ABSTRACT
Two years before he made his revolution, 1 Lenin asked himself the question: “What, generally speaking, are the symptoms of a revolutionary situation?” and his answer was that there were three of them: (i) there must be a split within the ruling class, which weakens its control; (2) “the want and suffering of the oppressed classes have become more acute than usual”; and as a consequence of (1) and (2), there will be (3) “a considerable increase in the activity of the masses.” 2
