Editing Conservative Revolution (section)

== Name and definition ==
Although conservative essayists of the Weimar Republic like [[Arthur Moeller van den Bruck]], [[Hugo von Hofmannsthal]] or [[Edgar Jung]] had already described their political project as a ''Konservative Revolution'' ("Conservative Revolution"),{{Sfn|Woods|1996|pp=1–2}} the name saw a revival after the 1949 doctoral thesis of ''[[Neue Rechte]]'' philosopher [[Armin Mohler]] on the movement.{{sfn|Feldman|2006|p=304}} Molher's post-war ideological reconstruction of the "Conservative Revolution" has been widely criticized by scholars, but the validity of a redefined concept of "neo-conservative"{{Sfn|Dupeux|1994|pp=471–474}} or "new nationalist" movement active during the [[Weimar period]] (1918–1933),<ref name="Breuer 1993 194–198"/> whose lifetime is sometimes extended to the years 1890s–1910s,{{Sfn|Stern|1961}} and which differed in particular from the "old nationalism" of the 19th century, is now generally accepted in scholarship.<ref>{{harvnb|Breuer|1993|pp=194–198}}; {{harvnb|Dupeux|1994|pp=471–474}}; {{harvnb|Woods|1996|pp=1–2}}.</ref>
[[File:Arthur Moeller van den Bruck.jpg|thumb|Undated portrait of [[Arthur Moeller van den Bruck]]]]The name "Conservative Revolution" has appeared as a paradox, sometimes as a "semantic absurdity", for many modern historians, and some of them have suggested "neo-conservative" as a more easily justifiable label for the movement.{{Sfn|Woods|1996|pp=1–2}} Sociologist [[Stefan Breuer]] wrote that he would have preferred the substitute "new nationalism" to name a charismatic and [[Holism|holistic]] cultural movement that differed from the "old nationalism" of the previous century, whose essential role was limited to the preservation of the German institutions and their influence in the world.<ref>{{harvnb|Breuer|1993|pp=194–198}}; {{harvnb|Merlio|2003|p=130}}.</ref> Despite the apparent contradiction, however, the association of the terms "Conservative" and "Revolution" is justified in Moeller van den Bruck's writings by his definition of the movement as a will to preserve eternal values while favouring at the same time the redesign of ideal and institutional forms in response to the "insecurities of the modern world".{{Sfn|Giubilei|2019|p=2}}

Historian [[Louis Dupeux]], a specialist of the Conservative Revolution, saw the movement as an intellectual project with its own consistent logic, namely the striving for an ''Intellektueller Macht'' ("intellectual power"), if necessary via the use of modern technique and concepts, which would allow them to promote and gain wider support to conservative and revolutionary ideas directed against liberalism, egalitarianism, and traditional conservatism. This change of attitude, compared to 19th-century conservatism, is described as a ''Bejahung'' ("affirmation") by Dupeux: Conservative Revolutionaries said "yes" to their time as long as they could find the ways to facilitate the resurgence of anti-liberal and what they saw as "eternal values" within modern societies. Dupeux conceded at the same time that the Conservative Revolution was rather a counter-cultural movement than an actual philosophical proposition, relying more on non-rationalistic "feeling, images and myths" than on scientific analysis and concepts. He also admitted the necessity to distinguish several leanings, sometimes with contradictory views, within its diverse ideological spectrum.<ref>{{harvnb|Dupeux|1994|pp=471–474}}; {{harvnb|Dupeux|2005|p=3}}.</ref>

{{blockquote|text=[Conservative Revolutionaries] are, admittedly, as reactionary in politics as their pre-war predecessors, but they stand out by their ''optimism'' — or at least by their voluntarism — in front of the modern world. They do not really fear the ''masses'', nor the ''technique'' anymore. Yet this change of ''Haltung'' ("attitude") had significant consequences — the backward-looking regret is replaced by a juvenile energy — and led to a wide-ranging political and cultural initiative.|sign=Louis Dupeux, 1994{{Sfn|Dupeux|1994|pp=471–474}}}}
Political scientist Tamir Bar-On has defined the Conservative Revolution as a combination of "German ultra-nationalism, defence of the organic [[Volk|folk]] community, technological modernity, and socialist revisionism, which perceived the worker and soldier as models for a reborn authoritarian state superseding the egalitarian "decadence" of liberalism, socialism, and traditional conservatism."{{Sfn|Bar-On|2011|p=333}}