The Revolutions Essay Example for Free

The Revolutions Essay A revolution is a relatively sudden and absolutely drastic change. This may be a change in the social or political institutions over a relatively short period of time or a major change in its culture or economy. Some revolutions are led by the majority of the populace of a nation, others by a small band of revolutionaries. These periods are called revolutions as they are capable of bringing significant modifications in an existing constitution. Within revolution itself, however, repetition also plays a crucial role.    The revolution must strike twice: once for the form, once for the content. Revolution and revolutionary attempts which occur in the present appear as a means of vindicating the past, of redeeming the past.   Every revolutionary effort seeks to correct the mistakes of the past.   Revolution is the repetition of past mistakes, in a way which vindicates the present, and provides for the future.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚     Revolutionary changes are  taking place on a gigantic scale under our very eyes without our  realization of their trend and significance. We are in the midst  of the mad whirl of this raging world hurricane so that our mental  vision is obscured; our mind is paralyzed by the very magnitude  of the furious struggle of frenzied social and psychic forces. Man and  society are now being forged into new forms. In theoretical terms, the direct cause of a revolution is generally expressed in terms of two sets of conditions objective and subjective factors. Objective Factors are the things outside your head, independent (at least directly) from your thoughts and emotions. If you get laid off work, if a war starts, if it rains on you on your way to the pub, you cant change things by closing your eyes and wishing them away. Of course, your thoughts may have an indirect effect, when they lead to action, like joining a union or remembering your umbrella, but  generally you dont have much control over what happens in the world . The objective factors in a revolution are events outside the control of any individual or small group, such as a stock-market crash or an invasion, which lead people to re-examine their society, and, possibly, act to change it. For example, changes in British society at the end of the second World War2 were triggered to a certain extent by the hardships of war. Subjective Factors, on the   other hand, are the things inside your head your thoughts on life , the universe and everything, down to whether you think it will start raining while youre on   your way to the pub (it will bring your umbrella!). Since the subjective factors in a revolution are those that depend on individual people, they are obviously the ones that revolutionary groups try to change. Of course, there can be no strict division between subjective and objective factors it is the thoughts in your head that decide whether or not you will join a union, vote for a strike or pass a picket, which side of the barricade you will be on. Equally, your decisions, and the actions that result from them, will have an effect on the ideas of the people around you. Opportunity for revolution only arises at particular times, when both the subjective and objective conditions necessary for success are present at the same time. A social revolution is a fundamental and relatively rapid transformation of social, political, and economic institutions, and it is accompanied by mass-based insurrection. Further, change in the socio-political and economic institutions has to occur in a mutually reinforcing fashion and the change till now has brought capitalism and socialism and has created mass – production techniques without which it is difficult to even imagine life right now. Social factors responsible for a revolution to occur encompass a wide range starting from the social ills to the wide spread communal disharmony. Society plays a crucial role in giving a drastic kick in a revolution to occur. Failure of reforms, natural calamities and lack of transparency can be the possible social causes accelerating a revolution. Intellectual causes are difficult to quantify in terms of their effects, but they are nonetheless important in effecting actions and ideologies of participants. Intellectual causes can range from  economic exploitation to discrimination at various levels.   Basically be it any sort of revolution it starts at an intellectual level. While the non-dogmatic and open-ended character of a tradition does ease the problems of modernization, especially in the initial stages, the same tradition must be able to maintain social   order. Political stability is one of the basic conditions for sustained development.  Such stability stems from shared value system emanating usually from religion in most traditional societies. The value system engenders social consensus and makes political stability possible. A well-ordered society is as important a consideration as economic resources before the consideration of any investment company. Since modernization is essentially a vocational civilization, it presupposes discipline and work culture. Connections between literate culture and modernity are obvious, but often ignored in development literature. Industry runs on oil but modernity operates on the basis of literacy as a minimum requirement. In due course high literate cultures flourished in societies where world religions had penetrated. This is where the transformation has its base culture too is a dynamic term it keeps changing for the better and the cultures which resist change are blown away with the Wind of Revolution and a new modified culture sets in . Thus the cultural preconditions of a revolution are exigencial necessity by which modernization began in leading Asian societies , instrumental utility that drives societies towards industrialization that can produce power , plenty and progress and elective affinity refers to the way in which the members of a society easily accept those changes or apparently new ideas which have echoed in their past experiences. 3 Revolutions and revolts in general are connected in some way or other with direct, obvious, physical discomfort, especially hunger, and possibly lack of clothing and fuel. Not that this is the cause of revolutions; the causes are quite different. A match will cause an explosion in a powder magazine, but not in a tank of water; and similarly a famine will bring about a revolution in a society where the underlying conditions are such as to favor the spread of such ideas and where other proper circumstances are present. Now, all such matters as lack of nutrition and lack of heat are dependent in great degree on the climate. In a cold country, a severe winter is directly a cause of physical discomfort; people freeze in such weather. Further, the early frosts preceding a cold winter lessen the crop, transportation becomes difficult, and generally a famine is more likely to result in such a year. In a warm country, a similar result occurs when the summer is excessively hot, the heat parching and drying the crops so that food is scarce can at one stage lead to a revolution . When people are involved in struggle, even for limited goals, this causes them to question wider issues, and become more open to new and radical ideas. Aristotle rightly said that â€Å" Revolutions are not about trifles , but spring from trifles.† The consequences of a revolution can have a wide range starting from discontent in some to contentment in majority , from undemocratic to a democratic consensus from efforts to life sacrifices and from a smaller to a wider horizon in life . The revolution is a median point this side of spontaneity against the prospect of waiting for the revolution to create itself according to Lenin. Thus history itself heals no wounds, history itself is not an autonomous abstract process, but is the result of labor in any sense: intellectual, manual, or evolutionary. Bibliography 1 . http://wwwen.wikipedia.org/wiki/Revoulutions Lenin’s theory Aristotle’s theory