Revolutionary terror
Part of a series on |
Terrorism |
---|
Part of a series on |
Political revolution |
---|
Politics portal |
Revolutionary terror, also referred to as revolutionary terrorism or reign of terror,[1] refers to the institutionalized application of force to counter-revolutionaries, particularly during the French Revolution from the years 1793 to 1795 (see the Reign of Terror).[2][3] The term "Communist terrorism" has also been used to describe the revolutionary terror, from the Red Terror in the Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic (RSFSR) to the reign of the Khmer Rouge[4] and others. In contrast, "reactionary terror", often called White Terrors, has been used to subdue revolutions.[5]
Origins, evolution and history
The deterministic view of history was used by Communist regimes to justify the use of terror.[9] Terrorism came to be used by communists, both the state and dissident groups, in both revolution and in consolidation of power.[10] The doctrines of anarchism, Marxism, Marxism–Leninism and Maoism have all spurred dissidents who have taken to terrorism.[11] Except for a brief period in 1848 and within the Czarist milieu, Marx did not advocate revolutionary terror,[12] feeling it would be counterproductive.[11] Communist leaders used the idea that terror could serve as the force which Marx said was the "midwife of revolution"[13] and after World War I communist groups continued to use it in attempts to overthrow governments.[11] For Mao Zedong, terrorism was an acceptable tool.[14]
After
French historian Sophie Wahnich distinguishes between the revolutionary terror of the French Revolution and modern day Islamic terrorism and the September 11 attacks:
Revolutionary terror is not terrorism. To make a moral equivalence between the Revolution's year II and September 2001 is historical and philosophical nonsense[.] [...] The violence exercised on 11 September 2001 aimed neither at equality nor liberty. Nor did the preventive war announced by the president of the United States.[20][21]
Revolutionary violence in Marxism
In his article "The Victory of the Counter-Revolution in Vienna" in the Neue Rheinische Zeitung (No. 136, 7 November 1848), Karl Marx wrote:
The purposeless massacres perpetrated since the June and October events, the tedious offering of sacrifices since February and March, the very cannibalism of the counterrevolution will convince the nations that there is only one way in which the murderous death agonies of the old society and the bloody birth throes of the new society can be shortened, simplified and concentrated, and that way is revolutionary terror.[22]
In his biography of Joseph Stalin, Edvard Radzinsky, a Russian author of popular history books, noted that Stalin wrote a nota bene—"Terror is the quickest way to new society"—beside the above passage in a book by Karl Kautsky.[23][24]
Vladimir Lenin,
The Bolsheviks engaged in a form of social determinism that was hostile to bourgeoisie and wealthier classes. Martin Latsis, one of the Soviet leaders directing the Cheka, stated his intentions for those classes who were considered reactionary and incapable of being reeducated. Latsis wrote:
We are engaged in exterminating the bourgeoisie as a class. You need not prove that this or that man acted against the interests of the Soviet power. The first thing you have to ask an arrested person is: To what class does he belong, where does he come from, what kind of education did he have, what is his occupation? These questions are to decide the fate of the accused. That is the quintessence of the Red Terror.[25]
On the other hand, they opposed individual terror, which has been used earlier by the People's Will organization. According to Trotsky: "The damaging of machines by workers, for example, is terrorism in this strict sense of the word. The killing of an employer, a threat to set fire to a factory or a death threat to its owner, an assassination attempt, with revolver in hand, against a government minister—all these are terrorist acts in the full and authentic sense. However, anyone who has an idea of the true nature of international Social Democracy ought to know that it has always opposed this kind of terrorism and does so in the most irreconcilable way".[26]
France
The French Revolution began in 1789, but by 1793 the new government began to search for new means to defend itself. The
Despite the efforts to subdue the enemies of the Revolution, the situation continued to deteriorate until the
This Terror became the model for other Revolutionaries.[citation needed]
Soviet Union
Red Terror
Lenin, Trotsky and other leading Bolshevik ideologists promulgated mass terror as a necessary weapon during the dictatorship of proletariat and the resulting class struggle. Similarly, in his book Terrorism and Communism (1920), Trotsky emphasized that "the historical tenacity of the bourgeoisie is colossal [...] We are forced to tear off this class and chop it away. The Red Terror is a weapon used against a class that, despite being doomed to destruction, does not want to perish".[31]
Many later Marxists, in particular Karl Kautsky, criticized Bolshevik leaders for terrorism tactics. He stated that "among the phenomena for which Bolshevism has been responsible, Terrorism, which begins with the abolition of every form of freedom of the Press, and ends in a system of wholesale execution, is certainly the most striking and the most repellent of all".[32] Kautsky argued that that Red Terror represented a variety of terrorism because it was indiscriminate, intended to frighten the civilian population and included taking and executing hostages.
