“Every revolution has its counterrevolution — that is a sign the revolution is for real. And every revolution must defend itself against this counterrevolution, or the revolution will fail.”

— C. Wright Mills

Listen Yankee (1960), pp. 54.
1960s

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C. Wright Mills 55

American sociologist 1916–1962

Elizabeth Gould Davis book The First Sex

The First Sex (N.Y.: G.P. Putnam's Sons, 1971 (Library of Congress Catalog Card No. 79-150582)), p. 18 (Introduction)

“In other words: Within the revolution, everything; against the revolution, nothing. Against the revolution, nothing, because the revolution also has its rights, and the first right of the revolution is the right to exist, and no one can oppose the revolution's right to exist. Inasmuch as the revolution embodies the interests of the people, inasmuch as the revolution symbolizes the interests of the whole naion, no one can justly claim a right to oppose it.”

Fidel Castro (1926–2016) former First Secretary of the Communist Party and President of Cuba

Words to Intellectuals (1961)

“The basic question of every revolution is that of state power. Unless this question is understood, there can be no intelligent participation in the revolution, not to speak of guidance of the revolution. The highly remarkable feature of our revolution is that it has brought about dual power.”

Vladimir Lenin (1870–1924) Russian politician, led the October Revolution

This fact must be grasped first and foremost: unless it is understood, we cannot advance. We must know how to supplement and amend old "formulas".
Lenin Anthology, p. 301
1910s, "The Dual Power" (1917)

“On the eve of the industrial revolution there were on every side signs of political change. But the French Revolution frightened statesmen, and political reform in England was delayed for nearly half a century.”

Arnold Toynbee (1852–1883) British economic historian

Source: Lectures on The Industrial Revolution in England (1884), p. 195

“No revolution is worth anything unless it can defend itself.”

Vladimir Lenin (1870–1924) Russian politician, led the October Revolution

Collected Works, Vol. 28, pp. 113–126.
Collected Works

“Every legal constitution is the product of a revolution. In the history of classes, revolution is the act of political creation, while legislation is the political expression of the life of a society that has already come into being. Work for reform does not contain its own force independent from revolution. During every historic period, work for reforms is carried on only in the direction given to it by the impetus of the last revolution and continues as long as the impulsion from the last revolution continues to make itself felt. Or, to put it more concretely, in each historic period work for reforms is carried on only in the framework of the social form created by the last revolution. Here is the kernel of the problem.”

Rosa Luxemburg (1871–1919) Polish Marxist theorist, socialist philosopher, and revolutionary

Source: Reform or Revolution (1899), Ch. 8

“Every Joke is a Tiny Revolution”

George Orwell (1903–1950) English author and journalist

Source: An Age Like This: 1920-1940

“Revolutions spring not from accident, but from necessity. A revolution is a return from the factitious to the real. It takes place because it must.”

Victor Hugo book Les Misérables

Source: Les Misérables

“Fascism was a counter-revolution against a revolution that never took place.”

Ignazio Silone (1900–1978) Italian author and politician

The School for Dictators http://books.google.com/books?id=9scdAAAAMAAJ&q=%22Fascism+was+a+counter-revolution+against+a+revolution+that+never+took+place%22&pg=PA42#v=onepage (1938)

“The Russian revolution was not a socialist revolution… but a managerial revolution… Today Russia is the nation which has, in its structural aspects, advanced furthest along the managerial road.”

James Burnham (1905–1987) American philosopher

Source: The Managerial Revolution, 1941, p. 220–221; As cited in Marcel van der Linden (2007, p. 83)

“Every revolution has its counterrevolution — that is a sign the revolution is for real. And every revolution must defend itself against this counterrevolution, or the revolution will fail.”

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C. Wright Mills 55

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