February 25, 2025

I am a revolutionist by birth, reading and principle. I am always on the side of the revolutionists because there never was a revolution unless there were some oppressive and intolerable conditions against which to revolt.

Samuel Langhorne Clemens (“Mark Twain”) (1835–1910), American writer, interview, April 15, 1906, New York Sun, Tribune, World, in defence of Maxim Gorki, Seldes p.84

But really, what reactionary (that is, anti-revolutionary) would ever go on record in favour of oppression and other intolerable conditions?

Leave it to a writer as clever as Twain to make the case for revolution as simply and convincingly as possible. America’s beloved humourist was always a bit of a grenade-chucker. Read him from time to time, to understand some of the finer points of your job description.