Line #8 Theatre/StateOfRevolution


1	''State of Revolution'' is a 1977 play by Creator/RobertBolt. It covers the era of the Russian Revolution from Vladimir Lenin's time in exile to his death in 1924.
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4	!!This play provides examples of:
5	* AbstractApotheosis: Lenin after his death.
6	* AnarchyIsChaos: An anonymous character, known simply as the "Anarchist."
7	-->"Long live disorder! Long live chaos! Long live anarchism!"
8	* TheAntiNihilist: All the Bolshevik characters.
9	* BewareTheNiceOnes: Dzerzhinsky
10	* BewareTheHonestOnes: The other characters feel this way about Lunacharsky.
11	-->'''Trotsky''': "Your Commissariat is institutionally corrupt precisely because you are personally, and if I may so, excessively innocent."
12	* BittersweetEnding: At least according to Lunacharsky: "You know, these anniversaries of Comrade Lenin's death are not for those of us who knew him altogether sad occasions. Rather they are happy-sad."
13	* BookEnds: The play begins and ends with Lunacharsky addressing a meeting of the Young Communists on the anniversary of Lenin's death, after the victory of Stalin.
14	* BothSidesHaveAPoint
15	* CantHoldHisLiquor: Mdvani.
16	* ChessMotifs
17	* ChronicBackstabbingDisorder: Draganov.
18	* TheCityVersusTheCountry
19	* CodeOfHonour: Dzerzhinsky.
20	* ConspiracyTheorist: The "General" is presented this way, blaming the Bolshevik Revolution on a sinister Jewish conspiracy.
21	* CultOfPersonality: Discussed.
22	* DarkHorseVictory: Stalin.
23	* DawnOfAnEra: The October Revolution.
24	-->'''Trotsky''': "we are embarked upon that violent adventure which goes by the name of Human History! Comrades, they will say we have created chaos, that we have turned society upside down. It is right that the people should take command-and right that you should obey!"
25	* DeadpanSnarker: Pretty much every character gets their moment, but Lenin above all.
26	* DirtyCommunists: Rigorously avoided and deconstructed.
27	* DramaticIrony
28	* DudeWheresMyRespect?: Stalin.
29	* EccentricArtist: Gorky.
30	* EstablishingCharacterMoment: Trotsky first appears onstage announcing the successful Bolshevik insurrection.
31	* EthicalSlut: Kollontai.
32	* ExaltedTorturer: Dzerzhinsky.
33	* TheExile: The play begins with Lenin, Dzerzhinsky, Kollontai, and Lunacharsky in exile in Capri, having been forced to flee Russia for revolutionary activity.
34	* TheExtremistWasRight
35	* HistoricalFiction: Obviously.
36	* HoistByHisOwnPetard
37	* HowTheMightyHaveFallen: Trotsky, naturally, although this is only Foreshadowed and not actually portrayed.
38	* HowWeGotHere: Lunacharsky's speech to the Young Communists.
39	* HumbleHero: Lenin.
40	-->'''Gorky''': "You're a modest megalomaniac."
41	* InsufferableGenius: Trotsky.
42	* InternalAffairs: Stalin at certain points.
43	* InVinoVeritas: Mdvani gets drunk and writes a letter to his wife insulting the Soviet leadership ... which unfortunately for him falls into Stalin's hands.
44	* JustTheFirstCitizen: Lenin, then Stalin.
45	* LargeHam: Trotsky.
46	* LoyalToThePosition: The fictional police agent Draganov: "At your service .... At anybody's service, really. A technician you know, just a technician."
47	* KnightTemplar: Dzerzhinsky.
48	* MaliciousSlander: The charge that Lenin is a German agent.
49	* TheMutiny: Two - the revolts within the military in 1917, and the Kronstadt mutiny in 1921.
50	* MyCountryRightOrWrong: The Russian "General" is presented this way.
51	-->"...any man who'll stand aside and see his country overrun - is a yellow-bellied bastard!"
52	* TheNeidermeyer: The captain killed by Zhelnik and his fellow sailors.
53	* NotSoOmniscientCouncilOfBickering: the Politburo
54	* PlatoIsAMoron: A very literal example.
55	-->'''Lenin''': "Plato was an idealist slave owner."
56	* RealPolitik
57	* RebelliousRebel: A continuing theme, with different characters taking on this role at different points.
58	* TheRevolutionWillNotBeCivilized: Bolt portrays the Bolshevik Revolution in this way to an extent, although quite sympathetic to the necessity of the revolution.
59	* RomanticismVersusEnlightenment
60	* RousingSpeech
61	* SavingTheWorldWithArt: Gorky and Lunacharsky think this is possible. Lenin is quite a bit more skeptical.
62	* ShamedByTheMob/ShamingTheMob: The Kronstadt mutiny.
63	* SlidingScaleOfFreeWillVersusFate
64	* SlidingScaleOfUnavoidableVersusUnforgivable: the whole play revolves around this tension.
65	* SmartPeoplePlayChess
66	* SophisticatedAsHell: Lenin.
67	* SpeechImpediment: Lenin after his stroke.
68	* StartsWithTheirFuneral: Or, more precisely, the anniversary of the funeral.
69	* TotalitarianUtilitarian: subverted, in that the Bolsheviks (usually presented this way in western fiction) are the heroes of the play and given a fair hearing.
70	* TragicMistake
71	* UtopiaJustifiesTheMeans
72	* VestigialEmpire: The German, Austrian, and Russian empires after World War I.
73	* WeAREStrugglingTogether: Well, what were you expecting?
74	* WellIntentionedExtremist: Almost every character at one point or another.
75	* WrittenByTheWinners: Lunacharsky's speech at the end clearly reflects Stalin's victory and its effects, in contradiction to both what are we shown in the play and Lunacharsky's own earlier opinions.
76	* YouCantFightFate
77	* YourTerroristsAreOurFreedomFighters: Every character sees themselves as defending the true interests of the revolution.

Context Theatre / StateOfRevolution