The Red Terror (1917-1920) opposed the forces of the
State terror in the Soviet Union
The
China
During the
See also
- Communist terrorism
- Direct action
- Left-wing terrorism
- Propaganda of the deed
- Revolutionary Tribunal (disambiguation)
References
- ^ Encyclopædia Britannica (2011). "revolutionary terrorism". Encyclopædia Britannica Online. Retrieved 7 April 2011.
- ISBN 0-8070-5073-3, p.101: "Social Consequences of Revolutionary Terror"
- ^ French revolutionary terror was a gross exaggeration, say Lafayette experts. By Chandni Navalkha. April 28, 2008. accessed 5-20-2009
- ^ BOOK REVIEW Exposition of revolutionary terror. The Gate, by Francois Bizot. Jul 4, 2003. accessed 5-20-2009
- ISBN 978-1608463817.
- ^ Karl Kautsky (1919). "Revolution and Terror". Terrorism and Communism.
Kautsky said: "It is, in fact, a widely spread idea that Terrorism belongs to the very essence of revolution, and that whoever wants a revolution must somehow come to some sort of terms with terrorism. As proof of this assertion, over and over again the great French Revolution has been cited." (Translated by W.H. Kerridge)
- ^ The Gulag Archipelago by Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn
- ^ a b Schwab, Gail M., and John R. Jeanneney, The French Revolution of 1789 and its impact, p. 277-278, Greenwood Publishing Group 1995
- ^ Chaliand, Gérard and Arnaud Blin, The history of terrorism: from antiquity to al Qaeda By, p. 105, University of California Press, 2007
- ^ Martin, Gus, Essentials of Terrorism: Concepts and Controversies, p. 32, Sage 2007
- ^ Brenda J. Lutz Global terrorism, p. 134, Taylor & Francis 2008
- ^ McLellan, David, The thought of Karl Marx: an introduction, p. 229, MacMillan
- ISBN 978-0-8014-3965-0.
- ^ Martin, Gus, Essentials of Terrorism: Concepts and Controversies, p. 52, Sage 2007
- ^ Chaliand,Gérard and Arnaud Blin, The history of terrorism: from antiquity to al Qaeda By, p. 97, University of California Press, 2007
- ^ Chaliand,Gérard and Arnaud Blin, The history of terrorism: from antiquity to al Qaeda By, p. 98, University of California Press, 2007
- ^ Chaliand, Gérard and Arnaud Blin, The history of terrorism: from antiquity to al Qaeda By , p. 6, University of California Press, 2007
- ^ Wills, David C., The first war on terrorism: counter-terrorism policy during the Reagan administration, p. 219, Rowman & Littlefield, 2003
- ^ Crozier, Brian, Political victory: the elusive prize of military wars, p. 203, Transaction Publishers, 2005
- ISBN 978-1784782023.
- ^ Scurr, Ruth (August 17, 2012). "In Defence of the Terror: Liberty or Death in the French Revolution by Sophie Wahnich – review". The Guardian. Retrieved August 3, 2017.
- ^ Karl Marx – Friedrich Engels – Werke, Berlin: Dietz Verlag, Vol. V, 1959, pp. 455-7. [1][permanent dead link]; for English translation see [2]
- ISBN 0-385-47954-9
- ^ Karl Kautsky, Terrorism and Communism (1919), Ch. V. The book is item F558 O3 D90, one of two books on terror from Stalin's private library, seen by Edvard Radzinsky (Stalin, 1996, pp. 150, 569).
- ^ Martin Latsis, "Krasnij Terror," newspaper, October 1, 1918. Quoted in Hitler, Joachim C. Fest, New York: NY, Harcourt, Brace, Jovanovich, 1974, p. 91
- Marxists.org.
- ISBN 978-0-691-18080-9.
- ^ Soboul, Albert (1977). A Short History of the French Revolution 1789-1799. Berkeley Los Angeles London: UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA PRESS. pp. 93–95.
- ^ History, Alpha (2015-05-25). "Robespierre on virtue and terror (1794)". French Revolution. Retrieved 2023-10-26.
- ^ Lefebvre, Georges (1964). The French Revolution From 1793-1799. New York: Columbia University Press. pp. 124–125.
- ^ "Black book of Communism", page 749
- ^ Karl Kautsky, Terrorism and Communism Chapter VIII, The Communists at Work, The Terror
- ^ Bailey Stone, The Anatomy of Revolution Revisited: A Comparative Analysis of England, France, and Russia (New York: Cambridge University Press, 2014), 335.
- ISBN 1-4000-4005-1
- ^ "新中国成立初期大镇反:乱世用重典(8)--文史--人民网". People's Daily. Archived from the original on 2020-06-15. Retrieved 2020-02-17.