ABSTRACT
The most fruitful typology of revolution is that of Chalmers Johnson, set out in a pamphlet that deserves to be widely read. He sees six types, identified by the targets selected for attack. The first type, the jacquerie, is a spontaneous mass peasant rising. The second type, the millenarian rebellion, is similar to the first but with the added feature of a utopian dream, inspired by a living messiah. The third type is the anarchistic rebellion, the nostalgic reaction to progressive change, involving a romantic idealization of the old order. The fourth is that very rare phenomenon, the Jacobin Communist revolution. The fifth type is the conspiratorial coup d' etat, the planned work of a tiny elite fired by an oligarchic, sectarian ideology. Finally, there is the militarized mass insurrection, a new phenomenon of the twentieth century in that it is a deliberately planned mass revolutionary war, guided by a dedicated elite.
