The Anatomy of Revolution
Encyclopedia
The Anatomy of Revolution is a book by Crane Brinton
outlining the "uniformities" of four major political revolutions: the English Revolution
of the 1640s, the American
, the French
, and 1917 Russian Revolution. Brinton notes how the revolutions followed a life-cycle from the Old Order to a moderate regime to a radical regime, to Thermidorian reaction
. The book has been called "classic, "famous" and a "watershed in the study of revolution," and has been influential enough to have inspired advice given to US President Jimmy Carter
by his National Security Advisor Zbigniew Brzezinski
during the Iranian Revolution
. Its title seems to have inspired others, such as Leo Huberman
, who wrote "Cuba: Anatomy of a Revolution" in 1969.
First published in 1938, revised editions of Brinton's book were published in 1952, and 1965, and it is still in print.
Brinton summarizes the revolutionary process as moving from "financial breakdown, [to] organization of the discontented to remedy this breakdown ... revolutionary demands on the part of these organized discontented, demands which if granted would mean the virtual abdication of those governing, attempted use of force by the government, its failure, and the attainment of power by the revolutionists. These revolutionists have hitherto been acting as an organized and nearly unanimous group, but with the attainment of power it is clear that they are not united. The group which dominates these first stages we call the moderates .... power passes by violent ... methods from Right
to Left
." (p.253)
," and ended "in something like dictatorship
— Cromwell
, Bonaparte
, Stalin
". The exception is the American Revolution, which "does not quite follow this pattern". (p. 24)
Financial problems play an important role, as "three of our four revolutions started among people who objected to certain taxes, who organized to protest them .... even in Russia in 1917 the financial problems were real and important." (p. 78)
The revolutions' enemies and supporters disagree over whether plots and manipulation by revolutionists, or the corruption and tyranny of the old regime are responsible for the old regime's fall. Brinton argues both are right, as both the right circumstances and active agitation are necessary for the revolution to succeed. (p. 85-6)
At some point in the first stages of the revolutions "there is a point where constituted authority is challenged by illegal acts of revolutionists" and the response of security forces is strikingly unsuccessful. In France in 1789 the "king didn't really try" to subdue riots effectively. In England the king "didn't have enough good soldiers." In Russia "at the critical moment the soldiers refused to march against the people" and instead joined them. (p. 88)
Contrary to the belief that revolutionaries are disproportionately poor
or down-and-out, "revolutionists are more or less a cross section of common humanity". While revolutionaries "behave in a way we should not expect such people to behave," this can be explained by the "revolutionary environment" rather than their background. (p. 120) "`Untouchables
` very rarely revolt," and successful slave revolutions, like Haiti
's, are few in number. (p.250) Revolutionaries are "not unprosperous" but "feel restraint, cramp, ... rather than downright crushing oppression."(p. 250)
, devours its children,` quoting Pierre Victurnien Vergniaud
(p. 121)
", or as Brinton prefers to call it "dual sovereignty". In England the "Presbyterian moderates in Parliament" were rivals of "the illegal government of the extremist Independents in the New Model Army." (p. 135) In France, the National Assembly was controlled by the "Girondin
moderates", while the Montagnard
"extremists" controlled "the Jacobin network," "the Paris commune," (p. 136) and the Societies of the Friends of the Constitution. (p. 162) In Russia, the moderate provisional government of the Duma clashed with the radical Bolsheviks whose illegal government was a "network of soviets." (p. 136)
The radicals triumph because they are
The radicals took power in Russia with the October Revolution
, in France with the purge of the Girondins, in England "Pride's Purge
" (p. 163). The American Revolution never had a radical dictatorship and Reign of Terror
, "though in the treatment of Loyalist, in the pressure to support the army, in some of the phases of social life, you can discern .. many of the phenomena of the Terror as it is seen in our three other societies." (p. 254)
The radical reign is one of "Terror and Virtue." Terror
steming from the abundance of summary executions, foreign and civil war, struggle for power; virtue
in the form of puritanical
"organized asceticism" and suppression of vices such as drunkenness, gambling and prostitution. (p. 180) In its ardor, revolutionary "tragicomedy" touches the average citizen, for whom "politics becomes as real, as pressing, as unavoidable ... as food and drink," their "job, and the weather." (p. 177)
On taking power the radicals rule through dictatorship and "rough-and-ready centralization." "The characteristic form of this supreme authority is that of a committee." (p. 171) The Council of State
in England, Committee of Public Safety
in France.
