-
“There is, I believe, a political precept which sets a time limit within which any organized revolutionary political party must achieve power and complete and consolidate the intended social transformations. Thereafter, degeneration is inevitable, with or without achievement of the goal. The critical time span seems to be about one human generation, a leeway of some 20 to 30 years for vital activity as a principled organization. Should a revolutionary political party not achieve power within that span of time from the date of its foundation, either through revolutionary seizure or through co-optation or through constitutional means like election, then it is doomed to shed its initial revolutionary integrity and dash. If it does not achieve power within a single generation, then impetuous ardor gives way to opportunism and careerism. Once that occurs, there is no likelihood that it will ever come to power, certainly not as a revolutionary force.”
Clarence J. Munford
