Non-violent means are numerous. If you can find a copy, give the board game "Kremlin" a try. A hierarchy is modeled, where some people move up, down, get jailed, get sent to retirement or simply die (of old age). Each player secretly put "control points" (corruption points) on each character. This is a completly non violent mean of action : corruption, intimidation, cross-corruption, police abuse, power abuse, nomination of "friends" to key roles.

It is not funny, it is cynical. Exactly in a "V for Vendetta" way (the comics, not the movie, mind you) where the main reason of success for a revolution is the careful arrangement of influence networks, biased information and the sudden failure of the whole system. If you only saw the film, go read the comics, and see the gears of a revolution, it is guaranteed to give you ideas.

I've only seen the movie I admit but not by choice, good comics are hard to come by here in SOuth Africa. Your not the first to say that though so there must be something there.

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Original post by frob >> The main character then seems more like a counter-revolutionary, trying to restore the old order and make sure the current government stays in power and that the revolution doesn't succeed. That doesn't really sound as appealing. It worked for Star Wars.

Well, I guess in some ways it comes down to time. The Empire in Star Wars was around for twenty years or so before the rebel alliance ousted them. The Empire was the official government, and had (more or less) the support of the people. The movies would have had a different feel if the Jedi were the rulers of the universe, and then Vader came along and tried to take over, but the Jedi stopped him. You lose the feeling of being the underdog taking on the government and changing the world; instead you're just working for the government and stopping terrorists. Either one can be fun I guess, but the second doesn't have the whole revolution "vibe" if you know what I mean.

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Yes the general is most definatly a communist, he wants Volstaken to rejoin the now communist Russia. If it would make it more appealing we could push the timeline back a year and assume that he has already succeeded in becoming dictator and you then step up as a revolutionary. Though I have to say is a counter-revolutionary not still just someone fighting for their cause and to change something? But I see now the story is a bit jumbled, I'll revise it sometime nd give it a full write up.

This is just my personal and highly biased opinion, but playing as a hero who's out to instill good old fashioned american values and bring capitalism and christianity to thoese godless russkies is not at all something I'd want to do in a game about revolution. I know you didn't necessarily mention america or christianity, but that was a big part of the push behind the McCarthy era when they tried to build up racism towards Russia and get the US to believe that communism was some sort of evil demonic mind control.

Now, I'm not saying communism is a good idea, however, most revolutionaries and revolutionary-wannabes (fans of V for Vendetta and Fight Club who don't have any actual political cares) will agree that capitalism also has some pretty big problems and that corruption is pretty prevalent in today's capitalist/democratic societies as well. Communist revolutionary propaganda works because it grabs the heart of the workers and the poor; it promises them equal treatment and freedom from the oppressive rich and a government that treats them as second class citizens. (Whether or not the leaders actually hold true to their word is a different matter.) Capitalist "revolution" rarely can do that; it can't make believeable promises to the common people since capitalism benefits the rich and hurts the poor; its one saving grace is that in theory it makes it harder for those in power to fully take over the country since there will be a divide between the state and the wealth, and makes the vague promise that if you work hard enough, maybe you can be rich too. That's why McCarthyism tended to ignore the actual debate of capitalism vs socialism and instead focused on painting communists as evil, godless, freedom-haters.

Most revolutionaries want some form of anarchy, socialism, or some other system that will benefit the masses at the expense of toppling the government and the rich. In your story, you're playing the role of someone who wants to ensure that the rich stay rich and that the government stays in power. I'd have to envision that if the evil general has actually won the hearts of some of the people and convinced them that rejoining communist Russia is a good idea, that there must be something bad about the current capitalist country. On the other hand, if everyone there loves capitalism and the evil general is just shooting people in the streets to try and instill martial law, then I don't see how the whole influence thing would work since basically nearly everyone would agree that the evil general's insane and needs to be stopped.

Hehe... I think along with perhapse confusing everyone I've confused myself a little. So let me lay this out and we can look at it from here taking into account everyones ideas.

Story: In 2016 a civil dispute ensues in Russia and through corrupt(and communist) high ranking military officials a large portion of the army is used to turn Russia ito a communist state. Now were not slating this as a dissaster since many of the poor people see it as a godsend. With the support many of the poor areas of Russia and a large amount of military might the revolution is a sucssess. To resist all out civil war a the pacifists and of course the rich people/government officials form a seperatist nation - Volstaken.

The general happens to be on of the few military people still 'loyal' to the old Russia and is placed in charge of the Volstaken military. The coup in 2020 is then about taking more power(placing the general as a twisted meglomaniac not a communist) since he already had so much. Placing the game in 2022 where he has sucssesfuly become dictator and oppressed the lower and middle class through military force. Thereby placing you as a revolutionary rising up against a violent dictator and avoiding the whole communist thing. The matter of winning support would be based on showing the people the way through violence/protest/espionage/whatever.