The New Left does not portend a revolution, as its press agents claim, but a
Putsch. A revolution is the climax of a long philosophical development and
expresses a nation’s profound discontent; a Putsch is a minority’s seizure of
power. The goal of a revolution is to overthrow tyranny; the goal of a Putsch
is to establish it.
Tyranny is any political system (whether absolute monarchy or fascism or
communism) that does not recognize individual rights (which necessarily include
property rights). The overthrow of a political system by force is justified
only when it is directed against tyranny: it is an act of self-defense against
those who rule by force. For example, the American Revolution. The resort to
force, not in defense, but in violation, of individual rights, can have no
moral justification; it is not a revolution, but gang warfare.