Anatomy Of Revolution By Crane Brinton

In Crane Brintons's book , Anatomy of Revolution, Brinton compares revolution to a fever. He says, “revolution is not a good thing”. When and if it occurs, its like an illness or something to be avoided. However, he goes on to say that fever, and Revolution , in itself is a good thing....for those who survive it. The revolution destroys wicked people and harmful and useless institutions. A revolution is defined as “a forcible overthrow of a government or social order in favor of a new system”. There are many factors and conditions present that push people to revolt. The most common condition and factor in many revolutions is that people from all social classes become dissatisfied. People feel held back by restrictions the government
has placed on them. The government is usually taxing the citizens heavily and unfairly because they are going bankrupt and they are financially unorganized. The scholarly people and the intellectuals give up on the way their society is handling things, and the government in place does not respond to the people and their needs. Usually the government has lost the support from most groups and cannot save itself. By the latter part of the eighteenth century France was on the verge of a revolution. Louis XVI took the throne at the age of five did not have the ability to govern a country effectively. There was corruption in every government department and France was threatened by bankruptcy and unemployment. Peasants and craftsmen and workers came together in anger against the government. The French used an Estate System that divided citizens into the Nobility, the Clergy and the Peasants. The First Estate or the Clergy represented less than 2% of the population. The Second Estate or the Nobles was divided into three sections , country nobles, official nobles and and the nobles of the court. The Third Estate were the peasants, financiers, merchants, office holders and professionals who had an interest and some privileges but many of them suffered from restrictions on them. The Peasants made up 90% of the population. The French System of taxation was both discriminating and unfair. The privileged classes did not pay most taxes and the tax burden was on the shoulders of the peasants. The Nobles also did not have to serve in the military and many nobles and clergy lived in luxury. The Peasants were forced to do military services and they had to pay taxes to their lord, to the King and the church. The Kings, through the church and the local officials, had total and complete authority over France. Emperor Louis XVI of France was an empty headed, cruel and oppressive ruler. He and his queen, Marie Antoinette, wasted away money on luxurious living and elaborate parties. The whole administration was corrupt and each department had its own laws. The estate system was enough by itself to cause resentment among the lower class, but France had many other problems.
By 1787, the government was bankrupt. They had spent huge amounts of money fighting in the Seven Years War and the American Revolution. In addition France depended on agriculture and farming. In the late 1700's they had some heavy rains and hard winters that led to three really bad harvests. This meant the peasants (who paid the majority of the taxes) had smaller incomes and many became unemployed. Many people were starving and could not find food or work. While they starved the King and the nobility continued to live their lives of
luxury. Forced by financial bankruptcy, for the first time in over 175years, King Louis XVI called the Estates General (which was a group of people from all three estates). It generated much excitement but the the first two estates refused to have a common meeting with the Third Estate and people lost their temper. The King hoped that the Estates General would approve new taxes. When the King called the Estates General, he left them to come up with their own ideas. The people representing the third estates declared themselves a “national assembly” because they represented the majority of the people. They felt they were the true parliament. The members of this group held a meeting on the Royal Tennis Courts, not willing to leave until the King met all their demands. The King gave in and then the first and second estates became part of the new government and National Assembly. In August of 1789, The National Assembly drafted and instituted the Declaration of the Right of Man and of the Citizen. This legislation proclaimed, “Man is born and remains free and equal in rights”. When the French drew up the Declaration of the Rights of Man and Citizen in August 1789 they aimed to topple the institutions that surrounded the monarch and establish new ones based on the principles of the Enlightenment, reasoning and liberty , not from religion or traditional beliefs. Liberty meant freedom of religion, freedom of the press, and freedom from unreasonable government. The French revolutionaries wrote a Declaration of Rights that they hoped would serve as a model in every part of the world. This document provided a positive starting point to the making of a constitution. The French Revolution lasted ten years and had far reaching effects on the rest of Europe. It contributed to creating worldwide awareness of democratic ideas and the will of the people to fight oppression. After the French Revolution no other kings in Europe took their power for granted. The Russian Revolution may not have ever taken place had the French not first cleared the way. This Revolution was actually a series of revolutions that took place in February 1917 and October 1917. These eventually resulted in the overthrow of the autocracy led by Tsar Nicholas II and the establishment of a communist state. Tsar Nicholas II came to power in 1894 and he was not well like with the Russian people. The peasants and the middle class felt he did not relate with the fact that they were barely getting by. They felt he was arrogant and was not in touch with the needs of the people. For these reasons his political power was teetering on the edge. The fact that Imperial Russia was losing the Russo-Japanese war made him even less popular. Short food supplies, classes fighting among themselves and general unrest, caused many Russians to become angry and dissatisfied with the Russian government. Protests broke out in Petrograd on January 22, 1905.
