E. Showing the Whole
Face of the Revolution
It is
not sufficient to point out the risk that our civilization may disappear
altogether. We must know how to reveal amid the chaos that envelops us the
whole face of the Revolution in its immense hideousness. Whenever this face is revealed,
outbursts of vigorous reaction appear.
For
this reason, during the French Revolution and throughout the nineteenth
century, the counter-revolutionary movement in France was stronger than ever
before. Never had the face of the Revolution been seen so well. The immensity
of the maelstrom in which the old order of things had been shipwrecked had
suddenly opened the eyes of many people to a host of truths silenced or denied
by the Revolution down through the centuries. Above all, the spirit of the
Revolution had become clear to them in all its malice and in all its profound
connections with ideas and habits long considered innocent by most people.
Thus, the
counter-revolutionary must frequently unmask the whole face of the Revolution
in order to exorcise the spell it casts upon its victims.
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