Even though progressivism is associated with left liberals these days, I don’t think that was always the case. For example, those people of Godwin you alluded

Even though progressivism is associated with left liberals these days, I don’t think that was always the case. For example, those people of Godwin you alluded to were staunchly progressive in the early 20th century conception of the term. They had a belief in a higher form of human society powered by industrial technology and (ideological approved) science. Their idea of progress was unquestionably modernist, although reprehensible and dressed up with the trappings of reaction. They saw the further right conservatives as stuffy and backwards, hence why they ended up purging them. Even in the USA, the 1920s progressives sought to promote eugenics and ban the liquor, which they succeeded in doing.