At some point in these revolutions, the "process of transfer of power from Right to Left ceases," and groups even more radical than those in power are suppressed. (p. 167) (In France, the Hébertists
are sent to the guillotine, (p. 168) in Russia the Kronstadt rebellion
is crushed.)
At least in France and Russia, the accession of radicals is also accompanied by a decline in political participation measured in votes cast, as "ordinary, peaceful", "humdrum men and women" favoring moderation find no outlet for their political beliefs. (p. 153-4)
Along with centralization, lethal force in suppression of opposition, rule by committee, radical policies include the spreading of "the gospel of their revolution" to other countries. This is found not only in the Russian and French revolutions, but even seventeenth century England, where Edward Sexby
"proposed to the French radicals" in Bordeaux
"a republican constitution which was to be called `L'Accord du Peuple` — an adaptation of the English Agreement of the People." (p.193) These attempts seldom make a significant impact as the revolutionaries "are usually too poor, and too occupied at home." (p. 213)
period, a period of relaxation from revolutionary policies or "convalescence" from the "fever" of radicalism. Thermidor is named for the period following the fall of Maximilien Robespierre
in the French Revolution, in Russia the New Economic Policy
of 1921 "can be called Russia's Thermidor" (p. 207), and "perhaps the best date" for that period in England is "Cromwell's dissolution of the Rump." (p. 206)
The Thermidor is characterized by
America did not have a proper Reign of Terror and Virtue, but "the decade of the 1780's displays in incomplete forms some of the marks of Thermidor," as evidenced by the complaint of historian J.F. Jameson that `sober Americans of 1784 lamented the spirit of speculation which war and its attendant disturbances had generated, the restlessness of the young, disrespect for tradition and authority, increase of crime, the frivolity and extravagance of society.` (p. 235-6)
in the Soviet bloc). In France, the revolution did away with "the old overlapping jurisdictions, the confusions and the compromises inherited from, the thousand-year struggle" between Crown and feudal nobility. Weights and measure "that varied from region to region, indeed from town to town" were replaced with the metric system. Also gone was non-decimal coinage unsuited "for long division."(p. 239) Some antiquated practices were also eliminated in England. (p. 239) In Russia, the Bolsheviks brought industrialization, and eventually the Sputnik space satellite. (p. 240) Confiscated lands stayed in the hands of the new owners for the most part, redistributing land to many "small independent peasants" in France (p. 241-2), and Puritan
businessmen and clergymen in England.(p. 242)
Remaining essentially "untouched" were day-to-day social relations between husband and wife and children. Attempts at establishing new religions and personal habits come to naught. The revolutions' "results look rather petty as measured by the brotherhood of man and the achievement of justice on this earth. The blood of the martyrs seems hardly necessary to establish decimal coinage." (p. 259)
", and the top-down reforms of Mustapha Kemal's reforms
in Turkey
, and the Meiji Restoration
or post-World War II
MacArthur era in Japan. (p. 246)
Crane Brinton
Clarence Crane Brinton was an American historian of France, as well as an historian of ideas...
outlining the "uniformities" of four major political revolutions: the English Revolution
English Civil War
The English Civil War was a series of armed conflicts and political machinations between Parliamentarians and Royalists...
of the 1640s, the American
American Revolution
The American Revolution was the political upheaval during the last half of the 18th century in which thirteen colonies in North America joined together to break free from the British Empire, combining to become the United States of America...
, the French
French Revolution
The French Revolution , sometimes distinguished as the 'Great French Revolution' , was a period of radical social and political upheaval in France and Europe. The absolute monarchy that had ruled France for centuries collapsed in three years...
, and 1917 Russian Revolution. Brinton notes how the revolutions followed a life-cycle from the Old Order to a moderate regime to a radical regime, to Thermidorian reaction
Thermidorian Reaction
The Thermidorian Reaction was a revolt in the French Revolution against the excesses of the Reign of Terror. It was triggered by a vote of the Committee of Public Safety to execute Maximilien Robespierre, Antoine Louis Léon de Saint-Just de Richebourg and several other leading members of the Terror...
