What History Teaches Us

Monday, November 7, 2005

"What experience and history teach is this -- that people and governments never have learned anything from history, or acted on principles deduced from it."

G.W.F. Hegel (1770-1831) German philosopher

(I am not the student of history that I wish to be, so forgive forthcoming inaccuracies...)

In light of the terrible unrest and rioting in France of late, I sought to learn something from history. It was on this date (by the modern calendar), November 7, 1917, that the Bolshevik Revolution officially began in Russia. What might it have to do with France today? Consider this.

Fourteen years prior to 1917, Lenin's arm of the Russian Social Democratic Labor Party were clearly in the minority. But at a party meeting in London, they were able to gain a majority vote when some other delegates left the meeting in anger over an issue of party membership. Because of their majority, they were able to win control of the party newspaper and the Central Committee. Lenin's belief was that his branch of the party could then seize power in Russia with the help of the workers and peasants. And, of course, they were successful shortly thereafter. Now, doesn't this sound familiar? A minority gains control gradually because the people who can control what happens are quibbling about lesser problems, or simply walking away. Then, the masterminds of revolution are aided by "workers and peasants." (My Denver newspaper describes the current French rioters as "youths," "unemployed residents of working-class neighborhoods," or "immigrants.")

Please don't misunderstand me, I am not against all immigrants, youths, or working-class people. But, in our current excess of political correctness and putting our heads in the sand, we (and to a greater degree, France) don't recognize what is happening here in the West.