Osho,
This morning the top of my head flew off to greet you. Like a lidless pot I sat drinking you in. Suddenly a question popped up: all the historical rebellions have a huge no at their source. Your rebellion of the soul is centered in the mystery of yes. Will you please speak to us on the alchemy of yes?

There are a few very fundamental things to be understood.

First, there has never been a rebellion in the past, only revolutions. And the distinction between a revolution and a rebellion is so vast that unless you understand the difference you will not be able to figure the way out of the puzzle of your question. Once you understand the difference….

Revolution is a crowd, a mob phenomenon. Revolution is a struggle for power: one class of people who are in power are thrown out by the other class of people who have been oppressed, exploited to such a point that now even death does not matter. They don’t have anything. Revolution is a struggle between the haves and the have-nots.

I am reminded of the last statement in The Communist Manifesto by Karl Marx. It is tremendously beautiful, and with a little change I can use it for my own purposes.

First, his exact statement: he says, “Proletariat…” his word for have-nots “Proletariat of the world unite” – and don’t be afraid because – “you have nothing to lose except your chains.”

Moments come in history when a small group of cunning, clever, people start exploiting the whole society. All the money goes on gathering on one side and all the poverty and starvation on the other. Naturally this state cannot be continued forever. Sooner or later those who have nothing are going to overthrow those who have all.

Revolution is a class action; it is a class struggle. It is basically political; it has nothing to do with religion, nothing to do with spirituality. And it is also violent because those who have power are not going to lose their vested interest easily. It is going to be a bloody, violent struggle in which thousands, sometimes millions of people will die.

Thirty million people were killed just in the Russian Revolution. The czar’s whole family, he was the king of Russia before the revolution, was killed so brutally by the revolutionaries that it is inconceivable. Even a six-month-old girl was killed. Now, she was absolutely innocent, she had done no harm to anybody; but just because she belonged to the royal family…. The whole royal family had to be destroyed completely. Seventeen people were killed, and not just killed but cut into pieces.

It is bound to happen in a revolution. Centuries of anger ultimately turn into blind violence.