. The book has been called "classic, "famous" and a "watershed in the study of revolution," and has been influential enough to have inspired advice given to US President Jimmy Carter
Jimmy Carter
James Earl "Jimmy" Carter, Jr. is an American politician who served as the 39th President of the United States and was the recipient of the 2002 Nobel Peace Prize, the only U.S. President to have received the Prize after leaving office...
by his National Security Advisor Zbigniew Brzezinski
Zbigniew Brzezinski
Zbigniew Kazimierz Brzezinski is a Polish American political scientist, geostrategist, and statesman who served as United States National Security Advisor to President Jimmy Carter from 1977 to 1981....
during the Iranian Revolution
Iranian Revolution
The Iranian Revolution refers to events involving the overthrow of Iran's monarchy under Shah Mohammad Reza Pahlavi and its replacement with an Islamic republic under Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini, the leader of the...
. Its title seems to have inspired others, such as Leo Huberman
Leo Huberman
Leo Huberman was an American socialist writer. In 1949 he founded and co-edited Monthly Review with Paul Sweezy.-Works:* Cuba: A revolution revisited* Vietnam: The Endless War* Socialism in Cuba...
, who wrote "Cuba: Anatomy of a Revolution" in 1969.
First published in 1938, revised editions of Brinton's book were published in 1952, and 1965, and it is still in print.
Brinton summarizes the revolutionary process as moving from "financial breakdown, [to] organization of the discontented to remedy this breakdown ... revolutionary demands on the part of these organized discontented, demands which if granted would mean the virtual abdication of those governing, attempted use of force by the government, its failure, and the attainment of power by the revolutionists. These revolutionists have hitherto been acting as an organized and nearly unanimous group, but with the attainment of power it is clear that they are not united. The group which dominates these first stages we call the moderates .... power passes by violent ... methods from Right
Right-wing politics
In politics, Right, right-wing and rightist generally refer to support for a hierarchical society justified on the basis of an appeal to natural law or tradition. To varying degrees, the Right rejects the egalitarian objectives of left-wing politics, claiming that the imposition of equality is...
to Left
Left-wing politics
In politics, Left, left-wing and leftist generally refer to support for social change to create a more egalitarian society...
." (p.253)
Themes
According to Brinton, while "we must not expect our revolutions to be identical" (p. 226), three of the four (the English, French and Russian) began "in hope and moderation", reached "a crisis in a reign of terrorReign of Terror
The Reign of Terror , also known simply as The Terror , was a period of violence that occurred after the onset of the French Revolution, incited by conflict between rival political factions, the Girondins and the Jacobins, and marked by mass executions of "enemies of...
," and ended "in something like dictatorship
Dictatorship
A dictatorship is defined as an autocratic form of government in which the government is ruled by an individual, the dictator. It has three possible meanings:...
— Cromwell
Oliver Cromwell
Oliver Cromwell was an English military and political leader who overthrew the English monarchy and temporarily turned England into a republican Commonwealth, and served as Lord Protector of England, Scotland, and Ireland....
, Bonaparte
Napoleon I of France
Napoleon Bonaparte was a French military and political leader during the latter stages of the French Revolution.As Napoleon I, he was Emperor of the French from 1804 to 1815...
, Stalin
Joseph Stalin
Joseph Vissarionovich Stalin was the Premier of the Soviet Union from 6 May 1941 to 5 March 1953. He was among the Bolshevik revolutionaries who brought about the October Revolution and had held the position of first General Secretary of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union's Central Committee...
