It is said that a member of the Council of Ministers, on being told that the state Duma would on this occasion speak of treason, exclaimed excitedly,

I may perhaps be a fool, but I am not a traitor.

Does it matter, gentlemen, whether we are in the present case dealing with stupidity or treason?

When the Duma keeps everlastingly insisting that the rear must be organized for a successful struggle, the government

persists in claiming that organizing the country means organizing a revolution and deliberately

prefers chaos and disorganization. What is it? Stupidity or treason?

Pavel Milukov's speech to the Duma, November 14th, 1916. Welcome to the history of the 20th century.

Thank you. Welcome to the history of the 20th century. Episode 135 Stupidity or Treason

The Polish American historian Richard Pipes

begins one of his books on the Russian Revolution

by inviting us to ponder the etymology of the word revolution.

I think that's an excellent idea, though I don't entirely agree with Pipes' etymology,

but that's no problem. I'll just give you mine. Here we go.

The word revolution has its roots in the Latin verb vulvere, which means to turn.

Rayvolveri, therefore, suggests to return or turn back or come full circle. Hence the word

revolution first appears in English in the 14th century as an astronomical term,

referring to one circuit of the orbital motion of a heavenly body, like the moon around the

earth. From here, the meaning of revolution next extends to embrace the turning in circles

of a mechanical device, like an axle or a gear.

But how did it come to have this other meaning, the violent overthrow of a government?

Well, the answer to this question, like most questions, is history.

According to the Oxford English Dictionary, the first recorded use of revolution in a political

...