This major event is known as Bloody Sunday. A large number of workers were marching to the Tsar's palace in order to present a petition for better working conditions. The Imperial guards at the Tsar's Palace opened fire and killed hundreds of the peaceful protesters. This brutal action caused more rioting and added fuel to the fire of revolution. Worried he might be toppled he approved the creation of the Duma, (a legislative assembly). He also agreed to a constitution that limited his monarchy. It looked like had had weathered the storm of revolt, but then came World War I and the loss of 250,000 soldiers. Russia was at war with Germany. A huge Russian army was formed by forcing the working class and peasant men to join. The soldiers were not equipped or trained to fight. In addition to the huge casualties, food supplies ran short and prices rose by 150%. People became dissatisfied as the war dragged out, and they felt it wasn't worth the cost and human suffering. Once again, the leadership of the Tsar came into question by the
people. In February of 1917, large demonstrations of peasants, workers and soldiers protested with arms. The Tsar, ordered the army to stop the riot, but many of the soldiers refused to fire on the Russian people and the army began to mutiny against the Tsar, forcing Nicholas to give up the throne. A new government was formed and run by two political parties: the Petrograd Soviet (representing the workers and soldiers) and the Provisional Government (the traditional government without the Tsar). The two sides ruled Russia for several months. One of the main groups of the Petrograd Soviet was a group called the Bolsheviks. They were led by Vladimir Lenin . They believed that the new Russian government should be a communist government. The Bolsheviks succeeded because the Provisional Government was weak and unpopular. When it was attacked, nobody defended it. The Bolsheviks had slogans such as Peace, Bread, Land ,and All Power to the Soviets. They got the public's support. The party ran its own propaganda machine in the newspaper , Pravda. The Germans financed the Bolsheviks because they knew that Lenin wanted to take Russian out of the war. A private Bolshevik army (the Red Guards) was dedicated to the revolution. It gave the Bolsheviks the military power to win. The Bolsheviks were very organized and membership grew to 2 million in 3 months. In October 1917, Lenin took full control of the government and Russia became the first communist country in the world. The Russian Revolution followed a road that was very similar to the French. Three elements stand out. Both regimes were buried with heavy debt caused by their long standing involvement in long and costly wars. For the French the debt was from their involvement in the Seven Years War and The American Revolution. Whereas, for Russia the cost was even higher in lives lost and money spent in World War I. Similarly, in both Revolutions there was an increasing divide between economic stability and progress. Heavy debt from wars and drowning in economic crisis, there was no growth or hope for the social classes under their present situations. For the French it was the privileges of the nobles compared to the ideas of the middle class. Whereas, for Russia, this gap came from the peasantry who were held back by the privileged nobles. In each case, new political ideas added to an already frustrated society. In France these ideas were brought about by the Enlightenment and in Russia it was Marxism (communism). Similarly both had a weak autocratic leaders who held absolute power.. A lack of action by these leaders to meet the needs of their people and address the problems fueled both the revolutions. While there were many similarities, there were some glaring differences. The French turned toward a democracy while the Russians became Communist. The Russians had Lenin and the French had the Declaration of the Right of Man and Citizen. The French wanted to eliminate their previous regime so that they all had the opportunity to live and get rich in a capitalist democratic free society, while the Russians wanted to eliminate their regimes and made claims they would overthrow Capitalist societies. Private property was eliminated, businesses and banks were owned by the government and the press was once again strictly censored. Only the necessities of life were needed and to be able to live equally. The Communisit felt there was no need to acquire happiness through wealth and freedom. The French Revolution provided an example to other nations. The democratic ideas of Liberty, Equality, Freedom were spread across Europe. The growing Middle Class used their power and would come to dominate politics throughout Europe. Limitations were placed on existing monarchs or they were ousted in favor of other forms of government. In contrast, Russian became the first country to base its government on the writings of Karl Marx. By 1922 Lenin and the Communists had retaken most of the old Russian Empire and renamed it the Soviet Union. At first, the Communist fulfilled their promises by improving basic living conditions and ending Russia's involvement in World War I. However, they ultimately failed to provide a government of equal rights and participation. In the Preamble of The United States of American's Declaration of Independance, Thomas Jefferson wrote, “governments exist to support the rights of men. Governments exist only through the power of the people that they represent. When a government fails to grant rights to the people and removes the involvement of the people, the people have the right to change their government in a way that will allow for their inalienable rights to be protected. Our Declaration of Independance is important because it inspired many revolutionary efforts throughout the world. You think Brinton may have been influenced by Jefferson? That fever, and Revolution , in itself is a good thing....for those who survive it. The revolution destroys wicked people and harmful and useless institutions.