ABSTRACT
The question is of the enduring influence of the Russian Revolution. Steven Marks argues eloquently that the Russian Revolution, once important and influential globally, has lost its power and enchantment. He argues this on the basis of direct reference, or lack thereof, in the discourses of the colour revolutions of the past ten-to-fifteen years. Michele Penner Angrist describes the trigger of humiliation and the generation of a mass movement in the ‘street’ that is certainly analogous to the February days in Russia and to all Revolutionary actions against Old Regime authority: But people bear an internal cost—to their sense of autonomy and personal integrity —of pretending that the status quo is acceptable. The scripts are a form of influence as Revolutionary actors in institutions and in the street alike may be and often are aware of the Revolutionary scenarios in very recent or more ‘historical’ time.