". The exception is the American Revolution, which "does not quite follow this pattern". (p. 24)
Fall of the old regime
The revolutions begin with problems in the pre-revolutionary regime. These include problems functioning — "government deficits, more than usual complaints over taxation, conspicuous governmental favoring of one set of economic interests over another, administrative entanglements and confusions". There are also social problems, such as the feeling by some that careers are not "open to talents", and economic power is separated from political power and social distinction. There is a "loss of self-confidence among many members of the ruling class," the "conversion of many members of that class to the belief that their privileges are unjust or harmful to society." (p. 65) "Intellectuals" switch their allegiance away from the government. (p. 251) In short, "the ruling class becomes politically inept." (p. 252)Financial problems play an important role, as "three of our four revolutions started among people who objected to certain taxes, who organized to protest them .... even in Russia in 1917 the financial problems were real and important." (p. 78)
The revolutions' enemies and supporters disagree over whether plots and manipulation by revolutionists, or the corruption and tyranny of the old regime are responsible for the old regime's fall. Brinton argues both are right, as both the right circumstances and active agitation are necessary for the revolution to succeed. (p. 85-6)
At some point in the first stages of the revolutions "there is a point where constituted authority is challenged by illegal acts of revolutionists" and the response of security forces is strikingly unsuccessful. In France in 1789 the "king didn't really try" to subdue riots effectively. In England the king "didn't have enough good soldiers." In Russia "at the critical moment the soldiers refused to march against the people" and instead joined them. (p. 88)
Background of the revolutionaries
Revolutions "are born of hope" rather than misery. (p. 250)Contrary to the belief that revolutionaries are disproportionately poor
Poor
Poor is an adjective related to a state of poverty, low quality or pity.People with the surname Poor:* Charles Henry Poor, a US Navy officer* Charles Lane Poor, an astronomer* Edward Erie Poor, a vice president of the National Park Bank...
or down-and-out, "revolutionists are more or less a cross section of common humanity". While revolutionaries "behave in a way we should not expect such people to behave," this can be explained by the "revolutionary environment" rather than their background. (p. 120) "`Untouchables
Dalit
Dalit is a designation for a group of people traditionally regarded as Untouchable. Dalits are a mixed population, consisting of numerous castes from all over South Asia; they speak a variety of languages and practice a multitude of religions...
` very rarely revolt," and successful slave revolutions, like Haiti
Haitian Revolution
The Haitian Revolution was a period of conflict in the French colony of Saint-Domingue, which culminated in the elimination of slavery there and the founding of the Haitian republic...
's, are few in number. (p.250) Revolutionaries are "not unprosperous" but "feel restraint, cramp, ... rather than downright crushing oppression."(p. 250)
Revolutionary regimes
In each revolution a short "honeymoon" period follows the fall of the old regime, lasting until the "contradictory elements" among the victorious revolutionaries assert themselves. (p. 91) Power then has a tendency "to go from Right to Center to Left." (p. 123) In the process, Brinton says, `the revolution, like SaturnSaturn (mythology)
In ancient Roman religion and myth, Saturn was a major god presiding over agriculture and the harvest time. His reign was depicted as a Golden Age of abundance and peace by many Roman authors. In medieval times he was known as the Roman god of agriculture, justice and strength. He held a sickle in...
, devours its children,` quoting Pierre Victurnien Vergniaud
Pierre Victurnien Vergniaud
Pierre Victurnien Vergniaud was a lawyer and statesman, and a significant figure of the French Revolution. A deputy to the Assembly from Bordeaux, Vergniaud was a notably eloquent and impressive orator...
(p. 121)
Moderates and dual power
The revolutions being studied first produce a "legal" moderate government. It vies with a more radical "illegal" government in a process known as "dual powerDual power
Dual power is a concept that has taken on a broad meaning in the hands of anarchists and Libertarian socialists who use it to refer to the concept of gradual revolution through the creation of "alternative-institutions" and "counter-institutions" in place of and in opposition to state and corporate...
", or as Brinton prefers to call it "dual sovereignty". In England the "Presbyterian moderates in Parliament" were rivals of "the illegal government of the extremist Independents in the New Model Army." (p. 135) In France, the National Assembly was controlled by the "Girondin
Girondist
The Girondists were a political faction in France within the Legislative Assembly and the National Convention during the French Revolution...
moderates", while the Montagnard
The Mountain
The Mountain refers in the context of the history of the French Revolution to a political group, whose members, called Montagnards, sat on the highest benches in the Assembly...
