What the men of the Russian Revolution had learned from the French Revolution — and this learning constituted almost their entire preparation — was history and not action. They had acquired the skill to play whatever part the great drama of history was going to assign them, and if no other role was available but that of the villain, they were more than willing to accept that part rather than remain outside the play.

— On revolution by Hannah Arendt (Penguin twentieth-century classics) (Page 58)