I’ve heard it many times from liberals who either mean the revolution would be more violent than our current system (it wouldn’t be), or suggesting that communists claim that we will achieve utopia if we’re just allowed to commit much brutality in the mean time (obviously false). This phrase annoys me so much, not just as a utilitarian, but also as someone who understands the meaning of words, as they are either suggesting that (in the moralistic sense) literally nothing is worth doing, ever, or that morality shouldn’t matter because everything is immoral anyway.
10,000 are the “head”. In the example of Imperial Russia they would be the Czar, the political leaders, the capitalist leaders of corporations, the generals and officers of the White Stavka, and all of their mid level lackeys.
The danger comes not from those people directly, but from the millions that followed their every word blindly. Willing to die and throw themselves into the fire against the Red proletariat revolution, despite they themselves being of the proletariat class.
That is the problem that the modern revolution will face. As on their own, the billionaires, presidents, and CEOs will be of little threat, however the same cannot be said for the countless millions that will follow them into the fire of a dying capitalist system.
True enough. Though I’d certainly still argue that dealing with the rest of the snake via any means necessary would still be justified.
Absolutely, however it is there where the most care must be taken. A vast majority of the “body” can be rehabilitated, re-educated, and reintegrated, and any communist movement must try their best not to alienate the proletariat, even those that may have taken up arms against it in the past (Within reason of course). For example how the Chinese dealt with the Nationalist sympathizing south, Tibet, and Xinjiang. Reeducation and reintegration can be successful and must be attempted before harsher measures such as repression or crackdown.
So while all means may be justified, harsh measures with no real aim may backfire significantly.
For sure, the “necessary” in “any means necessary” is doing a lot of heavy lifting I think.