Revolutionary terror

Revolutionary terror, also referred to as revolutionary terrorism or a reign of terror, refers to the institutionalized application of force to counterrevolutionaries, particularly during the French Revolution from the years 1793 to 1795 (see the Reign of Terror). The term "Communist terrorism" has also been used to describe the revolutionary terror, from the Red Terror in the Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic (RSFSR) to the reign of the Khmer Rouge and others. In contrast, "reactionary terror", such as White Terror, has been used to subdue revolutions. German Social Democrat Karl Kautsky traces the origins of revolutionary terror to the Reign of Terror of the French Revolution. Vladimir Lenin considered the Jacobin use of terror as a needed virtue and accepted the label Jacobin for his Bolsheviks. However, this distinguished him from Marx. The deterministic view of history was used by Communist regimes to justify the use of terror. Terrorism came to be used by communists, both the state and dissident groups, in both revolution and in consolidation of power. The doctrines of anarchism, Marxism, Marxism–Leninism and Maoism have all spurred dissidents who have taken to terrorism. Except for a brief period in 1848 and within the Tsarist milieu, Marx did not advocate revolutionary terror, feeling it would be counterproductive. Communist leaders used the idea that terror could serve as the force which Marx said was the "midwife of revolution" and after World War I communist groups continued to use it in attempts to overthrow governments. For Mao Zedong, terrorism was an acceptable tool. After World War II, Marxist–Leninist groups seeking independence, like nationalists, concentrated on guerrilla warfare along with terrorism. By the late 1950s and early 1960s, there was a change from wars of national liberation to contemporary terrorism. For decades, terrorist groups tended to be closely linked to communist ideology, being the predominant category of terrorists in the 1970s and 1980s, but today they are in the minority.