How Marxist communist revolution was wrong
Communist revolutions, by this logic should be successful when the populous is and is known to be at the mercy of some regime that extends no sympathy to them, dictatorial regimes or colonial rule being the best examples.
Loose thoughts
It failed to predict revolutions, not because revolutionary communism fails to create revolt, but rather because it failed to predict the scope of the revolution.
This is my non official analysis on this topic and can be summarize as such:
However mistreated the people are they tend to revolt against bosses and other humans much more than to revolt against the system that oppresses them. It seems ironical that most of our complaints as individuals are direct at other individuals. We blame the boss, the president the king… But those figures change yet (unless they were truly dictatorial authoritarian figures) the problem persists. In summary we, via proxy of a representative, unknowingly blame a system by which we feel oppressed. In all but the most extreme cases we leave the company, the town or the country when we realize this fact. When we realize that it isn’t specifically “John’s” fault, but the system that surrounds them.
Looping back around to the failure to predict revolutions. These have often happened successfully (in as far as they change the regime) when a imperial overlord is perceived by the populous. Communist revolutions, by this logic should be successful when the populous is and is known to be at the mercy of some regime that extends no sympathy to them, dictatorial regimes or colonial rule being the best examples.
Historically this is also what we see. The oppressed colonies of Vietnam, or Angola, or ruthless imperial rule such as China or Russia.
This is contrasts with Marx predictions of European revolutions where people have the tendency to both assume they’re the colonizers, and agree with the hierarchical mechanisms that govern their regimes.
This is a somewhat long winded (yet summary) way to attempt to explain the failures of European socialist revolutions. A (pun intended) liberal hand full of foreign intervention has also helped.
Notes
This is one of those that needs to be revisited… Please disagree, and politely, tell me about it.