Reply #32: Ok, you bring up numerous points... where to start? [View All]

I might begin by asking you how many revolutions you have participated in? How many "oppressors of the proletariat," "arch-reactionaries" or others have you put up against the wall in the interests of building a better world over a mountain of corpses?

I cannot deny that good things come of revolutions. I acknowledged the good that came of the French Revolution. I will willingly state that without Stalin's leadership of the Soviets on the Eastern Front, the Nazis would have overrun the earth. That said, my OP merely asked if those who pontificate blithely and blindly on the topic of revolution were willing to pay the awful price in blood necessary to effect change at the point of a bayonet.

As to your questions, may I proffer the following answers:
1. Best estimates for the death toll under Pinochet range between 6-7000. I accept that that number is likely higher.
2. The total death toll for the counter-revolutionary activity in Latin America runs between 50-100,000.
3. Over a million Iraqis have been slain in our war for oil.
4. Cite me a statistic on this if you know, I'm not sure how we could even calculate our guilt here.
5. If you think that I'm ignorant of the blood on my hands and collectively on the hands of the industrialized world, you are mistaken. Other than adding to that incarnadine sea through further bloodshed, have you any other options to make things right?

As to my point on Nazi Germany, you totally misconstrued my argument. Whether this was due to a lack of clarity on my part, or ideological myopia on yours is open to discussion. I did not blame the Communists for their radicalism, the 1918 German revolution is a good example of the difficulty of controlling a revolution once it gets underway, and that in the end, still greater bloodshed is necessary to stop a revolution than was necessary to start it.

So here is my defense of my position. I do not expect to change your mind, as you have made it perfectly clear that you already have the answers to all of life's questions in your hot little hand. Just remember, its easy to start lining people up against the wall, its hard to stop.