Assault rifles and an armoured vehicle. For a bunch of housing activists staging a non-violent sit-in.
Niemöller has been chanting his poem for a very long time now. He’s getting tired.
Insightful or glib?
Thought experiment:
How would the French Republic have turned out if not for the Declaration of Pillnitz and the War of the First Coalition?
How would the Russian Revolution have turned out if not for the Western invasion and support for the Whites?
Other thought experiment:
If Castro had acceded to American demands and introduced what the USA would call “free” press and multiparty elections, how long would it have taken for the CIA to organise a coup or rigged election and install Batista Mk2?
Russian Revolution:
Once the Bolsheviks had one-party rule, I figure their dictatorship was close to inevitable.
Entente Powers intervention was close to inevitable, though the timing was accidental. In any case, it occured after the Bolsheviks had one-party rule.
Central Powers intervention was also close to inevitable. But if the Left Communsts sided with the Left Socialist Revolutionaries, it’s an open question what would happen. You would have de facto 3-party rule, so it’s unlikely to turn to dictatorship. You would have an ongoing German and Austro-Hungarian invasion, and no organized army to stop them. The Czechoslovak Legion would continue fighting alongside the Red Guards. Entente forces, such as were available, would probably also fight alongside the Red Guards. The Reds might or might not hold out into November 1918. The Whites would not get the same support from the Entente Powers afterwards-- historically, most of the openly pro-German leaders resigned and most of the more cautiously pro-German ones had Entente support.
Drop back, and if the Left Socialist Revolutionaries had demanded electoral reform, and peasant representation equal to proletarian representation, before joining any coalition with the Bolsheviks, then the Bolsheviks would never have one-party rule for long.
Drop back farther, and if Kerenskiy had never launched his offensive, then no coup and counter-coup and civil war. A better chance for socialism.
Discussion in comments.
Thread.
I just realised that I put this in the wrong thread a couple of months ago…