On the first day of a revolution, he is a perfect treasure; on the second, he ought to be shot.
About this quote
- What does it mean?
- Revolutionaries value useful people first, then reject them.
- In plain terms
- People are useful then rejected during a revolution.
- What can you take from it?
- Revolutionaries often discard allies.
Where it applies
Putting it to work
Questions to consider
- Who gets left behind?
- Why turn on allies?
Another view
Not all revolutions discard their allies.
More from Mikhail Bakunin
No one can want to destroy without having some idea, true or false, of the order of things that should, according to him or her, replace what presently exists.
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