A
revolutionary is a person who either actively participates in, or advocates
revolution. Also, when used as an adjective, the term
revolutionary refers to something that has a major, sudden impact on society or on some aspect of human endeavour. The term—both as a noun and adjective—is usually applied to the field of
politics, and is occasionally used in the context of
science,
invention or
art. In politics, a revolutionary is someone who supports abrupt, rapid, and drastic change, while a
reformist is someone who supports more gradual and incremental change. A
conservative is someone who opposes all such changes. A reactionary is someone who wants things to go back to the way they were.
According to sociologist
James Chowning Davies, political revolutionaries may be classified in two ways:
- According to the methods they propose to use. This divides revolutionaries in two broad groups: Those who advocate a violent revolution, and those who are pacifists.
The revolutionary anarchists
Mikhail Bakunin and
Sergey Nechayev argued in
Catechism of a Revolutionary:
The Revolutionary is a doomed man. He has no private interests, no affairs, sentiments, ties, property nor even a name of his own. His entire being is devoured by one purpose, one thought, one passion—the revolution. Heart and soul, not merely by word but by deed, he has severed every link with the social order and with the entire civilized world; with the laws, good manners, conventions, and morality of that world. He is its merciless enemy...
Marxist revolutionary
Che Guevara said this about revolutionaries: "At the risk of seeming ridiculous, let me say that the true revolutionary is guided by a great feeling of love. ... We must strive every day so that this love of living humanity will be transformed into actual deeds, into acts that serve as examples, as a moving force."
Notable revolutionaries
Related topics
Footnotes
