ABSTRACT
Part of the explanation can perhaps be found at a different level than the one at which the logic of collective action usually works. Similarly, the ‘logic of collective action” alerts us to a major problem with membership of the Communist party in the Soviet Union—one that the American media is almost certain to misinterpret When Lenin and Stalin structured the requirements of party membership, they showed a deep understanding of the logic of collective action. The American revolution, for example, was directed not only against the British, but also against the American Tories who benefitted from British colonial rule and wanted it to continue. Clearly one of the major distinctions between socio-economic revolution and nationality or religious revolt is that the soldier and demonstrator may have far less of a sense of identity in the latter case than in the former.
