There was a time when the West counted the anniversaries of the Russian Revolution with some hope that one year the Communist regime would collapse. That time is long past. Russia celebrated the Revolution's 45th anniversary last week, and as revolutionary regimes go, 45 years is a considerable stretch. In the 4½ decades following the French Revolution, for instance, democracy toppled monarchy, the bloody Terror crushed democracy, Bonapartism replaced terrorism, and despotism succumbed to the restoration of Bourbon royalty.
In the same span of time, the Russian regime, which Lenin thought could last scarcely three months, has had its own brief...
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