"extremists" controlled "the Jacobin network," "the Paris commune," (p. 136) and the Societies of the Friends of the Constitution. (p. 162) In Russia, the moderate provisional government of the Duma clashed with the radical Bolsheviks whose illegal government was a "network of soviets." (p. 136)
The radicals triumph because they are
- "better organized, better staffed, better obeyed," (p. 134)
- have "relatively few responsibilities, while the legal government "has to shoulder some of the unpopularity of the government of the old regime" with "the worn-out machinery, the institutions of the old regime." (p. 134)
- The moderate are hindered by their hesitancy to change direction and fight back against the radical revolutionaries, "with whom they recently stood united," in favor of conservatives, "against whom they have so recently risen." (p. 140) They are drawn to the slogan `no enemies to the Left.` (p. 168)
- are attacked on one side by "disgruntled but not yet silenced conservatives, and the confident, aggressive extremists," on the other. The moderate revolutionary policies can please neither side. An example is the Root and Brand Bill in the English Revolution which abolished the episcopacy, angering conservatives and established institutions without earning the loyalty of radicals. (p. 141-43)
- are "poor" leaders of the wars which accompany the revolutions, unable to "provide the discipline, the enthusiasm," needed. (p. 144)
Radicals and "Reigns of Terror and Virtue"
In contrast to the moderates, the radicals are aided by a fanatical devotion to their cause, discipline and (in recent revolutions) a study of technique of revolutionary action, obedience to their leadership, ability to ignore contradictions between their rhetoric and action, and drive boldly ahead. (p. 155-60) Even their small numbers are an advantage, giving them "the ability to move swiftly, to make clear and final decisions, to push through to a goal without regard for injured human dispositions." (p. 154)The radicals took power in Russia with the October Revolution
October Revolution
The October Revolution , also known as the Great October Socialist Revolution , Red October, the October Uprising or the Bolshevik Revolution, was a political revolution and a part of the Russian Revolution of 1917...
, in France with the purge of the Girondins, in England "Pride's Purge
Pride's Purge
Pride’s Purge is an event in December 1648, during the Second English Civil War, when troops under the command of Colonel Thomas Pride forcibly removed from the Long Parliament all those who were not supporters of the Grandees in the New Model Army and the Independents...
" (p. 163). The American Revolution never had a radical dictatorship and Reign of Terror
Reign of Terror
The Reign of Terror , also known simply as The Terror , was a period of violence that occurred after the onset of the French Revolution, incited by conflict between rival political factions, the Girondins and the Jacobins, and marked by mass executions of "enemies of...
, "though in the treatment of Loyalist, in the pressure to support the army, in some of the phases of social life, you can discern .. many of the phenomena of the Terror as it is seen in our three other societies." (p. 254)
The radical reign is one of "Terror and Virtue." Terror
Reign of Terror
The Reign of Terror , also known simply as The Terror , was a period of violence that occurred after the onset of the French Revolution, incited by conflict between rival political factions, the Girondins and the Jacobins, and marked by mass executions of "enemies of...
steming from the abundance of summary executions, foreign and civil war, struggle for power; virtue
Republic of Virtue
The "Republic of Virtue" was a period in French history where Maximilien Robespierre remained in power. Many proponents of the Republic of Virtue developed their notion of civic virtue from the writings of Jean-Jacques Rousseau. The "Republic of Virtue" was part of the de-Christianization of the...
in the form of puritanical
Puritan
The Puritans were a significant grouping of English Protestants in the 16th and 17th centuries. Puritanism in this sense was founded by some Marian exiles from the clergy shortly after the accession of Elizabeth I of England in 1558, as an activist movement within the Church of England...
"organized asceticism" and suppression of vices such as drunkenness, gambling and prostitution. (p. 180) In its ardor, revolutionary "tragicomedy" touches the average citizen, for whom "politics becomes as real, as pressing, as unavoidable ... as food and drink," their "job, and the weather." (p. 177)
On taking power the radicals rule through dictatorship and "rough-and-ready centralization." "The characteristic form of this supreme authority is that of a committee." (p. 171) The Council of State
English Council of State
The English Council of State, later also known as the Protector's Privy Council, was first appointed by the Rump Parliament on 14 February 1649 after the execution of King Charles I....
in England, Committee of Public Safety
Committee of Public Safety
The Committee of Public Safety , created in April 1793 by the National Convention and then restructured in July 1793, formed the de facto executive government in France during the Reign of Terror , a stage of the French Revolution...
in France.
