A Preface to Politics — CHAPTER IX

1. 1. Revolution is a slow, imperceptible change in the texture of millions of lives, not a dramatic episode.
2. 2. The Lawrence textile strike of 1912 shocked public opinion because strikers showed a disposition to right their wrongs, not just insist on them.
3. 3. The responsibility for insurrections lies with dominant classes who fight against emergent ones, precipitating violence.
4. 4. Statesmanship should meet a crisis before it becomes acute, not dam up insurgent currents until they overflow.
5. 5. The Progressive Party under Roosevelt crystallized unrest into a political program, performing the real task of a leader.
6. 6. Guild Socialism, as proposed by the New Age, fuses syndicalist self-direction with collectivist planning to avoid both bureaucratic exploitation and union monopoly.
7. 7. No party can represent a whole nation; a platform is a list of immediate proposals that inevitably arouse hostility among conflicting interests.
8. 8. The success of democracy depends on the people using the system, not on the system itself.
9. 9. Real statesmanship accepts human nature and provides fine opportunities for the expression of impulses, rather than repressing them.
10. 10. Without culture—literature, philosophy, criticism—there can be no genuine revolution in the lives of men.
11. 11. The modern desire for autonomy—self-direction in spiritual and political life—is the common impulse behind syndicalism, feminism, and other revolts.
12. 12. Life is an irreversible process; the future can never be a repetition of the past, and we create ourselves continually.