The Life Cycle of a Rebellion and an Establishment.

If we observe all the mass movements in the world, it would be either for the decentralization of power or it would be for an establishment of a centralized institution. The former we call as rebels and the latter we call it as an establishment. If we take any period in history, we will find that the world is always torn between these two factions. These two factions will continue to exist as long as the world exists. A rebellion or an establishment is the outcome of the natural need of the balancing forces of the world. There cannot be an artificial engineering of a rebellion or an establishment, and if there is any artificial engineering, it is bound to fail. Everything comes out of maturity. An establishment cannot stand without the ideals evolved from a rebellion, and a rebellion when succeeds becomes an establishment. If a rebellion fails to install an establishment, it becomes rogue. And it the nature of the establishment to grow corrupt in the course of time. There cannot be a permanent rebellion or a permanent establishment. Everything has got a life cycle. We will take some cues from history to examine them. We will examine the following cases.

a) Popular rebellions across the world.
b) How the idea of social equality ended up in Holocaust.
c) How the rebellion failed to achieve proper institutions.
d) How the rebellion created proper institutions but ended up in corruption.
e) The idea of a perpetual revolution.

a) Popular rebellions across the world:

The rebellion begins when the establishment becomes corrupt. It begins when the common masses toil under the tyranny of the powerful. It begins when people lose their privileges. It begins when there is a growing divide between the haves and the have-nots.

The classic example of a rebellion is the French Revolution. It began when the French rule under Louis XVI grew corrupt. It began, when the Government became debt-ridden, with the costly participation in the American Revolutionary wars. People had to pay heavy taxes. The people took to arms and stormed the Bastille prison. The revolution had many phases, and finally took the lives of the King and the queen under a guillotine.

The storming of Bastille. 

The Russian Revolution began when the Czar Nicholas II squandered the country's wealth in World War I. A new form of communist rebellion broke out. The king was finally abdicated and murdered in cold blood with his entire family. The communism became one of the popular rebellions that the world had ever seen. It spread its wings to many parts of the world, particularly Eastern Europe, China, South-East Asia, South America and African countries.

Lenin - the architect of Russian Revolution.

The American Revolution began, when the British imposed heavy taxes, and its foreign policy on the American society, and began treating them as second class citizens. George Washington and men had a tough time before reversing the fortunes with a crushing blow on the enemy at Trenton.

Washington crossing Delaware.

The communist revolution in China began when there was a widespread famine in China, and then the Nationalist Government under Chiang-Kai-shek grew corrupt. China became united under the communist regime in 1950 with the exemption of Taiwan where the nationalist forces took power.

Mao and Zhou en Lai during the long march.

The Cuban revolution began when the Batista regime grew corrupt. There are many such revolutions in history and each revolution is the outcome of corruption and abuse of power by ruling elites.

b) How the idea of social equality ended up in Holocaust:

Since most of the revolutions were fought for the equality of men, the revolutionaries began to envisage a society based on social equality. There are many ways to do it. The Khmer Rouge in Cambodia took an insane method. They rounded up all educated men and women and shot them dead. They formed concentration camps to re-educate them. They vacated the capital city of Phnom Penh and formed an agrarian society. An estimated 3 million people lost their lives in the process.

Cambodian Genocide under Khmer Rouge in S-21 camp.

c) How the rebellion failed to achieve proper institutions:

The following is an example when the rebellion did not form any proper institutions. Libya is a classic example. The Arab spring brought an end to the despotic rule of Muammar Gaddafi. The militias failed to form an establishment, and, as a result, the nation had gone rogue. The rival militia factions are jostling and fighting each other to achieve unilateral power.

Rebels during Arab spring.

d) How the rebellion created proper institutions but ended up in corruption:

Some revolutions ended up in proper establishments. China, for example, formed a communist government, but now festered with corruption and nepotism. Russia formed a proper establishment under Stalin but ended up as a police state with purges and deportations. East Germany was a complete police state with spies everywhere. They suppressed all forms of freedom by means of torture and interrogation.

Stasi HQ in East Germany.

e) The idea of a perpetual revolution:  

Some revolutionaries had the perpetual idea of revolution. They wanted an artificial engineering of a revolution so that the flame of revolution always glows in the minds of the people. Mao, for example, engineered many artificial revolutions (The great leap forward and Cultural Revolution), and the result was the deaths of millions of people in the process. The other one was Che Guevara who tried to engineer many artificial revolutions in Africa and South America and ended up in failure. Finally, Che got caught in Bolivia and executed as a result. 

Che Guevara and the idea of a perpetual revolution.

There are some revolutions under democratic establishments. Like our ruling party in Delhi. They formed an establishment and had the good intention of giving away everything to the poor. As a result, the government is bankrupt and cannot even pay the salaries to municipal workers. It cannot be done in that way instantly.

Thus, the idea of creating a society based on equal means ended up in a holocaust. The idea of not creating a proper establishment ended up with unending wars within. An establishment properly created ended up in corruption, and at last, the idea of a perpetual revolution keeps the society boiling with a destabilizing effect. The revolution gradually loses its charm once it is over. 

Validity of a revolution:

The aims of the revolution are glorious and are valid as long as the revolution is valid, and need a balancing act by nature. But as soon as the revolution is over, there is no other way but to form an establishment. A degeneration is bound to occur in an establishment, however, people-centric it appeared and, however, the ruling men appeared good in the formative years. It is because of the nature of the establishment. The establishment gives power to few men and obviously there will be outright competition for power. Next comes the corruption with the ruling men swindling the money of the establishment and the people. There is no establishment in the world which is free from power-politics and corruption. The establishment obviously goes for the patronage of the wealthy men in the society because the establishment obviously needs money. The schemes then benefit only nepotism, corruption, and few rich men. Remember all our latest scams of our nation from 2G to CWG or Coal scam. Only a few rich men benefited from it. This is the story of establishment going corrupt.

Scams in India.

The life cycle of a Revolution and an establishment:

Rebellion -> Establishment -> Corruption -> Rebellion - this is the cycle. To be a rebel is a grand thing as long as the time and the nature demands. The rebel works for a grand cause against corruption, against the establishment, and against tyranny, and remains valid as long as nature demands it. Rebellion comes by nature. Even in spirituality, we had Buddha going against the establishment. India was then under the control of priestcraft, rituals, and sacrifices. There was a rigid caste system, and the Truth was not open to all. The result was Buddhism. There are men who will come in future, fitted for the purpose of rebellion, and deliver them in proper time and place. But we must remember there is a life cycle to it. There is a life cycle to an establishment as well. 

Thank You.

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