Page:American Journal of Sociology Volume 11.djvu/72

 56 THE AMERICAN JOURNAL OF SOCIOLOGY

Revolutions simply afford opportunities for mobs to manifest themselves to a much greater degree than they can in normal social life.

The duration of the period of confusion, anarchy, and mob- rule in a revolution is dependent upon a number of factors. If the party of revolt is united upon a program, and if the popula- tion generally has not lost its power of readjustment, the period of confusion may be so short as to be practically negligible. Under such circumstances the reconstruction of new social habits and institutions goes on rapidly under the guidance of the revo- lutionary party. As an illustration of this particular type of revolution with a happy outcome we may take our War of Independence. In this case the relative unity of the revolutionary party, the incompleteness of the destruction of the old social order, the vigorous power of readjustment in a relatively free population, all favored the speedy reconstruction of social insti- tutions.

Unfortunately, this speedy reconstruction of social habits is not the outcome of all revolutions. Too often the revolutionary party is unified in nothing except its opposition to the old regime. It can find no principle or interest upon which a new social order can be reconstructed. Moreover, through a long period of social immobility the population seems often to have lost in great degree its power of readaptation. Indeed, in rare cases, peoples seem to have lost all power of making stable readjustments for them- selves. Under any or all of these conditions it is evident that the period of confusion, anarchy, and mob-rule in a revolution must continue for a relatively long time. During this time fre- quent attempts may be made at the reconstruction of the social order without success. These attempts are continued until some adequate stimulus is found, either in an ideal principle or in the personality of some hero, to reconstruct the social habits of the population. Or, if no basis for the reconstruction of the social order can be found, revolution may become chronic; and the period of relative anarchy and mob-rule may last for years, only to be ended perhaps by the subjugation and government of the population by an external power.