The Revolution to Come: A History of an Idea from Thucydides to Lenin

Stephen Kotkin introduces Dan Edelstein, a professor and Hoover Senior Fellow, to discuss his book, "The Revolution to Come." Edelstein explains his decade-long exploration into why the French Revolution had a more significant global impact than the American Revolution. He argues that the French embraced the concept of revolution from the start due to a prevailing "modern doctrine of progress," a belief in the gradual accumulation of knowledge and societal improvement, contrasting this with the classical view of history as cyclical and human nature as unchanging. This perspective led the French to see revolution as a portal to a perfect future, while classical thinkers aimed to prevent revolution through balanced constitutions. The discussion explores how this modern view, when unmet, results in revolutionary violence and the rise of authoritarian figures, or "Revolutionary Leviathans," to enforce a singular vision of truth. The conversation further examines the tension between hopes for a better future and the necessity of political pluralism, distinguishing between material growth and moral progress, and considering the role of national and anti-colonial revolutions within these frameworks.