At some point in these revolutions, the "process of transfer of power from Right to Left ceases," and groups even more radical than those in power are suppressed. (p. 167) (In France, the Hébertists
Hébertists
The Hébertists were an ultra-revolutionary political faction associated with the populist journalist Jacques Hébert. They came to power during the Reign of Terror and played a significant role in the French Revolution....
are sent to the guillotine, (p. 168) in Russia the Kronstadt rebellion
Kronstadt rebellion
The Kronstadt rebellion was one of many major unsuccessful left-wing uprisings against the Bolsheviks in the aftermath of the Russian Civil War...
is crushed.)
At least in France and Russia, the accession of radicals is also accompanied by a decline in political participation measured in votes cast, as "ordinary, peaceful", "humdrum men and women" favoring moderation find no outlet for their political beliefs. (p. 153-4)
Along with centralization, lethal force in suppression of opposition, rule by committee, radical policies include the spreading of "the gospel of their revolution" to other countries. This is found not only in the Russian and French revolutions, but even seventeenth century England, where Edward Sexby
Edward Sexby
Colonel Edward Sexby or Saxby was an English Puritan soldier and Leveller in the army of Oliver Cromwell. Later he turned against Cromwell and plotted his assassination.-Life:...
"proposed to the French radicals" in Bordeaux
Bordeaux
Bordeaux is a port city on the Garonne River in the Gironde department in southwestern France.The Bordeaux-Arcachon-Libourne metropolitan area, has a population of 1,010,000 and constitutes the sixth-largest urban area in France. It is the capital of the Aquitaine region, as well as the prefecture...
"a republican constitution which was to be called `L'Accord du Peuple` — an adaptation of the English Agreement of the People." (p.193) These attempts seldom make a significant impact as the revolutionaries "are usually too poor, and too occupied at home." (p. 213)
"Thermidor"
The radical reign of terror, or "crisis" period, is fairly soon replaced by ThermidorThermidorian Reaction
The Thermidorian Reaction was a revolt in the French Revolution against the excesses of the Reign of Terror. It was triggered by a vote of the Committee of Public Safety to execute Maximilien Robespierre, Antoine Louis Léon de Saint-Just de Richebourg and several other leading members of the Terror...
period, a period of relaxation from revolutionary policies or "convalescence" from the "fever" of radicalism. Thermidor is named for the period following the fall of Maximilien Robespierre
Maximilien Robespierre
Maximilien François Marie Isidore de Robespierre is one of the best-known and most influential figures of the French Revolution. He largely dominated the Committee of Public Safety and was instrumental in the period of the Revolution commonly known as the Reign of Terror, which ended with his...
in the French Revolution, in Russia the New Economic Policy
New Economic Policy
The New Economic Policy was an economic policy proposed by Vladimir Lenin, who called it state capitalism. Allowing some private ventures, the NEP allowed small animal businesses or smoke shops, for instance, to reopen for private profit while the state continued to control banks, foreign trade,...
of 1921 "can be called Russia's Thermidor" (p. 207), and "perhaps the best date" for that period in England is "Cromwell's dissolution of the Rump." (p. 206)
The Thermidor is characterized by
- the "establishment of a `tyrant`", i.e. "an unconstitutional ruler brought to power by revolution." (p. 207) The "`silken threads` of habit, tradition, legality" having been broken, "men must be held together in society by the `iron chains` of dictatorship." (p.208)
- restoration of many pre-revolutionary ways. In Russia this meant an abandonment of the BolshevikBolshevikThe Bolsheviks, originally also Bolshevists , derived from bol'shinstvo, "majority") were a faction of the Marxist Russian Social Democratic Labour Party which split apart from the Menshevik faction at the Second Party Congress in 1903....
's avant-garde stance against the institution of the family — formerly disparaged as "a stuffy little nest breeding selfishness, jealousy, love of property, indifference toward the great needs of society." (p. 224) The Bolshevik regime restored roadblocks to divorce, (p. 225) laws against homosexuality, (p. 226) and moderated its anti-religious, anti-Orthodox Church stance.
