Religion and Revolution

Billington’s previous book, his masterful cultural history of Russia, The Icon and the Axe, was acclaimed as a major departure in the interpretation of Russian culture. His present work, which aims to trace the origins of modern revolutionary faith and seeks to write the story “not of revolutions but of revolutionaries,” has so far received a highly critical reception, mainly on the part of Marxist commentators. I shall try to show that their criticism is mostly based on a misunderstanding of the author’s intentions. Although this book is not in the same class as Billington’s earlier work, it still has considerable merit, along with major flaws.

In the first part, the most original, Billington shows in instructive detail that mystic doctrines, sectarian secret societies, occult traditions, and Masonic cliques exerted a considerable influence on the men who were to become main actors in the drama of the French Revolution. For example, the...