idiots can make revolutions

A revolution is a completely new dispensation. It involves the replacement of one ruling political class with another. More importantly it involves a restructuring of the control of resources.

The political class overthrown is not necessarily homogonous. It is more likely that it is a spectrum of interests and presentations but the whole spectrum has one essential purpose but can have completely opposing interests. It can, for example, be there to dominate a national economy but be within itself competing between sectors for determination of that policy, say for guaranteed investment and special state protection.

The conditions for revolutionary change are made of iron. First, the ruling group must be so divided, weakened and discredited that it cannot rule. Second there must be economic conditions that lead large sections of the population to the conclusion that they cannot sustain themselves with the present dispensation, third, the power of official institutions must be withering in certain geographic, institutional and cultural areas. Fourth, there must exist an alternative force that seems sufficiently disciplined and creditable to declare an alternative which has contacts in key institutions. Fifth, a majority of people must believe in a simple universal policy formula if only for a short period of time.

A revolution can never happen because a population suddenly believes in some nuanced system of ideas that an elite has propagated or either in the infallibility of an exceptional individual. Remember, revolutions may not be initiated initially by a mass but they succeed because of mass participation. The mass, believing revolution to be in their interest, is crucial if only to remain passive. Usually people in large and key institutions as the army and media acting in a complementary way are actually the decisive element.

If a significant part of the population adopts support for an idea or an individual this is not political change or economic change. It is a cultural change that will result only in cultural movement in the old system as sale of DVDs and records or increases in donations. Nothing takes place that is revolutionary unless the conditions described above exist. Anyone claiming any other thing is a charlatan. Revolutions don’t happen by thinking and chanting.

The revolutionaries may not even have good ideas. In fact they may be idiots and what they actually do to reorganise society may have no resemblance to what they said they would do. They may actually act in some bold but completely ridiculous theatrical way.

What happens after a revolution is that the preparations that went on before it to change the spectrum of forces and ideas no longer have validity. That is another objective of revolution, an end to idealism. There is afterwards a new spectrum and new validities. Institutions are reworked and culture is redone. Institutions are made to control resources and prevent alienation of power from groups. They are not made to reflect spiritual truths or natural law. A revolution is the reworking of the structure of culture as well as politics and economics often as violently enforced stupidities. These will have support if for the mass the issue of sustainability is settled.

Revolutions are the fast-forward or rewinds of history. They are not a talk show or a rock concert. They are not a university seminar. Revolutions are the violent replacement of one group of vile, exploitative idiots by a group of unformed amateurs in conditions of chaos. The chaos may be triggered by environmental collapse, war, epidemic or divine wind but it is managed by people and it is people who try to benefit from it.