[lbo-talk] Elephant memory ...

[Dorene Cornwell]

In Poland during the years of Solidarity, the imposition of martial law had
to be carried by a very small percentage of the police / army because the
others would not fire on people they sympathized withl.

DC

On Fri, Sep 5, 2008 at 6:42 AM, Carrol Cox <cbcox at ilstu.edu> wrote:


>
>
> Joanna wrote:
> >
> >
> > History fans out there can let us know whether there have been any revos
> > where the cops ever came round. If you want the guys with guns, go for
> > the army.
>
> A successful iusurrection is more or less just another name for the
> refusal of the army to fire on demonstrators. Police will _always_ obey
> that command. The army (where it is not totally professionalized) is
> much more ambiguous. In '68 De Gaulle visited NATO headquarters to ask
> his generals if their troops would obey. Andwer Yes-- End of the '68
> kuprising. The Shah a few years later asked his generals if their troops
> would obey and fire on those enormous parades (in best clothes) that
> occupied the streets of Tehran. andwer No. End of the Shah.
>
> Carrol
>
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