Reversionism

Reversionism was a mainly Razanite social movement in the 19th century which advocated for the 'reversing' of social relations through promoting individual spiritual self-reliance, as well as social organizing with a view to ultimately establishing egalitarian, utopian communities.

History

Reversionism is generally considered to have sprung from the religious revival of Gregorianism among Razanites beginning in the late 18th century. The expansion of religious fervor and public mobilisation in the Triumvirate of Razan in the Tayan War gave rise to, alongside more mainstream intensifications of Gregorian devotion, various movements interested in a more authentic individual spirituality, and its actualization against Razan's social context as a stratified aristocratic merchant republic. Reversionism as its own current formed in the 1800s as 'reversion' of social relations through individual efforts, to truly vindicate one's own faith as above all sclerotic convention, became theorized as praxis across several spiritual movements and communities. The mobilization of volunteers in Yedibelgi's War further catalyzed reversionist militancy, beginning a tradition of itinerant, close-knit, and armed reversionist communities that adventured around Abaria out of ascetic fervor.

By the 1830s reversionists were a major force on Razan's western frontier. From the 1830s many reversionist communities participated in the Razanite conquest of Cascay to acquire land in the central Abarian steppe, which they would use to establish new utopian communities such as Shining Needle City in. In the central Abarian oasis kingdoms, the reversionists spearheaded the spread of Calesian ideas and Razanite evangelism, and agitated for the overthrowing of the kingdoms' rulers and social systems. In the former Saqlaganid Empire they were active in working with local liberal revolutionaries, bringing about the 1838 War of the Backdoor, which reinvigorated the militant tendencies of reversionist communities elsewhere.

After the War of the Backdoor reversionists transformed into a substantial force in the Razanite heartland itself, no longer just remaining on Razan's frontiers and fringes or in small quietist communes. They promoted revolutionary change of Razanite society and participated considerably in movements such as organized labor or the advocacy of moral legislation. Utopian communities mushroomed around eastern Razan and now intended to prove the viability of new socio-economic models, establishing entire parallel societies seceding from a perceived corrupt, commercializing Razan; in the 1860s as many as 20% of Razan's population lived in reversionist communities, having been substantially bolstered by immigration to the Triumvirate heartland and efforts at social emancipation in former Saqlaganid lands. In this effort Reversionists refused to vote or comply with other authorities leading to increasing conflicts and anxieties over their subversive influence. Increased participation in reversionist activities in the homeland also supported their growth abroad, emboldening the reversionist revolutions that initiated the Razanite conquest of Central Abaria in the 1860s.

As reversionist war parties rampaged through central Abaria, however, conservatives among the eastern Razanite patriciate saw the movement as a subversive threat and grew anxious at their growing influence. Land owners of the Altigor interior and chieftains from the Cascay had long complained about reversionist undermining of their influence and their incorporation into the political elite meant more attention paid to the issue; by now, labor activism and independent political organization was threatening the Chal patricians too, and aggressive moral regulation alienated broad groups across the rest of society. Liberal politicians remained sympathetic, and the federal military intervention into central Abaria allowed reversionist-led revolutionary republics to be established by 1868. At this point, however, the reversionist victories incited unrest at home: armed volunteers returning from central Abaria attempted to unsuccessfully overthrow local governments in the Contrarian Revolts, and the Razanite public was thrown into panic. A counterrevolutionary alliance was elected after the revolts, and the accession of the new republics stalled as Congress in Shaghirsenir refused to admit the revolutionary states while the revolutionaries themselves demanded that Razan bend to their principles.

In the event, a purge of Shaghirsenir-friendly moderates in 1872 and the proclamation of the Artuchian Federation led a complete breakdown of relations. The Razanite government initiated its own retaliatory purge of reversionist organizations in the name of combating revolution and in 1873 invaded Artuchia in the Southwestern War. The war was complemented by the pervasive and total suppression of reversionists in federal territory, although after the Contrarian Revolts a small majority of Razanite communities disavowed the Artuchians and were able to negotiate for their own co-optation through recanting reversionist ideas. Still, dozens of communes were disbanded by force and thousands of leaders were imprisoned or killed, and renunciation of reversionism was to be done under close state supervision. 'Contrarianism', defined broadly as social secessionism the reversionist communes practiced, was criminalized as part of emergency laws, and targeted by 'reconstruction' efforts in former Artuchia after the war's end and the final accession of central Abaria in 1875.

Many communities within Razan still managed to survive with a reversionist identity through cooperation with authorities and later refoundation after the end of the reverse ideology laws. Reversionist communities established abroad in places such as Yingok or Calesian countries also managed to survive the purges. But reversionism never again became a substantial independent force and in the 20th century its activism was hitched to that of other ideologies and programs.

Legacy

What was supposed to be an emergency crackdown on reversionists went on indefinitely in Razan: the enforcement of 'reconstruction' and 'anti-contrarian laws', especially in the hundreds of 'pacified' communities across the country to ensure their rehabilitation, was a key part of Razan's transformation into an authoritarian reactionary oligarchy in 1880s. An entire new local political machinery was established in the name of enforcing reconstruction, although it was often part of reversionist communities' own efforts to reintegrate into the federal state than a dragonnade imposed from without. This period even founded many institutions that remain important in Razan today: 'Native' rights laws in Cascay were first legislated ostensibly in response to the seizure of land by reversionist communities and the forced imposition of moral regulations on steppe inhabitants; the federal enshrinement of ceremonial, traditional monarchs and chieftains was also first established as part of corrective measures in 1875; contrarianism remains the overarching designation for seditious crimes — which includes, though is rarely enforced, failure to vote — in Razanite law today. Despite or because of the reversionists' own professed spiritualism, another Razanite religious awakening in the 1860s would target the supposed libertine deviations they were seen as representing, and numerous new Razanite churches that remain significant today grew out of efforts to re-impose moral discipline on the reversionist communities, some of which were organized by recanted reversionists themselves.

The reversionists were a major inspiration for other secessionist movements that emerged in the second half of the 19th century, who saw the strategy of establishing alternative and parallel communities as the path for social reform.