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Single Idea 23867

[filed under theme 24. Political Theory / C. Ruling a State / 4. Changing the State / c. Revolution ]

Full Idea

There is no real break in continuity after a bloody struggle for regime change; for the victory just sanctions forces that before the struggle were the decisive factor in community life, patterns which were replacing those of the declining regime.

Gist of Idea

After a bloody revolution the group which already had the power comes to the fore

Source

Simone Weil (Reflections on Liberty and Social Oppression [1934], p.73)

Book Ref

Weil,Simone: 'Oppression and Liberty' [Routledge 1955], p.73

A Reaction

[from Marx] I assume she has in mind the French Revolution, and perhaps the Russian Revolution, though in the latter the new bourgeois leaders also got swept away. So revolutions are not nearly as dramatic as they appear to be.

Related Idea

Idea 23873 Dividing history books into separate chapters is disastrous [Weil]

The 18 ideas with the same theme [overthrow of the government by citizens]:

19931 Every state is more frightened of its own citizens than of external enemies [Spinoza]
19902 Any obstruction to the operation of the legislature can be removed forcibly by the people [Locke]
19908 Rebelling against an illegitimate power is no sin [Locke]
19911 If legislators confiscate property, or enslave people, they are no longer owed obedience [Locke]
19747 Revolutionaries usually confuse liberty with total freedom, and end up with heavier chains [Rousseau]
19837 If inhabitants are widely dispersed, organising a revolt is much more difficult [Rousseau]
19843 The state is not bound to leave civil authority to its leaders [Rousseau]
21756 All revolutions result from spirit changing its categories, to achieve a deeper understanding [Hegel]
22971 In moving from capitalism to communism a revolutionary dictatorship of the proletariat is needed [Marx]
21991 The middle class gain freedom through property, but workers can only free all of humanity [Marx, by Singer]
21990 Theory is as much a part of a revolution as material force is [Marx]
20273 The French Revolution gave trusting Europe the false delusion of instant recovery [Nietzsche]
23867 After a bloody revolution the group which already had the power comes to the fore [Weil]
23856 Spontaneous movements are powerless against organised repression [Weil]
21997 In Marxism the state will be superseded [Singer]
20288 You can't condemn violent revolution without assessing the evils it prevents [Singer]
22258 Passion for progress is always short-lived [Sandel]
23125 Most good social changes are incremental, rather than revolutionary [Gopnik]