----- Original Message ----- From: "andie nachgeborenen" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
Yes, yes, who was it who said that before they happen revolutions seem impossible, afterwards they seem inevitable. The fall of Communism was like that too. Nonetheless there are certain obvious differences between 1917 and now, like the existence of mass working class radical movements of the left and the far left, and a history of revolutionary struggle that shook the government within living memory, and socialist parties that were not mere infinitesmal cults, and a whole lotta other stuff, including a weak and hapless ruling class and a rigid and inflexible state structure. None of that exists now. Of course we may be surprised -- pleasantly, I mean. But it would be a big surprise. ===================== Meanwhile, there are yet other differences today's would be revolutionaries have to deal with: a soft cage of computer surveillance that grows ever more elaborate with each passing week; massive stockpiles of nuclear and bio-chem weaponry alongside ever more effective non-lethal forms of crowd control which can be mobilized at a large scale within an hour or two; a propaganda complex that would have even Orwell doing bong hits or shooting smack or taking Paxil to calm the nerves. All backed up with legal codes that are virtually unintelligible to the majority of citizens. Power flows out of one hell of a lot more than the barrel of a gun. Thankfully, it also flows out of the smile on an infant's face, a lover's face, a sibling's face, a comrade's face.... Ian
