Traditional Community

It could well be argued that one of the major causes of the Liberal-Modernist (Revolutionary) society that dominates the world today was the loss of Traditional Community or Village Life.

The instrument that was most significant in the destruction of Traditional Community was the Industrial Revolution (notice how everything that was called a revolution had negative affects on society). This Revolution called young people to move to the exciting city to get factory job and leave behind (or sell) their farms and villages. This of course had negative affects on the people who left and on society as a whole; problems that have continued to the present day.

Traditional Community, or Village Life, had a very significant impact on life itself and was, one could claim, the device that kept Tradition alive in society (which explains why Western Tradition is all but dead now). Village Life influenced all of the important things in society such as Family, Religion, Morality, Economy and Political Power.

In Village Life one was often judged not only as an individual but also by one's Family background. Quite often a person's treatment of another villager was based on their relationship with that persons family. This made people want to stay on good terms with their family.

Families would usually comprise of three generations with the Man, his wife and children, his parents and close to his farm would be the houses of his many brothers and their families making a kind of "clan" that influenced the Village significantly.

Keeping the Family Name respectable was an incentive that had many positive affects on life and fear of shaming one's Family deterred one from many things.

Family bonds were also much stronger in Village Life and when difficult situations arose for someone in the family, like crop failure or debt, the men of that family would get together and solve the problem as a group. Presumably this was much more reliable "insurance" than what is available today.

In Village Life Religion was a much more powerful force. The Priest in his village was really the father of his people whom the villagers would come to not only for spiritual matters but also for advice on temporal problems.

The Priest would often be the most learned and well traveled man in the village and be the defender and advocate of his flock against traveling con men and Legal problems. Priests would also be called upon to settle disputes among the Villagers being seen as the best way for a fair judgment.

Oftentimes an entire Village would practice the same religion which made spirituality much more real in the lives of its people. One's life revolved around the faith and religion was incorporated into part of a Villagers life. Examples of this would be Mass, the Angelus, Vespers, Grace before Meals, Processions, Weddings, Baptisms, Blessing of the Fields, Funerals etc. most of which were done as a community making a Village intensely united as everyone shared each other's most important beliefs.

Morality in Villages was much higher and crime was much lower. Those living in villages knew that everyone else would recognize you if they saw you stealing something and would know if you had something that did not belong to you. This made your getting away with something incredibly unlikely giving no incentive to commit a crime. Fear of Shaming your family was also a deterrent as your crime affected their lives as well (and they would deal with you much worse than the law would)

Village Economy was much more profitable to society. Those living in a village had no choice but to invest in their community by buying and selling locally. This caused wealth to stay in the village which made people much more wealthy and less unemployed. The "Market" in a village was much more honest as people were less likely to cheat someone they knew since childhood and poor quality goods were not tolerated by the community.

Finally Government in villages was much more effective and much less corrupt. Its effectiveness was due to the fact that it concerned itself with much less than small local government does today. Also those who had a voice in the government was limited to men with property which enabled much more beneficial decisions as the town beggar couldn't vote on a decision that might jeopardize the welfare of your farm. Voting or decision making was also more grounded in reason than emotion as those who had the most to lose would tend to make a more prudent decision. Only men were needed to vote as village issues were mostly of an economic or political nature and a man's vote represented not just himself but his entire family.

One can see by these reasons that it was wise for the Revolutionaries to get people out of the village and into the city were they would lose the protection of Ordered life and be easy to manipulate.

Traditionalists will find it hard indeed to bring society back to this well ordered life but we must try to the best of our ability. It is incorrect to think however that Traditional Community is dead, it still is alive in parishes that bond together united by religion. To bring back Traditional Community we must strengthen parish communities as that seems the best way to Counter the Revolutionary idea of Urbanism and Globalism.