Revolutionary

This page deals with the noun 'revolutionary,' and lists many leaders of revolutionary movements. For more information on this, see Revolution or the Category:Revolutions. For another list of revolutionary people, see Category:Revolutionaries

A revolutionary is a person who either advocates or actively engages in some kind of revolution. Since the term "revolution" may be used to refer to a sudden change in any field, one may speak of political revolutionaries, social revolutionaries, revolutionary scientists, inventors, artists, etc.

In a political context, the term "revolutionary" is often used in contrast to the term reformist. While a revolutionary is someone who supports quick and abrupt change, a reformist is someone who supports slow and gradual change.

Political revolutionaries may be classified in two ways:

According to the goals of the revolution they propose. Usually, these goals are part of a certain ideology. In theory, each ideology could generate its own brand of revolutionaries. In practice, most political revolutionaries have been either liberals, nationalists, socialists, communists or anarchists.
According to the methods they propose to use. This divides revolutionaries in two broad groups: Those who advocate a violent revolution, and those who are pacifists. Perhaps the best known examples of these two types of revolutionaries are Che Guevara and Mahatma Gandhi, respectively.

Alphabetical list of known political revolutionaries

Alphabetical list of known scientific revolutionaries

Alphabetical list of revolutionary groups

Animal Liberation Front
Armenian Revolutionary Federation
Black Panther Party
Some Communist Parties are revolutionary.
Confederación Nacional del Trabajo (Spain)
Earth Liberation Front
Fidel Castro's 26th of July Movement
Industrial Workers of the World
Irish Republican Army
Katipunan,KKK(Philippines)
Liberation News (Internationalist)
New People's Army (Philippines)
Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia a.k.a. Fuerzas Armadas Revolucionarias de Colombia (FARC)
Symbionese Liberation Army
Socialist Party USA
Viet Minh(Vietnam)
The Weathermen/Weather Underground
The Yippie Party ran by Abbie Hoffman and Jerry Rubin in the 1960's
Zapatista Army of National Liberation

Inventions

Revolutionary inventions call for a similar 'revolutionary' change in one or many human societies. Examples may include the haber process's effect on agricultural production in first world countries, or the textile mill.

Paleontologists call for division of prehistoric human societies along what could be considered 'revolutionary' inventions, eg. two ages of early and late stone working, settled agriculture, etc. For a better listing of popularly accepted revolutions, see the article Revolutions or the Category:Revolutions

Many sources will claim that progressively smaller and smaller events qualify as 'revolutionary,' for example, historians focusing on Greece may claim that the domestication of trees in ancient Greece qualifies as a subset to the neolithic revolution, or as its own revolution in agriculture.

Quotations

Said to Louis XVI: "it's not a revolt, it's a revolution".

External links

Revolutions