Opinion of proletariat revolutions

[The Mikado]

...and the sailors in Kronstadt

Do you want to talk more about those guys or should I do the honours?

Oh, if you want to talk about the crushing of the Kronstadt rebellion in 1921 go ahead, I didn't think that it was relevant to establishing them as one of the two main forces behind...well, frankly, both 1917 revolutions.

[Filuwaúrdjan]

But, wait, wasn't Lenin still alive in 1921? Shocking, shocking.

[Peter the Lefty]

Freedom revolutions when waged against a regime that violently suppresses political dissent, as there is some glimmer of hope the conflict will install a ruling elite more responsive to the People's interests than the last. Horrible revolutions under most other circumstances - given that their support tends to come from just a minority of the population, the workers in general do not have the same interests as the intellectuals who are trying to lead them, and the end result is usually an oligarchy disguised under an inspiring ideology (people who live under authoritarianism often struggle to break with it).

Bourgeois-democratic revolutions are preferable. They provide the masses a way to bring about socialism from below if/when they want it later instead of having it forced upon them from above. The only real setback is that incremental reforms making capitalism more humane and sustainable tend to convince workers there is no need for the prevailing order's replacement. But if capitalism is what they want, who are we to deprive them of it? Maybe someday they will be ready to move on to something better.

This, precisely.

[H. Ross Peron]

Freedom revolutions when waged against a regime that violently suppresses political dissent, as there is some glimmer of hope the conflict will install a ruling elite more responsive to the People's interests than the last. Horrible revolutions under most other circumstances - given that their support tends to come from just a minority of the population, the workers in general do not have the same interests as the intellectuals who are trying to lead them, and the end result is usually an oligarchy disguised under an inspiring ideology (people who live under authoritarianism often struggle to break with it).

Bourgeois-democratic revolutions are preferable. They provide the masses a way to bring about socialism from below if/when they want it later instead of having it forced upon them from above. The only real setback is that incremental reforms making capitalism more humane and sustainable tend to convince workers there is no need for the prevailing order's replacement. But if capitalism is what they want, who are we to deprive them of it? Maybe someday they will be ready to move on to something better.

This, precisely.

[Cory]

Excellent revolutions, of course.