Re: Social or political revolution?

[cbcox@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx (Carrol Cox)]

    Marx did say something like this (in a letter I think), BUT it is
usually quoted without the necessary qualifications. He referred only
to England and the U.S.--and more importantly, his reason was that
those nations did not have a fully developed civil and military
bureaucracy--which is hardly the case now. Engels late in life wrote
an essay for the (spelling?) Neue Zeitung (paper of German Social
Democracy) which the editors rather over-edited. In it he said that
masses of civilians could not defeat a modern army (that was included);
he ALSO said that they wouldn't have to, but only hold off for a few
days, and a modern army (drawn from the working class) would refuse any
longer to fight their class brothers and sisters. (In 1968 the U.S.
did not dare send its only available division to Chicago to protect
the Democratic National Convention--they were afraid the soldiers
would take the side of the demonstrators.) This latter part was
not printed until the Soviet Union got Engels papers and printed it.
Exactly what Engels predicted happened in Iran when the Shah was
overturned: the Shah could not trust his army.
    Carrol

Mike Dean writes:
>
> List,
>
>     I have heard people say here and there that Marx and/or Engels said later
> in life that socialism can be democratically acheived.  If this is so, could
> I please get some references?
>
>     Thanks,
>
>            ---Mike Dean
>
>
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>



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