Tag: counterrevolution

Chris Harman, The Lost Revolution, p.82

An uprising can only succeed if the masses feel they have chance of success. They are not drilled military formations, trained to maintain their ranks in retreat as in advance. They are men and women who will give their all if they are going to achieve liberation, but who will quickly disperse and drift back to their normal humdrum lives in the factory, the tenement, the pub, if they feel that that objective has been abandoned. A revolutionary movement that is sure of victory will forget everything else. But the moment leaders acknowledge that the old order is to continue […] the rank and file will begin to worry about their jobs, their homes, the attitude of the foremen and the local policeman.