The Psychology of Revolution | Page 7

even more truly within us than without us.
Against their will the reformers of the Revolution remained saturated
with the past, and could only continue, under other names, the
traditions of the monarchy, even exaggerating the autocracy and
centralisation of the old system. Tocqueville had no difficulty in
proving that the Revolution did little but overturn that which was about
to fall.
If in reality the Revolution destroyed but little it favoured the fruition
of certain ideas which continued thenceforth to develop.
The fraternity and liberty which it proclaimed never greatly seduced the
peoples, but equality became their gospel: the pivot of socialism and of
the entire evolution of modern democratic ideas. We may therefore say
that the Revolution did not end with the advent of the Empire, nor with
the successive restorations which followed it. Secretly or in the light of
day it has slowly unrolled itself and still affects men's minds.
The study of the French Revolution to which a great part of this book is
devoted will perhaps deprive the reader of more than one illusion, by
proving to him that the books which recount the history of the
Revolution contain in reality a mass of legends very remote from
reality.
These legends will doubtless retain more life than history itself. Do not
regret this too greatly. It may interest a few philosophers to know the
truth, but the peoples will always prefer dreams. Synthetising their
ideal, such dreams will always constitute powerful motives of action.
One would lose courage were it not sustained by false ideas, said
Fontenelle. Joan of Arc, the Giants of the Convention, the Imperial
epic--all these dazzling images of the past will always remain sources
of hope in the gloomy hours that follow defeat. They form part of that
patrimony of illusions left us by our fathers, whose power is often
greater than that of reality. The dream, the ideal, the legend--in a word,
the unreal--it is that which shapes history.

PART I
THE PSYCHOLOGICAL ELEMENTS OF REVOLUTIONARY
MOVEMENTS

BOOK I
GENERAL CHARACTERISTICS OF REVOLUTIONS
CHAPTER I
SCIENTIFIC AND POLITICAL REVOLUTIONS
1. Classification of Revolutions.
We generally apply the term revolution to sudden political changes, but
the expression may be employed to denote all sudden transformations,
or transformations apparently sudden, whether of beliefs, ideas, or
doctrines.
We have considered elsewhere the part played by the rational, affective,
and mystic factors in the genesis of the opinions and beliefs which
determine conduct. We need not therefore return to the subject here.
A revolution may finally become a belief, but it often commences
under the action of perfectly rational motives: the suppression of crying
abuses, of a detested despotic government, or an unpopular sovereign,
&c.
Although the origin of a revolution may be perfectly rational, we must
not forget that the reasons invoked in preparing for it do not influence
the crowd until they have been transformed into sentiments. Rational
logic can point to the abuses to be destroyed, but to move the multitude
its hopes must be awakened. This can only be effected by the action of
the affective and mystic elements which give man the power to act. At
the time of the French Revolution, for example, rational logic, in the

hands of the philosophers, demonstrated the inconveniences of the
ancien regime, and excited the desire to change it. Mystic logic inspired
belief in the virtues of a society created in all its members according to
certain principles. Affective logic unchained the passions confined by
the bonds of ages and led to the worst excesses. Collective logic ruled
the clubs and the Assemblies and impelled their members to actions
which neither rational nor affective nor mystic logic would ever have
caused them to commit.
Whatever its origin, a revolution is not productive of results until it has
sunk into the soul of the multitude. Then events acquire special forms
resulting from the peculiar psychology of crowds. Popular movements
for this reason have characteristics so pronounced that the description
of one will enable us to comprehend the others.
The multitude is, therefore, the agent of a revolution; but not its point
of departure. The crowd represents an amorphous being which can do
nothing, and will nothing, without a head to lead it. It will quickly
exceed the impulse once received, but it never creates it.
The sudden political revolutions which strike the historian most
forcibly are often the least important. The great revolutions are those of
manners and thought. Changing the name of a government does not
transform the mentality of a people. To overthrow the institutions of a
people is not to re-shape its soul.
The true revolutions, those which transform the destinies of the peoples,
are most frequently accomplished so slowly that the historians can
hardly point to their beginnings. The term