I don’t know about citing les Miserable as a portrayal of effective revolution that ended well: It lead to le terrorisme, and much vindictive bloodshed.

the “French revolution” was not a peasant uprising, it was a coup de tat, instigated by a handful of spoiled brat aristocrats, exploiting the squalid living conditions of the peasantry into what would qualify as a revolution. One of those 12 liberated from le Bastille was none other than the notorious Marquis de Sade (consult your Edmund Burke on that.)

Much the same as the way the plot by Prince Yusupov, Purishkevich, and drug lord Dr Badmayev”s assassination of Rasputin created mass armed defections, and instability for Vladimir Illich (collaborator w/ Germany, as Rasputin was and also known to the world as) Lenin, to exploit in similar fashion, using le Terrorisme for his purposes once there was capitulation.

Only in recent times in Moldova, Georgia, Ukraine, and the rest of eastern europe have ‘revolutions’ had as their priority the establishment of democratic Republics.

Maybe those states and their peoples are more closely connected to their greco-roman predecessors than western europe is now. I don’t know

We need a four pointed star for July 4, 2009: one in D.C., one up north in Wisconsin, one in Texas, one in california.

Vive le revolution! as with our kin from Eastern Europe are now fighting Russian hegemonic real politik. We are fighting Miserablism.