Chris Hedges: “Most Revolutions Succeed Not Through Violence But Through National Strikes”

In the following 8-minute video journalist and author Chris Hedges responds to two questions from viewers, the first of which is: “How do we protest while adhering to the principles of nonviolence?”

I appreciate Hedges’s response, especially this part:

The state speaks the language of violence, and it does so in ways we [as citizens] never can. . . . [The U.S. government] has 60,000 in the special forces. These are death squads. We can’t compete on that level. But if you look closely at Crane Brinton’s book, The Anatomy of a Revolution, you’ll see he makes the point that most revolutions succeed not through violence . . . but through national strikes – the ability to essentially shut the country down.

. . . Nonviolence is a fundamental key component of any revolutionary movement, and having been around a lot of violence and covered [as a journalist] various revolutions, [I’ve come to see that] nonviolent revolution is more effective in most cases. I also think that nonviolent revolutions permits an easier transition to a better society.

Related Off-site Links:
The Pathology of Power: How America Learned to Love State Violence – Tim Hjersted (Films for Action, January 9, 2026).
Can the Left Resist in the Face of Increasing Repression? – Chris Hedges (The Chris Hedges Report, January 8, 2026).
The Playbook of Every Successful Nonviolent Struggle – Jamila Raqib (Waging Nonviolence, November 21, 2025).
Dockworker Strikes in Solidarity with Gaza Have a Long Legacy – Peter Cole (Waging Nonviolence, October 31, 2025).
What Would a General Strike in the U.S. Actually Look Like? – Jeremy Brecher (Waging Nonviolence, April 8, 2025).

See also the previous Wild Reed posts:
• Chris Hedges on the End of the American Empire
• Progressive Perspectives on Where Democrats Went Wrong in 2024
• Building Solidarity on the Left
• General Strike for Peace (2007)