LogFAQs > #982998520

ssjevot posted... Absolutely. And I advocate that people here should a join a movement if such a thing comes along. But the idea a poor person can start a movement is wrong. Tiananmen Square failed because although some powerful members of the party supported it at first, they later abandoned it and all the students were crushed. My wife's dad saw the writing on the wall and left before everything went to shit. You can call him a coward who gave up, but he's alive and doing well. If some meaningful revolutionary movement comes along in China he could support it now because he was smart enough to choose to live for another day then.

I feel for your wife--I also had family flee the Cultural Revolution. But that being said, I still got to disagree with you: even enslaved people (who are beyond poor) can lead revolutionary movements. For example, take the leaders of the Haitian Revolution, Jean-Franois Papillon, George Biassou and Jean-Jacques Dessalines. Now while I agree that wealth definitely makes a revolution much easier, it's not a necessary component.