From the Net: 'Is the ruling class too strong to defeat?' (Paul D'Amato)

··> Paul D'Amato at Socialist Worker.

Is the ruling class too strong to defeat?

How can a revolution succeed when our rulers have well-armed and well-manned militaries at their command?

THOSE WHO rule will not give up their power peacefully.

Try to disrupt one of their events--like meetings of the World Bank and International Monetary Fund--and our rulers are willing to mobilize thousands of cops, shut down half a city and attack with clubs, tear gas and pepper spray.

Imagine what they might do in a revolution--if millions of workers attempted to seize control of the factories, mines, hospitals and schools and run them democratically.

Perhaps that's why socialists are often confronted with the question, isn't the state all-powerful?

This seems to be an unsolvable paradox. Piecemeal reforms can't change the fundamental nature of a society based on the exploitation of the many by the few. Yet revolution will be met with superior force--and defeated.

... continue reading at Socialist Worker (it does not end in defeat, not necessarily).