Modern socialist revolution inverts the temporal structure of the French Revolution paradigm

Evidence

For Marx, essence and facticity, the situation of the history of essence and the situation of actual history, are no longer separate regions or levels which are independent of one another: the historicity of man is included in the determination of his essence … But the discovery of the historicity of the essence of man does not mean that the history of the essence of man is to be identified with his actual history. We have already heard that man is never immediately one with his life-activity', but rather distinguishes’ himself from it and relates' to it. Essence and existence become distinct here: his existence is a means’ towards the realization of his essence, or, in alienation, his essence is a means towards his mere physical existence. If essence and existence move apart in this way, while at the same time the reunification of both of them as an actual achievement is the truly free task for human practice, then, where facticity has progressed as far as the complete reversal of human essence, the radical abolition of this facticity is the supreme task. The unwavering vision of the essence of man becomes, precisely, a relentless impetus towards radical revolution: the fact that in the actual situation of capitalism it is not merely a question of economic or political crisis, but a question of catastrophe for the essence of humanitythis discovery condemns every mere economic or political reform to failure from the outset, and demands unconditionally the catastrophic abolition of actual conditions by means of total revolution. — Rolf Wiggershaus, The Frankfurt School, 421 (#expands, via linked claim)

Revolutions move to different scripts, and their actors assume different roles. The French Revolution, with its ideological background in the eighteenthcentury enlightenment, formulated its ideals as liberty, equality, fraternity. The Russian Revolution, with a background of nineteenth-century socialism, ex­ pressed its ideal as a classless state to be achieved through the dictatorship of the proletariat. The Iranian revolution expresses itself in the language of Islam, that is to say, as a religious movement with a religious leadership, a religiously formulated critique of the old order, and religiously expressed plans for the new. Muslim revolutionaries look to the birth of Islam as their model, and see them­ selves as engaged in a struggle against paganism, oppression, and empire. — Bernard Lewis, From Babel to Dragomans, 1468 (#qualifies, via linked claim)

Categorization

• XREF: connects to: The French Revolution prefigured later totalitarian society-building projects; Each major revolution follows a different inherited ideological script — Bernard Lewis, From Babel to Dragomans: Interpreting…, 1468; Holding history against human essence yields a categorical demand for total revolution over reform — Rolf Wiggershaus, The Frankfurt School: Its History,…, 421 (+1 more)

Broader Connections

• The French Revolution prefigured later totalitarian society-building projects #corroborates (0.88)
• Each major revolution follows a different inherited ideological script #qualifies (0.75) — Bernard Lewis, From Babel to Dragomans, 1468
• Holding history against human essence yields a categorical demand for total revolution over reform #expands (0.75) — Rolf Wiggershaus, The Frankfurt School, 421
• Marxism synthesizes the Reformation plus the French Revolution into a unified theory #expands (0.70)