Question

What do we learn from the Russian Revolution?

Answer 1

Answer:

1. People who didn’t like old power won’t like any new power because they are just a bunch of irresponsible whiners. Therefore, if you gained power as a leader of a revolution, exterminate your old friends and make peace with remains of the old oligarchy. They were happy earlier, they will be happy with you. Pinpoint all the atrocities on your former friends to gain support of your new friends. They had real experience in statecraft while your former friends criticized them. Plus, they will be grateful that you’ve spared their lives.
2. It is better to be feared than being loved. Love is expensive and fragile, fear is cheap and robust. Kill thousands and your power is secure, kill millions and future generations will consider you a saint.
3. Promise everything: peace, land, heaven on earth. When all your opponents are dead, don’t feel bounded by these promises.
4. Always blame your opponents for all unpopular things you’re doing. The more chutzpah, the better. Sign proscription lists with one hand and write a propaganda letter blaming your opponents in mass murders with another hand. Your ruthlessness must shatter all potential dissenters morally. They must feel learned helplessness and Stockholm’s syndrome.
5. Be unpredictable. Execute some passionate boot lickers because nobody should understand rules of your game. If you won’t persecute loyal people they would think that they’re in control. Nobody but you should be in control. In the other hand, spare some dissenter nutjobs. They will represent the face of dissent: pathetic and sad truthers suffering from social obstruction because everyone is afraid to have any interactions with a possible provocateur.
6. Introduce collective responsibility. Make them shill on each other. People shouldn’t trust each other, so they couldn’t conspire against you.
7. Rich people are proud and have sense of honor and dignity, so keep your population poor. They must be busy with getting food rations instead of conspiring against you. All resources should go to maintaining police apparatus further thus improving your control over population even further.
8. Remove free market. The only source of food must be the government. Disloyal won’t get food. Their relatives won’t get food as well.
9. Put common criminals above dissenters in prison hierarchies. Former ones are just thieves, latter ones are enemies of the people. A typical dissenter is an intellectual, so they will tell very convincing stories why one should be obedient after their eventual release. Their deep wrinkles, missing teeth and eyes of a starving stray dog would be self evident as well.

PS: I’m mostly quoting Aristotle and Machiavelli here, so it seems like we haven’t learned anything new from the Russian revolution.