Which set of revolutionaries do you have the most respect for?

[Boris Godunov]

Cromwell was a jerk, can't really think of him as someone to admire.

[DinoDoc]

Originally posted by Shi Huangdi
Wow! I didn't know El Awrence would be one to support religious fundamentalists and those who comitt genocide!

Leaving aside his depredations in Ireland, He did a lot of good in England.

[DinoDoc]

I forgot to list a few of the revolutionaries I respect:

The Founding Fathers of the US
Adam Smith
Einstein
Darwin

[Boris Godunov]

Galileo

[SnowFire]

Ray Kroc? You nuts? He was a tremendous jerk and was more a case of right place, right time than any revolutonary genius. Now Morita, you can make an argument for, but not Kroc.

And oh yes, dourly serious, Stefu is correct with regards to the more standard vareity of revolutonaries. Although I'm curious how much running-doggedness is steeped in the Finns.

[sparkplug]

Pierre Proudhon
Adam Smith(I know he is the father of capitalism, but I do agree with many things he advocated)

[Zkribbler]

Originally posted by Dr Strangelove
Thomas Jefferson, [Sam Adams], John Adams, Thomas Payne, Benjamin Franklin and George Washington.

Gandhi
Curizon Aquino
Solidarity
Martin Luther
Simon Bolivar
Ataturk
The Chinese students in 1989--esp. the kid who stood in front of the line of tanks.

[sparkplug]

And I gotta include some peaceful revolutionaries, like Ghandi and Tolstoy.

[sparkplug]

Jesus, I'm so f***ing tired. I mispelled all of the words in my last sentence before I edited them.

[ThePantaloonDog]

Despite the incredibly stupid comment made above it I do agree with axi that Babeuf is probably one of the best revolutionaries.

Babeuf's Defense is one of the best discourses on freedom of the people and points out how revolutions can just turn into another form of oppression

[Kropotkin]

Say what you want about Adam Smith but calling him a revolutionary is surely streching it too far.

After last night I'm also thinking Sam Adams. Not that I know much more about him than he being the cousin of John Adams but since there's a beer named after him he must be a great guy!

[Sikander]

Short funny answer Couter-revolutionaries with an if*, longer serious answer people who have a good idea of how to set up a better government than the one they are replacing. No single great leaders, but broader based groups who get along well enough with each other not to jump into a civil war immediately after the Ancien Regime is out of the way.


* If they are overthrowing commie dictators.


edit: format

[Provost Harrison]

Lenin and Trotsky. Ooooooh

[Rand Al'Tor]

I'm with Speer on the Grachi brothers. They're just so damn dramatic. I wish someone'd make a movie about them. It's got everything. Brotherly love, hatred between married family members (Scaevola and Graachi) loyalty, betrayal, suicide...

Most definately like them for that (whether what they did helped? Well, they failed, so it's kinda hard to say that)

[ZoboZeWarrior]

Originally posted by MrFun
But the French Revolution in Europe was a failure that ended in a mindless blood-fest orgy.
It unleashed many new ideals though for other European leaders to strive for.
But the French Revolution in of itself, failed.

"mindless blood-fest orgy" ? Damn ...

Our "Revolution" ended when Napoleon self-proclamed Emperor of France.

Not a success, yes. Because of other European countries who attacked us & Napoleon 1er.

But it wasn't a total failure just a partial. But some of the most interesting idea (maybe too utopic) are gone with the wind.

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