What makes a French revolution (peasants uprising) impossible in modern times ?

Question

Is it because the modern peasant is better treated ?

Is it ecause the elites are better hidden ?

Is it because there are better armies to put such things down ?



Why is a peasant uprising now impossible ?

pegasus

It was just one of many ways to pose the question about peasant uprisings If you believe that is not impossible - I will listen -

I was not trying to support the idea as such that it is impossible - but - you must admit that the way things appear to be - it seems as if it were as impossible as turning lead into gold - At least in the minds of the masses

Answer 1

if you are trying to draw a correlation to america... american apathy, conspiracy theory, and information/disinformation make it impossible for anyone to agree on anything here. who would you band together under one cause that would agree? then, if you could get that group together, where would they meet to control the planning process where something like waco or ruby ridge did not befall the group? i am not supporting either organization, but truthfully who knows what the crackpots had on their agenda. no one knows, their all dead. now with the patriot act, all kinds of new things are criminal, along with informing the govt through any means of communication you can come up with to organize your group. i am not sure that it is possible any longer for any kind of uprising to get to the level of organization that could pose much threat here. the best way to 'overthrow' the govt now would have to be a peaceful disassembly through very public knowledge that large numbers of people would demand the impeachment of current administration through their state govt's.

Answer 2

Machineguns!!!

Governments (good or bad) have better trained and armed professional armies.

Besides, the French Revolution was a failure from the freedom point of view they just traded a Monarchy for a lawless Dictatorial Regimen in which thousands of innocent people were executed just for expressing their ideas. The proof of this failure is that the "peasant movement" (murder spree) never crossed the French borders.

Even today people prefer to live under a corrupt government than under a lawless state. Today only under extreme circumstances people would be willing to uprise but is almost an impossible task without the support of the military forces, for that reason many people today prefer non-violent ways of uprising, take Russia or East Germany for example, politics succeeded were pro-violence groups had failed; the same for Spain that after the death of Franco change from a dictatorship to democracy without firing a shot.

Answer 3

Maybe in France, because the citizens don't have guns? Can't say it's impossible, look what a few hundred ( or thousand ) Muslims did last year rioting...if ALL the French citizens did that, there'd be no way the government could resist the whole tide of humanity.
Yugoslavia a decade ago, the citizens rose up and slaughtered the leaders in anger over their treatment, and hung them. Think it's impossible to go up against guns and not win? It is possible, just takes some planning and enough people to do it.

- The Gremlin Guy -

Answer 4

Automatic weapons, tanks and such, political PR to hoodwink the masses, but an uprising is more likely to look like actions in Lebanon by the PLO and Hamas, or in the UK by the former IRA.

Times change, as do the methods. Insurgency now is the method of choice vs. pitchfork and torch wielding mobs.

Answer 5

Excellent question. I have pondered this myself. The answer is that the elite today are way more powerful than they were back in the days of the french and american revolutions. Why? Because today when we speak of the powers that be and elite, we are not talkin about a king or or some barons etc.. we are talking multibillion dollar multinational corporations that are slowly swallowing up everything and controlling everthing. They control jobs, the media, governments, legislatures, politicians and weapons making.....

Their power far exceed those old line powers.

Answer 6

The last one was the Hungarian uprising against the Communist regime in 1956, and that was put down. I think that even if there were similar circumstances again, the people have the means now to appeal for redress of grievances - there are a lot of government mechanisms in place to address issues, in every European country, right up to the European Union in Brussels.

Answer 7

"Whenever any form of government becomes destructive of these ends [i.e., securing inherent and inalienable rights, with powers derived from the consent of the governed], it is the right of the people to alter or abolish it, and to institute new government, laying its foundation on such principles, and organizing its powers in such form, as to them shall seem most likely to effect their safety and happiness." -- "Thomas Jefferson: Declaration of Independence, 1776 "Is it time for another American Revolution or Uprising?" Maybe so.

Answer 8

It is not given the right situation people will still rise up.

Answer 9

what makes you so sure of that.??