Revolution: repetition and chance

Revolution: repetition and chance

Not all radical movements follow a predictable path, this is true to revolutions as well. Marx wouldn't suggest, predict  or hope, a proletariat revolution in Russia, a place far far away from what would constitute the historic dialectic that ends in a synthesis.

One should always keep two concepts in mind when thinking about revolution in general: repetition and chance. 

Though all revolutionaries desire to embrace the radical newness they are bringing, which is indeed not false, the French —as the ones who crafted the idea in general— called their movement a revolution. The prefix “re” indicates a repeated action, the root «volutio» refers to rotation, return, or repetition, so “revolution” is quite literally a double repetition.

This is a clear but funny paradox: the concept that tries to introduce novelty in the most radical ways,. uses the word that implies repetition.