This week I stumbled across the name Demosthenes. The claim was made that he was one of the greatest orators that ever lived. I decided to see if I could find some of his speeches and came across a collection of some of his speeches. I was successful and checked a book out that covered some of the speeches that he gave between 354-330 BC.
In the introduction Demosthenes is credited as being an inspiration for orators like Cicero and the authors of the Federalist Papers. And I had never heard of him before.
As with many orators his speeches revolved around the political issues of his day. Many of them centered around the dangers posed by Phillip of Macedon. A couple of the themes that stood out to me were his focus on the importance of liberty and his disdain for oligarchy.
Overall it was a semi interesting collection of speeches that provided a glimpse into the past. Perhaps they would have been more impactful if I was more versed on Athenian history or heard them delivered.
William Wilberforce has been called an agitator for his commitment to ending the slave trade. One of his well known speeches on the subject was given on May 12, 1789.
Cardinal Richelieu has been hailed as a great statesman and as a subversive authoritarian. Depending on who you talk to he was a man needed to strengthen the monarchy in France, or he was a tyrant seeking personal power. Next week I will have a book review that may shed more light on Cardinal Richelieu.
When Lenin was working on his major writing projects he would often pace across the room formulating the ideas that he would write down by saying them out loud. Once he had the idea for what he wanted to write he would often repeat the idea to Nadezhda Krupskaya, who would provide feedback. Once this process was complete he would then write the ideas down.
Here is an AI rendering of what that might have looked like when he was drafting What is to be Done.
This month this community will focus on political subversion. What is subversion? When is it justified? What is the interplay between subversion and agitation? These are some of the topics to be discussed this month.
“You get used to the despot’s shortcomings, when they are not great vices, and the change of an autocratic ruler leads to involuntary fear.”
Sergei Trubetskoi
