However it is also openly obvious that reforms(at least in north america and europe) often result in backsliding. You also forget that while the revolutionary regimes often had issues with corruption and committing atrocities, they often were a million times better than the equally or moreso brutal regimes that came before them.
But they often also lead to backlash, such as the Reign of Terror leading to the Thermidorian Reaction and its successors; or the SovUnion being so unpopular amongst its vassal states that they eventually chose to just… quit cooperating, leading to major degradation of serious socialist movements worldwide and the initiation of the ugly pillaging that was so-called ‘shock therapy’ in the 90s.
Being better than what came before it is not the same as making a better future.
I get it. God, I get it. The guillotines are hungry, and I would love to see them fed. Saint-Just is my spirit animal. But I also realize that bloodletting, even when it is the most just result, is not always the most morally correct one. As satisfying as seeing guilty heads roll may be, I would rather see the lives of the innocent improved - in as sustainable a manner as possible. Sometimes that means violence. Sometimes it does not.
However it is also openly obvious that reforms(at least in north america and europe) often result in backsliding. You also forget that while the revolutionary regimes often had issues with corruption and committing atrocities, they often were a million times better than the equally or moreso brutal regimes that came before them.
But they often also lead to backlash, such as the Reign of Terror leading to the Thermidorian Reaction and its successors; or the SovUnion being so unpopular amongst its vassal states that they eventually chose to just… quit cooperating, leading to major degradation of serious socialist movements worldwide and the initiation of the ugly pillaging that was so-called ‘shock therapy’ in the 90s.
Being better than what came before it is not the same as making a better future.
I get it. God, I get it. The guillotines are hungry, and I would love to see them fed. Saint-Just is my spirit animal. But I also realize that bloodletting, even when it is the most just result, is not always the most morally correct one. As satisfying as seeing guilty heads roll may be, I would rather see the lives of the innocent improved - in as sustainable a manner as possible. Sometimes that means violence. Sometimes it does not.