Richard Fernandez explains at PJMedia.com why the new year offers an excellent opportunity to consider the history of radical politics.
There have been several times in modern history when political idealists have set out to remake the world. The French Revolution in 1792, for example, attempted to redefine time: “When people who study the French Revolution read about the Uprising of Vendémiaire or the Insurrection of 12 Germinal An III, most simply scratch their heads and wonder, Vendémiaire? Germinal? An III? What’s that all about? Few ever bother to learn what these dates mean. In fact, they are part of the French Republican Calendar, aka Revolutionary Calendar, which replaced the Gregorian Calendar in France from 1793 to 1805.”
“The French Republican calendar (French: calendrier républicain français), also commonly called the French Revolutionary calendar (calendrier révolutionnaire français), was a calendar created and implemented during the French Revolution, and used by the French government for about 12 years from late 1793 to 1805.” …
… For 11 years in the 20th century, the Soviet Union had no weekends: “Unlike the ordinary seven-day week, the continuous week began as a five-day cycle, with each day color-coded and marked with a symbol. The population would be carved up into as many groups, each with its own rest day. The days of the week, as familiar as family members, would gradually be stripped of meaning.” …
… The fall of Stalin did not bring an end to such efforts. In the 1970s the Khmer Rouge began what was arguably the most ambitious effort up until then: the Year Zero project. …
… Those who believe such gigantic social engineering efforts are a thing of the past may want to read the New York Times’ article on the remolding of the non-Han people in 2019 China. “In Xinjiang the authorities have separated nearly half a million children from their families, aiming to instill loyalty to China and the Communist Party.”
