Faith & Spirit Quote by Robin G. Collingwood

Revolution doesn’t need polite disagreement; it needs an enemy with a clean, unmistakable outline. Collingwood’s line is a philosopher’s version of cold political realism: the “reactionary” isn’t just an obstacle but a lighting rig. By resisting change openly, reactionaries strip away the fog of half-measures, compromises, and fashionable ambiguity. They make it harder for everyone else to pretend the stakes are merely technical. In that sense, Collingwood’s gratitude is less piety than strategy: conflict, when sharply drawn, forces the question into daylight.

The subtext is a dig at the soft middle - the people who want progress without rupture, reform without choosing sides. A reactionary clarifies “the issue” because they refuse the comforting language of moderation. They say, in effect, we are keeping the old order, and that bluntness makes the revolutionary’s counterclaim legible: no, the old order is precisely what must be broken. The line also reveals Collingwood’s sense of history as argument. In his philosophy, ideas don’t float above events; they collide inside them. Opposition isn’t noise; it’s part of how a historical moment thinks itself through.

Context matters: writing in the shadow of European upheavals between the wars, Collingwood saw politics harden into camps and myths. His quip has bite because it’s double-edged - a compliment that’s also a warning. Reactionaries can clarify, but they can also radicalize; the same sharp contrast that energizes a revolution can push a society toward purges, absolutes, and the thrill of moral certainty.