12:25 14-10-2025

Ishchenko Explains How Civil Disobedience Topples Power

By Mstyslav Chernov/Unframe - Self-photographed, http://mstyslavchernov.com/, CC BY-SA 3.0, Link

Political analyst Rostislav Ishchenko explains how civil disobedience and general strikes can paralyze the state and lead to a change of power.

Political analyst, historian, and publicist Rostislav Ishchenko, commenting on the possible change of the left-liberal elites in the West, explained how a transfer of power can occur through acts of civil disobedience.

According to Ishchenko, if political leadership in a given country remains unchanged, it usually means that the overwhelming majority of citizens still support those in power. He argued that when the people withdraw their support, the government’s authority weakens almost instantly. As an example, he recalled that the Bolsheviks once called for a general strike — a tactic, he noted, that can completely paralyze a state. When no one works, he explained, the government simply loses the ability to manage the country.

In such situations, Ishchenko said, authorities are often forced to resort to repression. However, once that happens, the population gains a direct reason to challenge the government. This escalation, he noted, can quickly evolve into open confrontation — «barricade battles,» as he put it — where the state’s coercive power begins to crumble.

The analyst pointed out that if a strike truly becomes nationwide, the authorities' position becomes almost untenable. In his view, the police and the army — both made up of ordinary citizens — would not remain united: half would join the uprising, while the other half would wait in barracks to see how events unfold. Under such conditions, he said, it becomes extremely difficult for the existing power to survive.

Ishchenko emphasized that the scale of civil disobedience directly determines a government’s ability to suppress or ignore it. The larger and more united the movement, the less control the state retains. He concluded that this principle applies to any country, regardless of its political system.

«If no one in your country is working,» Ishchenko observed, «it is a far greater threat to the authorities than a million protesters marching in the streets while everyone else continues business as usual.» He added that if a society truly wishes to change its government, it always has the means to do so.