> > The assumption that misery radicalizes is a myth existing in the minds
> > of racials who are themselves in fairly good shape. The French and
> > Russian revolutions both occurred during upswings in the economy of
> > those nations. The radicalism of the 1930s is greatly over-estimated;
> > the '60s are greatly underestimated by leftists who look at them through
> > sectarian eyes.
> >
>
> I'm talking about economic well-being relative to other people, not economic
> well-being relative to one's own recent past.
Wasn't this Tocqueville's theory about the French Revolution? IIRC, he thought it was caused (among other things) by improving economic conditions that then got worse, i.e. by disappointed relative expectations, not by absolute misery.