- reaction against Puritanism of the revolution. In England, the Restoration comedyRestoration comedyRestoration comedy refers to English comedies written and performed in the Restoration period from 1660 to 1710. After public stage performances had been banned for 18 years by the Puritan regime, the re-opening of the theatres in 1660 signalled a renaissance of English drama...
that appeared after the revolution is now "a symbol of naughtiness." (p. 220) In France the post-revolutionary DirectoryFrench DirectoryThe Directory was a body of five Directors that held executive power in France following the Convention and preceding the Consulate...
era was known as boom time for reopened dance halls and swaggering jeunesse doree. (p. 218) During the New Economic Policy in Soviet Russia advertising began to appear (p. 225), as did a new class of entrepreneurs known as the NepmenNEPmenThe NEPmen were businessmen and women in the young Soviet Union who took advantage of the opportunities for private trade and small-scale manufacturing created by the New Economic Policy . The NEP was a response to revolts against meager rations in the USSR during the early 1920s under Lenin's...
who were reputed to be `exceptionally vulgar, profiteering, crude, and noisy.` (p. 221)
- the replacement of "missionary spirit" to spread revolution by an "aggressive nationalism." (p. 213) In England Cromwell reconquered Ireland and seized Jamaica. In France Napoleon created an empire. (p. 213)
America did not have a proper Reign of Terror and Virtue, but "the decade of the 1780's displays in incomplete forms some of the marks of Thermidor," as evidenced by the complaint of historian J.F. Jameson that `sober Americans of 1784 lamented the spirit of speculation which war and its attendant disturbances had generated, the restlessness of the young, disrespect for tradition and authority, increase of crime, the frivolity and extravagance of society.` (p. 235-6)
Lasting results
Brinton finds the lasting results of the revolutions disappointing (his book was written before the fall of communismRevolutions of 1989
The Revolutions of 1989 were the revolutions which overthrew the communist regimes in various Central and Eastern European countries.The events began in Poland in 1989, and continued in Hungary, East Germany, Bulgaria, Czechoslovakia and...
in the Soviet bloc). In France, the revolution did away with "the old overlapping jurisdictions, the confusions and the compromises inherited from, the thousand-year struggle" between Crown and feudal nobility. Weights and measure "that varied from region to region, indeed from town to town" were replaced with the metric system. Also gone was non-decimal coinage unsuited "for long division."(p. 239) Some antiquated practices were also eliminated in England. (p. 239) In Russia, the Bolsheviks brought industrialization, and eventually the Sputnik space satellite. (p. 240) Confiscated lands stayed in the hands of the new owners for the most part, redistributing land to many "small independent peasants" in France (p. 241-2), and Puritan
Puritan
The Puritans were a significant grouping of English Protestants in the 16th and 17th centuries. Puritanism in this sense was founded by some Marian exiles from the clergy shortly after the accession of Elizabeth I of England in 1558, as an activist movement within the Church of England...
businessmen and clergymen in England.(p. 242)
Remaining essentially "untouched" were day-to-day social relations between husband and wife and children. Attempts at establishing new religions and personal habits come to naught. The revolutions' "results look rather petty as measured by the brotherhood of man and the achievement of justice on this earth. The blood of the martyrs seems hardly necessary to establish decimal coinage." (p. 259)
Comparisons
Brinton concludes that despite their ambitions, the political revolutions he studied brought much less lasting social changes than the disruptions and changes of "what is loosely called the Industrial RevolutionIndustrial Revolution
The Industrial Revolution was a period from the 18th to the 19th century where major changes in agriculture, manufacturing, mining, transportation, and technology had a profound effect on the social, economic and cultural conditions of the times...
", and the top-down reforms of Mustapha Kemal's reforms
Atatürk's Reforms
Atatürk's Reforms were a series of political, legal, cultural, social and economic reforms that were designed to modernize the new Republic of Turkey into a democratic and secular nation-state...
in Turkey
Turkey
Turkey , known officially as the Republic of Turkey , is a Eurasian country located in Western Asia and in East Thrace in Southeastern Europe...
, and the Meiji Restoration
Meiji Restoration
The , also known as the Meiji Ishin, Revolution, Reform or Renewal, was a chain of events that restored imperial rule to Japan in 1868...
or post-World War II
World War II
World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
MacArthur era in Japan. (p. 246)