“. . . And the weak were cast out into the desert. The unfit, the ugly, the frail, the sick, the elderly. Raids were conducted throughout the kingdom, searching for those who might ‘bring down’ the strength of Sanctuary. The land was no longer a haven, instead being a place of fear. And the Malaiki was succeeded by his son, Shujaa. Only more pain and suffering were brought to the lands. He began the greatest abomination the kingdom has ever known: he passed a law that forbade the practice of any religion. Believers were tortured as a public spectacle, made to suffer untold agony, many of them dying from their thirst or their wounds. Those that survived were cast into the desert along with the others, believing that they would only weaken the kingdom. He tore down what temples he could, and banned all animals from going near the rest."
"The ever memorable and blessed revolution, which swept a thousand years of villainy away in one swift tidal wave of blood — one: a settlement of that hoary debt in the proportion of half a drop of blood for each hogshead of it that had been pressed by slow tortures out of that people in the weary stretch of ten centuries of wrong and shame and misery the like of which was not to be mated but in hell."
"If we really think about it, there were two Reigns of Terror; in one people were murdered in hot and passionate violence; in the other they died because people were heartless and did not care. One Reign of Terror lasted a few months; the other had lasted for a thousand years; one killed a thousand people, the other killed a hundred million people. However, we only feel horror at the French Revolution's Reign of Terror. But how bad is a quick execution, if you compare it to the slow misery of living and dying with hunger, cold, insult, cruelty and heartbreak? A city cemetery is big enough to contain all the bodies from that short Reign of Terror, but the whole country of France isn't big enough to hold the bodies from the other terror. We are taught to think of that short Terror as a truly dreadful thing that should never have happened: but none of us are taught to recognize the other terror as the real terror and to feel pity for those people."
"If we really think about it, there were two Reigns of Terror; in one people were murdered in hot and passionate violence; in the other they died because people were heartless and did not care. One Reign of Terror lasted a few months; the other had lasted for a thousand years; one killed a thousand people, the other killed a hundred million people. However, we only feel horror at the French Revolution's Reign of Terror. But how bad is a quick execution, if you compare it to the slow misery of living and dying with hunger, cold, insult, cruelty and heartbreak? A city cemetery is big enough to contain all the bodies from that short Reign of Terror, but the whole country of France isn't big enough to hold the bodies from the other terror. We are taught to think of that short Terror as a truly dreadful thing that should never have happened: but none of us are taught to recognize the other terror as the real terror and to feel pity for those people."
— Mark Twain, presents an atypical perspective of the Reign of Terror in A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court in this light.
"We think of this as the reign of people who inspire terror; on the contrary, it is the reign of people who are themselves terrified. Terror consists mostly of useless cruelties perpetrated by frightened people in order to reassure themselves."
— Friedrich Engels
Above all, during and immediately after the struggle the workers, as far as it is at all possible, must oppose bourgeois attempts at pacification and force the democrats to carry out their terroristic phrases. They must work to ensure that the immediate revolutionary excitement is not suddenly suppressed after the victory. On the contrary, it must be sustained as long as possible. Far from opposing the so-called excesses—instances of popular vengeance against hated individuals or against public buildings with which hateful memories are associated—the workers’ party must not only tolerate these actions but must even give them direction.
— Karl Marx in his Address of the Central Committee to the Communist League
"You may argue that fear is the weapon of a despotic rule—you may say, in fact, that ours is as good as despotism. All right, then! The sword in the hand of a hero of freedom can be said to resemble the sabre of a tyrant's minion. If the despot rules his brutish subjects by fear, very well, he is exercising his right as a despot; and if you use fear to smash the enemies of freedom, so you are exercising your privileges as founders of the Republic. The Revolutionary Council is the despotism of freedom against tyranny. Certain people are saying, 'Pardon the Royalists.' Pardon for evil spirits? No! Pardon for innocence, for weakness, for misfortune, pardon for humanity! Only a peace-loving citizen has the right to the protection of society. And only republicans can be citizens of a republic—Royalists and foreigners are enemies. Punishing the oppressors of mankind—that is mercy. To pardon them is barbarous."
— Robespierre, Dantons Death
Zing! Swing!
Savor the sting!
As she severs you!
Madame Guillotine!
Slice! Come paradise!
You'll be smitten with
Madame Guillotine!
Savor the sting!
As she severs you!
Madame Guillotine!
Slice! Come paradise!
You'll be smitten with
Madame Guillotine!
— "Madame Guillotine", The Scarlet Pimpernel
Volition: You should build Communism — precisely *because* it's impossible.
You: (Roll up your sleeves and start building Communism.)
Rhetoric: Oh yeah! Get the firing squads and the animal wagons ready!
You: Wait, what? Firing squads? You didn't say anything about those.
Rhetoric: Too late to back out now. You can't make an omelet without breaking a few million eggs!
You: (Roll up your sleeves and start building Communism.)
Rhetoric: Oh yeah! Get the firing squads and the animal wagons ready!
You: Wait, what? Firing squads? You didn't say anything about those.
Rhetoric: Too late to back out now. You can't make an omelet without breaking a few million eggs!
