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"We have nothing to lose but our chains" says - David Brooks? [1]
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Date: 2025-04-17
Students of the Russian Revolution of 1917 may recall what historians categorize as a “crossroad.” This can be an event, or series of events, where, if things had turned out differently, it could have shifted outcomes dramatically.
On such, arguably, was “The Kornilov Affair”, September 10 to 13,1917, a series of likely miscommunications and missteps during World War One that led to an attempted coup by the Commander-in-Chief of the Russian Army, General Lavr Kornilov, against the Russian Provisional Government (RPG) headed by Aleksander Kerensky and the Petrograd Soviet of Soldiers' and Workers' Deputies.
At that time, while the Tsarist government had been ousted the previous February, power was in the hands of a broad but uneasy new coalition that ranged from socialists to Bolsheviks to reform-minded military officers. However, the power of the RPG was crumbling due to popular opposition to Russia remaining a belligerent in WW1, eagerness for immediate land reforms, and despair and anger from a recent failed Russian offensive.
Long story short, after a confused series of events, Kerensky felt forced to choose between overthrow by Kornilov and empowering his Bolshevik rivals. Kerensky chose the latter. One month later, the Bolsheviks in turn would overthrow the RPG and begin to construct a state based on Marxist Leninist principles — the birth of the Soviet Union.
I couldn’t help but recall this history as I read the below linked article, which references a New York Times column written today by conservative scribe David Brooks. I won’t summarize the whole piece, but you can hunt the article here: www.msn.com/…
Democrat and progressive eyes tend to roll when Brooks speaks about Trump. Brooks is part and parcel of the “Establishment” GOP that, like the last rotted pillars of ancient Rome, collapsed when Trump and his barbarians were at the gates. However, usually he nibbles around the margins.
What caught the eye here, for me, was that he not only calls for a “comprehensive civic uprising” against Trumpism, but quotes the famous line from the Communist Manifesto about losing one’s chains. To followers of the GOP “old guard” writers, this is sort of like George Will waving Mao’s “Little Red Book.”
More noise from the mealy-mouthed GOP enablers before they vanish onto the dust heap of history? Perhaps. But I thought I’d post a short diary to solicit thoughts from fellow Kossacks.
Brooks has been around a while. His “rolodex” (now I am dating myself!) is wide and deep. If anyone has a pulse on the GOP remnant, and its capacity for further resistance, it might be someone like Brooks.
In the last month, Trump has shifted into dictator overdrive. Brooks gives a laundry list, but basically Trump and his minions are tearing down the very foundations that underly the rule of law, economic prosperity and national security. People who feel the institutional guardrails will hold — and here, I admit I’d still count myself — are getting more than uneasy.
Trump daily adds to his growing and seemingly inexhaustible list of targets. Laws are shrugged off as Trump sends US citizens by force to Salvadoran prison hell holes. Goes after major law firms. Savages the courts. Even the seemingly mighty Ivy League schools are battered and coerced.
Brooks may be hearing some alarming stuff from the privileged and the insiders. Not just business types, but military and intelligence officials. That Trump’s brain is circling the drain, and he will indeed drag as many as he can down into his febrile swamp.
So why did Brooks call upon Marx and Engels here? The Old Guard GOP may — finally — have realized that the zombie apocalypse that is Trump and MAGA are not only not going to spare them, but are going to thoroughly rubble the US system.
Or maybe Brooks just had a bad night and is venting.
Progressives are right to be suspicious of such GOP remnant calls for “unity.” Past experience has shown that, once the ship rights itself, and the storm passes, the GOP Establishment typically reverts to its old self.
But if things are this dire — and they may be — then what to make of a call like this from someone like Brooks? Maybe it is time for a “People Power” type mass movement that disregards lesser differences to combat the existential threat?
In 1917, the Russian reformers felt they had to choose between factions. This eventually led to the collapse of the broad front and the eventual emergence of another form of tyranny. Building, and then maintaining, a true broad-based movement is hard stuff.
Maybe, just maybe, Brooks is onto something. Yes, he is late to the party. And he carries baggage. But perhaps all hands are needed to bail out this sinking ship.
Food for thought.
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