Marxism and Nazism functioned as secular forms of millennialism.

Evidence

By the late eighteenth century, however, a second form of millennialism was developing, unconnected to religious concepts. This consisted of secular visions of a perfect future—ideas propelled by faith in transcendent but not conventionally religious forces. These forces were sometimes identifi ed with reason, and sometimes with science or history. By the late nineteenth century, secular millenarian visions had become closely linked with political ideologies, especially those that grew out of ideas about nationality, class, and race. Hence the twentieth century was both dominated and scarred by Marxism, Nazism, and a host of nationalisms, all of which promised a millennial consummation to some group judged to be particularly worthy. Like earlier religious millenarians, these secular ideologists linked the end-times with a great battle between the forces of good and evil—not a literal, biblical Armageddon, but a struggle of comparably cosmic importance. — Michael Barkun, A Culture of Conspiracy, 127

Categorization

• DEFINE: Defines ‘secular millennialism’ and argues totalitarian ideologies fit the millenarian template despite lacking religion.
• XREF: Mirrors the Frankfurt School claim that Horkheimer and Adorno read ideology as a species of the religious/eschatological structure. — connects to: Nazi ideology deliberately operated on millennial time scales to justify extreme measures — Hannah Arendt, The Origins of Totalitarianism, 2762; The religious-versus-secular millennialism dichotomy no longer holds. — Michael Barkun, A Culture of Conspiracy: Apocalyptic…, 131; Communist Marxism functioned as a secular religion with Jewish roots — Bernard Lewis, From Babel to Dragomans: Interpreting…, 330 (+3 more)

Broader Connections

• Nazi ideology deliberately operated on millennial time scales to justify extreme measures #corroborates (0.92) — Hannah Arendt, The Origins of Totalitarianism, 2762
• Totalitarian movements justify present terror by reckoning in millennia rather than generations #corroborates (0.90)
• Nazi Germany functioned as a secular religion replacing Christian rites. #corroborates (0.85) — Sheldon Solomon, Jeff Greenberg, Tom Pyszczynski, The Worm at the Core, 464
• Communist Marxism functioned as a secular religion with Jewish roots #expands (0.75) — Bernard Lewis, From Babel to Dragomans, 330
• The religious-versus-secular millennialism dichotomy no longer holds. #qualifies (0.72) — Michael Barkun, A Culture of Conspiracy, 131
• Secular ideologies have caused genocides comparable to religious ones #corroborates (0.72)