EXTRA CREDIT

Was the civil rights movement a successful revolution?
I think the civil rights movement was a political and socioeconomic revolution that experienced success to an extent. The movement managed to dismantle the jim crow laws, overthrow the "separate but equal doctrine" and positively reshape the social position of African Americans. However, a successful revolution dismantles the institutions that caused the conflict to begin with. When one observes the state of the African American community, one can note the significant strides (ie., President Obama, thriving middle class community, etc.) that are due to the civil rights movement. However, the institution of racism is still intact, though subtle. Especially when one notes that affirmative action exists and the discrepancies of wealth and political power are still prevalent.

Why didn't it work out? Why didn't the workers succeed in creating the worker's utopia?
The world is too ethnically and culturally diverse to successfully create the worker's utopia. Though certain aspects connect the working class globally, overall it would be quite difficult to create a uniformed belief system. Who would determine the universal culture and language? How could this be determined? How exactly will the universe obtain peace? Utopia was a vague vision, an ideal that was not even grounded in pragmatic and applicable theory. The reality- as conflict between the proletariats and bourgoisie upon the approach to progress increased, revolutions in industrialization, nationalism and imperialism unfolded. The Europeans asserting a utopia seemed unable to recognize that such assertions are still westernized revelations that will never achieve permenance.

-Lolia