Printouts of Progressivism

Revolution means regime change. Rulers, ruling institutions, the purposes of the country and its way of life: Revolutionaries aim at removing and replacing all of these with, well, themselves. If they reckon that they can do so nonviolently (1980s Central Europe and South Africa, 1950s France, 19th century England) they’ll do it that way. If not, not (America 1776-81, France 1789-93 and periodically thereafter, Russia, Italy, Germany, China in the last century). The United States has seen one peaceful and successful revolution, inaugurated by Progressives early in the 20th century, consummated in the New Deal and extended ever since. Its peacefulness was no guarantee of its sobriety, however, any more than the violence of the Founding Fathers’ revolution issued in tyranny.

Except for the War for Independence, violent revolutionaries have failed in America, consistently, with the partial exception of the post-Civil War Ku Klux Klan. The Weathermen, thankfully, count among those failures. Revolutionary violence is their “legacy” in the sense that they have passed it down to a subsequent generation—and unexpectedly, to their enemies, as well.

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