western feudalism are represented by the religionism vision of society.

Religionism: Divine Authority and Social Order

Religionism, intended as the ideological manipulation of religion for political and social ends, is deeply rooted in society. It aims to guide people and explain the unexplainable. Throughout the centuries, rulers, such as Pharaohs of Ancient Egypt, Louis XIV (France), and Ayatollah Khomeini (Iran), have merged religion with politics to claim divine authority and legitimacy. 

Religious institutions have served a powerful role, inspired movements and advocated for justice and reform. Religion has shaped human history, often leading to periods of stability and episodes of intense and inhumane conflicts. However, concerning contrasts can emerge in religionism, which derive from singular interpretations of religious texts, making strong claims on people’s allegiance to their divinity, while also leading to extreme interpretations of these texts. During periods such as the Inquisition, the Crusades and the Thirty Years’ War these extreme interpretations resulted in intolerance, violence and terrorism, deprivation of rights, obstructionism to scientific progress, and sectarianism. Modern times are not immunes to these aspects as religionism still exists today in movements like the United Thorah Judaism and Shas, the Bharatiya Janata Party, (more present in the past) Mormons, Hizb ut-Tahrir, Religious Zionist, (in the past) Christian States, the Taliban.

Religionism prioritizes the central role of religious institutions or governing religious authorities. In a religionist society, these entities distribute and allocate resources, actively intervening in the economy and social life to ensure citizens’ needs align with religious precepts. While often opposing secular capitalism and competition, religionist societies may selectively utilize them to improve the quality of life and stimulate innovation within religiously approved boundaries. Historically, religionist societies have seen advancements in areas such as architecture, art, and ethical frameworks, often driven by competition with other religious or secular powers.

Collectivism: The Primacy of the State and the People

In a collectivist society, the government distributes and allocates resources, it intervenes actively within the economy to guarantee that citizens’ needs are met. Collectivism advocates for a central role of the State (Fascism, Nazism, Kuomintang, etc…) or of the governing political one-party state (Bolshevism, Mensheviks, etc…). For simplification, the ‘government’ will be used to represent both the role of the State and the political party.  It typically opposes capitalism and competition. However, it also uses it, consciously or unconsciously, to elevate the quality of life of its citizens and to stimulate innovation. The USSR saw, and contributed to, significant advancements in space exploration, military development, energy resources and scientific research, all areas in which it was actively competing with the USA during the Cold War.

Collectivism is an often-idealised doctrine under which the individual is subordinate to the collective interests, whether within a social class, a nation or a State. Under this philosophy, individual liberty is often sacrificed for the collective good. In this sphere, we can group all the declinations of Marxism and communism: such as Bolshevism, Mensheviks, Social-revolutionaries, and Social-patriots. Ironically, collectivist ideologies often expanded in further declinations that resulted in the personalization of politics, despite initially emphasizing communal values. This is evident not only in movements explicitly named after leaders – such as Marxism (Russian Empire), Leninism (USSR), Stalinism (USSR), Maoism (China), Trotskyism (USSR), Francoism (Spain) – but also in those where individual figures exerted a strong influence – such as the movements associated with Kamenev (USSR), Zinoviev (USSR), Castro (Cuba), Minh (Vietnam), Luxemburg (Germany), Mussolini (Italy), Hitler (Germany), Sun Yat-sen (China) among others.

Historically, collectivist ideologies have all followed similar strategies for what they considered to be ‘the greater good’ and no impediment could deter them. They all became totalitarian regimes with a strong State and suppression of dissent and individual liberties. With varying intensity, the cult of the Leader was essential for the success of the movement, with propaganda and indoctrination of simplistic messaging essential to vehicle this cult. The government would exercise a strong control over the economy, nationalise industries and emphasise national unity and superiority. Nazism idealised the Aryan race while communism created the Superman that such a society would bring. Violence and terror were systematically used to ensure the stability of the government. One could choose to dissent in jail, in exile or underground. 

Collectivism envisions a society where the needs of the collective take precedence over individual liberties, aiming to ensure equitable resource distribution and societal advancement through centralized state control. However, this vision often manifests in totalitarian regimes that suppress dissent and elevate leaders through personality cults, paradoxically using elements of competition to drive innovation and improve the collective quality of life.

Individualism: Freedom, Markets, and Human Potential

Individualism, primarily found in Liberalism and its variations, challenges the traditional structure of power, advocates for individual freedom, the separation of powers and constitutional democracies. Liberal was used 16c.-17c. as a term of reproach with the meaning “free from restraint in speech or action”. Liberalism is founded on the principles of individual liberties, equality of treatment, democracy, free market and the protection and promotion of human rights. Generally, in an individualistic society, the freedom of the individual is set above collective interests.

Liberalism encompasses a wide spectrum of government intervention in society. On the one hand, Libertarianism and Objectivism, for example, typically represent the strongest implementation of individualism with minimal government intervention. On the other hand, Liberal-Democrats maintain a strong government intervention where essential needs and social welfare need to be protected. Generally, an individualistic society emphasizes privatization, deregulation, the free market and freedom of the individual. As opposed to collectivism, liberalism believes that the market and competition are the main drivers of efficient resource allocation, promotion of merit, creation of opportunities, development and innovation. Could the USSR have proved this theory during the Cold War (and China reinforced it in modern times)?

Throughout history, the vision of the individualistic society was sculpted by various movements. The Renaissance marked the rise of individual expression in art, literature and science, celebrating human potential and creativity, and fostering a culture of personal achievement. The Enlightenment further promoted this vision by challenging traditional authority and by advocating personal freedom and self-determination. Thinkers of these centuries, such as Locke and Voltaire, emphasised reason and individual rights, laying the path to modern liberal democracies.

Individualism, as embodied in liberalism, envisions a society where individual freedoms, human rights, and democratic principles are paramount, advocating for a balance between personal liberty and government intervention to protect essential needs. This ideology contrasts with collectivism by emphasizing the free market as the primary mechanism for resource allocation and innovation, a theory tested during the Cold War era, suggesting that competition and individual merit drive societal advancement.