Jason Miko
Jul 27, 2017 · 5 min read
The revolutionaries always devour their own

Revolutions always devour their own

Filip Stojanovski is a CSO activist and leader of many of the Stormtroopers of the CSOs in Macedonia, many of whom turned out to be members of the so-called “colorful revolution.” As head of the CSO Metamorphosis, which implements both USAID and Soros Foundation grants, Filip has been at the forefront of the “colorful revolution,” actively participating in the destruction of public property. In a column for the platform “Global Voices” in October of 2016, he described the activities of the revolutionaries writing “The anti-corruption protests, dubbed the “Colorful Revolution” were non-violent demonstrations that included marches, performances, and a great deal of color. Carrying paint buckets and water squirters, protesters in more than 20 cities across the country splashed paint on structures.”

Now, surely Filip’s parents — if they were good parents — taught him that destroying public property — indeed that destroying anyone’s property — was wrong. If they didn’t teach him this then they abdicated their responsibility as parents. It’s one of the roles of the parents to instill in their children knowledge of right and wrong. However, Filip can insist all he wants that the revolution was “non-violent” but at the end of the day, he knows, and the “revolutionaries” know that is a lie (the classic dictionary definition of “violent” is “using or involving physical force intended to hurt, damage, or kill someone or something.”) But since they all do insist on calling themselves “revolutionaries” I thought it would be useful to find out what happens to most revolutionaries, especially those from the left.

Both the current prime minister and defense minister were a part of this so-called revolution, gleefully throwing paint-filled balloons at the institutions they now purport to lead and cherish. Odd. But two points are warranted. First, they will both end up as all revolutionaries do. Second, if any individuals or groups were to pull the same stunt, the current government would arrest and fine them, as they rightly should. So when they were a part of the so-called “colorful revolutionaries” that demanded the “right” to deface and destroy public property but now they would defend these institutions. That is simply because at their core they are hypocrites.

Ludwig von Mises (1881–1973) was an Austrian-American economist and the leader of what has become known as the Austrian School of economic thought (also known as the Chicago School as opposed to the Keynesian School, named after John Maynard Keynes who famously called himself an “immoralist”). The institute founded in von Mises’ name “exists to promote teaching and research in the Austrian school of economics, and individual freedom, honest history, and international peace, in the tradition of Ludwig von Mises and Murray N. Rothbard.” I encourage readers to take a deep dive into both the institute and von Mises’ thinking.

Professor Peter St. Onge contributes columns to the Institute and wrote a fascinating piece about revolutions devouring their own which I believe we can apply to the so-called “colorful revolutionaries.” He states “Left-wing revolution is one of history’s biggest bait-and-switches. Both for the intellectuals who hanker for the grapeshot, and for the marginalized peoples who get concentration camps instead of the anti-capitalist utopia they were promised. ‘Revolutions eat their children.’ This observation, by a journalist during the French Revolution, was only partly true. In reality, revolutions eat their parents. In particular, history’s left-wing revolutions eat the left-wing intellectuals who made them happen….To remake society so it matches whatever version of ‘justice’ strikes its promoters as attractive.”

He continues writing about many of those who support such revolutions noting “Of course, in such reformist revolutions the eggheads are just an appetizer. History’s reformist revolutions move straight on to the main course: the marginalized and minorities who were often the revolution’s most passionate supporters to begin with. The left-wing revolutions of the twentieth century have all followed this pattern: midwifed by utopian intellectuals, power is quickly seized by political entrepreneurs who play to the basest instincts of the common people. Even in the most ‘civilized’ places, such as ‘anything goes’ Weimar Germany or 1950s ‘playground of the stars’ Cuba, these newly enthroned are happy to see those eggheads and their “perverted” friends interred, tortured, hung from the nearest lamp post.”

This next I find fascinating because during Macedonia’s so-called “revolution” some of those out on the street protesting proudly wore tee-shirts with the iconic image of Communist murderer Che Guevara (and some today still use the photo for their Twitter handles). Peter writes “Most ironically, given his campus stardom, radical hero Che Guevara gleefully and personally executed homosexuals, whom he detested, while helping set up Fidel’s network of camps across the county to torture gays and effeminate men into renouncing their allegedly wicked perversions that were supposedly the product of morally corrosive capitalism.”

He concludes with the all-important question of why such revolutions persist in such behavior writing “Why do reformist revolutions enjoy executing both left-wing intellectuals and the very ‘vulnerable groups’ so near to the leftist heart? Because power has its own logic. Because any government based on violence has to constantly watch its back. The left thinks it can control the tiger of the masses unleashed. It cannot, and indeed it will be the first to hang.”

I don’t believe that Macedonia’s so-called “colorful revolutionaries” will get to the point where they are executing people (or to the point where they start executing each other), but make no mistake — the so-called “colorful revolutionaries” in Macedonia, aided and abetted by Soros and some of the Western embassies, and along with their EU handlers such as Federica Mogherini who, in 1988, joined the Federation of Young Italian Communists, are sitting around smug, self-satisfied, and assuring each other of their positions and longevity. But they too, along with their failed positions and policies, will one day soon be placed into the ash heap of history, replaced by center-right policies that actually lift up and improve the lives of people.

Jason Miko

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