[lbo-talk] The Horrible Swiss

[Carrol Cox]

Note: When I speak of a "probably bloody process" I do not refer to armed
conflict. If such occurs in a revolution it is only _after_ the initial
success of the  revolution, agains a counter-revolution. The bloody process
leading up to a revolution is mostly blood shed by demonstrators the troops
fire on; the end of the process is when the troops refuse to fire. Kent and
Jackson State murders by National Guard or State Police were just a hint of
what happens in the complex (and unpredictable) chain of events which can
culminate in demonstrators refusing to stop until they are massacred. That
happened in Tiananmen Square -- the troops fired. It didn't happen in
Hungary 1956: that insurrection was a success but crushed by outside
interference. (Nota Bene: the relevant category is "insurrection against a
modern state," not (as Marv once argued)  "workers' insurrection against a
capitalist state." In either case, victory or defeat depends on whether the
troops are willing to keep on firing  until the demonstrations are crushed.

But however that may be,  the process is lengthy and complex which leads to
scuh confrontations, and abstract _choices_ of a precise goal is NEVER
involved at any point in that process. Hence the silliness of SA's question.

Carrol