Fear

You hear of various folks who want to demonstrate, and others who fear the social unrest. To organise any event, demonstrations, riots, plots and protests, other people have to be told. History is littered with examples, where the security services of those in power knew in advance. Agent Provocateurs can turn peaceful demonstrations into riots, sympathy becomes, scorn. Good people appear to be bad, just a lot of trouble makers. It is not unknown to recruit students, pay them to demonstrate, to influence the course of events which may well be peaceful and appear to be grass roots, yet it actually defuses the real issues and creates those that the power elite can use to advantage.

The famous gun powder plot, of course just an outrageous conspiracy theory, aren't they all? Came at a time when the King was not so popular, the authorities knew of the plot well in advance, even freeing up the room under parliament early so that the timing could go to plan. Why? Well plots against the king would galvanise support for the king. Who would want to be suspected of being a plotter? All would surely fear showing any signs of being against the monarch, and thus the appearance of support would be given as all rallied to be for the king.

History shows the effect of loss of control, when the East German military stood down prior to the fall of the Berlin wall. Do the power elite fear the people, or do they fear the influence of the people on those who enforce the regime? All those involved in government have families and friends who are affected by what the government does. It is these people who have the most to fear, the retribution of against the bureaucrats and security services is a very real threat. There comes a point where those who enforce the rules realise they to can become innocent victims of the rules. Stalin's purges must strike fear into the hearts of all those who rise to the top, position is no guarantee of safety from the worst effects of bad government.