Trumpled (Alternative Leading)

[PaulP]

It is, but it is almost what is needed at times.
Take the French Revolution.. Was that a good thing?
Well in the immediate aftermath, almost certainly no...
There was the Reign of Terror to follow as a direct result and absolute chaos, but in the long run.. yes.
The country and it's people were better off.

It can also backfire and some would suggest the Russian Revolution is an example, with the oppression potentially the power corrupting Lenin (and more significantly Stalin) so that the people were more oppressed than they were under Tsarist rule.

Fair points MIO, and I agree with both examples. Some say (and I agree) that the Russian Revolution dealt socialism a severe blow, from which it has yet to recover. If socialism means anything, it means worker control over the means of production. This was never achieved under Lenin. The Leninist school of thought was actually pretty anti worker. His approach was that you had the smart guys (Lenin etc. ) who were supposed to lead the dumb Slavs to a better future. In fact Lenin acted pretty quickly in stamping out worker unions etc. People who look at Russia as proof that Socialism is bad completely miss the point IMO.