If today’s socialists know little about early socialist philosophies, they know even less about the fascinating relationship between utopian socialism and occultism. Non-Marxist socialist currents in the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries were closely intertwined with esoteric occult movements. Where one was found, the other was usually near at hand. Though we may be loath to admit it, socialist history featured more than a few séances amid the strikes.
The seeds of both socialism and the spiritualist movements of the 19th century can be found in the explosion of Masonic-influenced secret societies from the 18th century onwards. Masonry (at least since the Scottish Rite was devised in pre-revolutionary France) did abound with mystical mythologising and tossing esoteric symbols around, and (whilst respectably conservative to an extent) did have a kernel of egalitarianism, holding its members to be equals regardless of social class in the outside world. Of course, this wasn’t daring enough for some people, so more radical offshoots, though no less cloaked in the garb of occultism, formed (the Bavarian Illuminati are probably the best known, though republican secret societies in Bourbon-ruled Italy were probably more historically influential).
