#+title: the masses are more revolutionary than parties

There is a phenomeon in the course of [[file:20200713100151-revolution.org][revolutions]] that the general masses are
more advanced politically than the revolutionary parties. Some examples include:

- The German workers in the days of the aftermath of the [[file:20210509211547-german_revolution.org][German Revolution]]
- The spontaneous action that kicked off the [[file:20200707205320-1917_october_revolution.org][1917 October Revolutton]]
- Organized labor in general

This was also something that [[file:20210428155930-mao_zedong.org][Mao]] noticed and perhaps appreciated more than most
revolutionaries (however even he could not stay ahead of the masses).

Historically, this has also been a massive miscalculation on the part of
revolutionary organizations. Arguably, the [[file:20200611204207-soviet_union.org][Soviet Union]] lost favor simply
because it failed to meet the demands of its citizens. The government of
Robespierre collapsed in part because they lost favor with the French people at
the time.

In general, people in the aggregate seem to know what they want, and know what
they don't want. They have a sense of the problems in their world, but perhaps
don't know how best to articulate it. Perhaps this is the [[file:20210621205658-role_of_a_communist_party.org][role of a communist
party]].