Just heard something interesting about the French Revolution

[coalition_unwilling]

14. To blame for what? Occupy rigorously insisted upon non-violence, a

position that, while laudable, made them sitting ducks for Villaraigosa's goons when the shit came down.

I had gone down on Nov. 28 (the night the raid was first threatened). That night, there were 4,000 people at the OLA camp and the cops did not attack the camp (although they ringed it quite threateningly). The night of the actual raid (Nov. 30), I had come down with a horrible flu from being down there on the 28th and there were only some 500 people there, no match for the 1500 storm troopers Villaraigosa sent in.

I don't blame anarchists for the debacle, but I do think what happened illustrates Lenin's notion of the need for a dedicated vanguard to lead the masses. And also the idea that you don't start a revolution until you're ready to see it through.