Benaiah
12-31-2007, 01:23 PM
Each political revolution follows its own distinctive course. But every revolution is a sharp, sudden change in the political and social order... that leads to a permanent and more or less radical alteration of government. Revolution implies a change in the structure of society that is-- in the propaganda of the revolutionaries at any rate-- for the benefit of the people.
Giuseppe Mazzini (1805-72), the Italian nationalist, thought that ideas held pride of place in a revolution. "Great revolutions," he said, "are the work rather of principles than of bayonets, and are achieved first in the moral, and afterward in the material, sphere." What is certain is that every revolution is successful; if it fails, it goes down in history as an insurrection or a conspiracy. Every revolution succeeds, in the end, because the forces opposed to it prove too weak to withstand it. But states are usually equipped to keep down the opreessed or the discontented. That is why there are many more failed rebellions in history than successful revolutions.
Introduction to Ideas that Shaped our World, Thunder Bay Press 1997 ( a random book on my shelf).
Giuseppe Mazzini (1805-72), the Italian nationalist, thought that ideas held pride of place in a revolution. "Great revolutions," he said, "are the work rather of principles than of bayonets, and are achieved first in the moral, and afterward in the material, sphere." What is certain is that every revolution is successful; if it fails, it goes down in history as an insurrection or a conspiracy. Every revolution succeeds, in the end, because the forces opposed to it prove too weak to withstand it. But states are usually equipped to keep down the opreessed or the discontented. That is why there are many more failed rebellions in history than successful revolutions.
Introduction to Ideas that Shaped our World, Thunder Bay Press 1997 ( a random book on my shelf).