Freemasonry

Short story is that freemasonry developed into a meeting place for intellectuals and it quickly, depending on the lodge, became radical. there were both right-wing and left-wing lodges. Catholicism is still a power institution, but at that time it was even more, a lot more powerful than now. freemasonic lodges were places for intellectuals to meet, since it was already a very popular network among authors into topics outside of the mainstream Christian culture. 
"a collision between old power hierarchies and new social networks." 
Leftist authors who note on the relations of Freemasonry and leftism: Trotksy; Grasmci; etc
== Branching ==
Religion; Cults; Clubs; Groups; Occult Orders