Survivalism

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Survivalism

Survivalism is a loosely constructed system of belief and action centered around preparation for the destruction of the existing social order through a series of catastrophic events. While survivalism has roots in Christian premillennialism, it appears in the context of a wide variety of belief systems, reflecting the potency of millennialist belief in American culture more than the demands of any particular theological system.

Most survivalists are white males of a conservative religious and political bent. Survivalist practices enjoy their greatest popularity among members of the American paramilitary subculture, who seldom link survivalism with religious doctrine, and among militant racist and antigovernment groups such as Dan Gayman's Church of Israel and James Ellison's Covenant, The Sword and the Arm of the Lord, both Christian Identity organizations. Survivalism is not restricted to these subcultures, however, appearing at times among groups whose beliefs lie at the opposite end of the ideological spectrum. Elizabeth Clare Prophet's Church Universal and Triumphant, an heir to the Western metaphysical tradition passed down through Theosophical organizations and their kin, and environ mentalist survival groups such as Ontario's Ark Two Survival Community are two recent examples.

Survivalists envision a variety of apocalyptic scenarios, including nuclear war, environmental holocaust, race wars, widespread disease, economic collapse, and divinely ordained Armageddon. Their means of preparing for these situations can include stockpiling food and weapons, developing combat skills, amassing knowledge of medical techniques, herbal remedies, and other "survival skills," and building retreats in wilderness areas.

It is difficult to assess the prevalence of survivalism in contemporary society, given that the phenomenon appeals to diverse groups of individuals and is transmitted through informal networks rather than stable institutions. Estimates are further complicated by the fact that most survivalists believe that a certain amount of secrecy is essential to the success of their endeavor. Stephen N. Linder, in Survivalists (1982), estimated that as many as three million individuals are involved in the movement. The movement enjoyed a brief but well-documented renaissance in the early 1990s. This fact, coupled with an assessment based on the wide array of survivalist publications available on the open market and on the number of Internet sites as well as at conventions and survivalist stores currently in operation, would seem to indicate growth in the movement over the past decade.

Survivalism, in something close to its current form, first surfaced in about the 1920s, though the term itself was not coined until the mid-1970s. The earliest survivalists—early Christian Identity figure William Kullgren is an example—were premillennialist Christians, specifically post- or mid-Tribulationists, believing that Christians would have to survive some or all of the Tribulation before being raptured off the earth.

Survivalism began to break away from its religious underpinnings in the first years of the nuclear age, as members of the American mainstream culture began to take seriously the prospect of a world-destroying nuclear holocaust. Survivalism took on its most modern form in the post-Vietnam era, gathering in much from the paramilitary subculture it spawned. While coexisting with religiously influenced forms, proponents of survivalism's most recent incarnation often take pains to distance themselves from explicitly religious motivations.