The Nobility and the Revolutionary Movements of the 20th Century
New radical ideas started spreading about how the nobility were useless. So you basically had a straight up christian, libertarian, socialist movement brewing almost 500 years before carl marks or michael bakunin. And like in so many revolts and revolutions, the idea of liberty was intimately tied up with the notion of equality. Because it's only when people have material and political equality that no one is in any position to dominate anyone else,. which is the necessary condition for liberty.
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Human beings have free will, but our actions are constrained by material realities. Understanding how material and practical conditions shape human behaviour can make all the difference between success and catastrophic failure when it comes to the whole spectrum of political action, from private sector negotiation, to crafting legislation, to making a revolution.
In this episode we look at:
The relationship between economic activity and the high status of women in traditional Haudenosaunee / Iroquois society
How World War I helped women win the right to vote in Europe and North America
How World War II catalyzed the Black civil rights movement in the United States.
The success, failure, and accidental success of the English Peasant’s Revolt of 1381
The implications of the Anarchist Revolution in Spain in 1936-1939 for the future of industrial civilization.
