It’s something that’s struck me over and over as I’ve read through historical accounts of progressive movements, that despite their being ostensibly more collectivist compared to some conservative hyper-individualism…They struggle to hold together and coordinate to accomplish their goals. In some instances it’s interference or sabotage from outside, but as often it can be found from within as well.
What are some of the contributing factors here, and how might they be addressed to better accomplish progressive aims?
Conservatives aren’t actually hyper-individualists. That’s a wrong assumption. They’re individualists within confines. They have their set communities that are guided by an authority (church, for example) and they want everyone else to conform to their way of living.
Any conservative structure has an authoritarian leadership whose call to action will be heeded. The biggest disobedience you find will be people just not saying anything against it.
Unlike this, progressives deal with a lot of infighting because there’s a thousand ways to achieve things and any leadership is constantly scrutinized and criticised.
There’s an inherent speed and organisation advantage to single-point leadership (authoritarianism) Vs the more measured compromise system (democracy).
And then there’s the part where conservatives are the overwhelming majority of rich people, who can dump in the money to organise things. You have to be a garbage human to become filthy rich, and those garbage humans will of course happily work on campaigns to hold progressives back. Progress is the enemy of scum, the past is their friend.
I considered this, and was initially going to describe them more as leaning authoritarian as you (and others) have, but I didn’t think that fit well either. I tend to agree that conservatives are more inclined to authority and fall in line with it, but wouldn’t you say it’s also a wrong assumption that they want everyone else to conform to their way of living? The extremists among them, certainly, but that’s not what I was referring to.
Besides, there have been progressive/leftist movements that adopt a more authoritarian approach, but they’ve also tended to fall and/or get warped into something not really resembling leftist/progressive movements.