Revolutions are neither noisy nor bloody, unless there is violent effort to prevent the growth of society.
As to the matter of being afraid of revolutions: Why should we clap our hands in praise of the American Revolutionists (who employed sword, rifle, bayonet and cannon in their revolution) and then harshly condemn the peaceful Socialists who stand for peace in all parts of the world and always urge the orderly methods of procedure in accomplishing the revolution (the fundamental change) they seek to effect.
Don’t be afraid.
Fortunately millions of American school boys and girls are required to commit to memory the following words of splendid defiance and self-respect:
“We hold these truths to be self-evident: ... That governments are instituted among men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed; that whenever any form of government becomes destructive of these ends (the inalienable rights ... life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness) it is the right of the people to alter or abolish it, and to institute a NEW government, laying its foundation on such principles, and organizing its powers in such form as to them shall seem MOST LIKELY to effect their safety and happiness.... When a long train of abuses and usurpations, pursuing invariably the same object, evinces a design to reduce them under an absolute despotism, it is their RIGHT, it is their DUTY, to THROW OFF SUCH GOVERNMENT and to provide NEW guards for their future security.”—American Declaration of Independence.
Don’t be afraid.
“The State must from time to time readjust the relation of government to liberty.... As the people of the State advance in civilization, the domain of liberty must be widened.”—Professor John W. Burgess, Head of Department of Political Science, Columbia University.[[323]]
Don’t be afraid.
The time has come for the workers to use their political liberty to secure industrial liberty—to “widen the domain of liberty,” to secure a fair race, to secure equality of opportunity.
Equality? Yes,—equality of opportunity. Certainly. Why not?