Revolutionary wave

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A revolutionary wave is a series of revolutions occurring in various locations. In many cases, an initial revolution inspires other "affiliate revolutions" with similar aims.^[1]

The concept is important to Marxists, who see a revolutionary waves as evidence that a world revolution is possible. For Rosa Luxemburg, "The most precious thing...in the sharp ebb and flow of the revolutionary waves is the proletariat's spiritual growth. The advance by leaps and – bounds of the intellectual stature of the proletariat affords an inviolable guarantee of its further progress in the inevitable economic and political struggles ahead."^[2]

Examples given of revolutionary waves include:

• A wave occurring at the end of the eighteenth century, including the American Revolution and the French Revolution.
• The Latin American Wars of Independence, including the South American Wars of Independence of 1810-25, the Mexican War of Independence of 1810-21, and the Central American declaration of independence of September 15, 1821.
• The Revolutions of 1830.
• The Revolutions of 1848.
• The Revolutions of 1917-23, including the Bolshevik Revolution.
• A minor wave in the mid-1930s, including the Spanish Revolution.
• A wave occurring at the end of World War II.
• The Protests of 1968, including the May 1968 events in France.
• The rise of Islamic fundamentalism since the 1979 Iranian Revolution.
• The Revolutions of 1989.
• The Color Revolutions, starting in 2000.

[edit] See also

• Waves of democracy

[edit] References

1. ^ Mark N. Katz, Revolution and Revolutionary Waves
2. ^ Rosa Luxemburg, Gesammelte Werke, quoted in Tony Cliff, Patterns of mass strike (Part 1)