>resource mobilization potential. By contrast, the logic of "making
>things worse to prod the masses to rebel" is pure pseudo-revolutionary
>bullshit that cannot be demonstrated by a single historical precedent.
On January 9, 1905, thousands of Russian workers marched towards the Winter Palace, home of their beloved Tsar, Nicholas Romonov II, to petition him for relief and better conditions. The workers believed the Tsar was unaware of their poor living conditions. Many were forced to work 16 hours a day, seven days a week, earn only subsistence wages, live in cramped accommodations, and had few political or civil rights. They believed the police and the bureaucrats were responsible for the problems, and hid them from their "little father," as they affectionately called the Tsar.
As they peacefully approached the palace in a spirit of humble reverence, the last thing they expected was what they got: the Tsar refused to hear their petition and ordered the guards to keep the people out of the palace square. As the masses approached the palace, guards opened fire on the unarmed crowds of men, women, and children, killing an estimated 200 to 4,000 people and wounding many more. The carnage shattered the workers' former image of the Tsar as their "little father," and clearly revealed his tyrannical nature.