Page:The Spirit of Russia by T G Masaryk, volume 2.pdf/555

Rh the prescriptions of the theocracy, for Katkov, Pobědonoscev, and Leont'ev were but spokesmen of the caesaropapist reaction. Solov'ev renewed the attempt of the slavophils, and a number of sometime revolutionaries have of late followed in his footsteps, for the interest in religion has been fortified by the writings of Dostoevskii and Tolstoi. In Ropšin, above all, we have been able to demonstrate the manifestations of the crisis in revolutionism. The first Russian mass revolution, and its conquest by the reaction, once more made the problem of revolution a matter of urgent actuality.

The concept of revolution secures graphic expression in current terminology. Everywhere when people speak of a rising, a revolt, a tumult, an insurrection, or a rebellion, they mean something quite distinct from revolution, for this last is regarded as a thorough transformation from the foundation upwards. In the last sense, people speak also of "the definitive revolution."

Civil war, again, is distinguished from revolution, and we distinguish between revolution from above and revolution from below. Reaction is a form of revolution, for reaction is the counter-revolution.

In most cases the idea of bloodshed is attached to the idea of revolution, but of course a revolution may be effected without bloodshed, though carried out by the use of force and even military force.

These terms afford a fairly accurate classification, or at any rate provide a survey, of the different varieties of revolution, and we may content ourselves with the simple enumeration of designations without attempting precise definitions.

As far as Russia is concerned we have to think especially of the difference between mass revolution and individual revolutionary acts (terrorism). Enough has been said in previous chapters to emphasise this distinction, for it is clearly explained in the history of the Russian revolution and in the doctrines of individual writers on the subject.

Ordinarily the term revolution, when used without qualification, signifies political revolution. But there are also non-political revolutions: religious, moral, and ecclesiastical; philosophic and scientific; literary and artistic. Much has been written concerning the economic and social revolution brought about by capitalism. Rh