film of police officers dragging an
anti-Vietnam War protester along the ground outside the
1968 Democratic National Convention in Chicago as the crowd chants "
The whole world is watching" Until the events of summer 1968, political activists and far left publications in the US distanced themselves from rock music and had no expectations of its relevance to their cause. According to the historian
Jon Wiener, "Revolution" inspired the first "serious debate" about the connection between politics and 1960s rock music. The counterculture's reaction was especially informed by news footage of the violent scenes outside the Democratic National Convention on 28 August, and of
Soviet tanks invading Czechoslovakia, which marked the return of Soviet-style communism and the end of the
Prague Spring. The song prompted immediate responses from the New Left and counterculture press, most of whom expressed disappointment in the Beatles. Radicals were shocked by Lennon's use of sarcasm, his contention that things would be "all right", and his failure to engage with their plight. They also objected to his requirement for a "plan" for the revolution, when their aim was to liberate minds and ensure that all individuals entered the decision-making process as a means of personal expression.
Ramparts branded the song a "betrayal" of the cause and the
Berkeley Barb likened it to "the hawk plank adopted this week in the Chicago convention of the Democratic Death Party". In Britain, the
New Left Review derided the song as "a lamentable
petty bourgeois cry of fear", while
Black Dwarf said it showed the Beatles to be "the consciousness of the enemies of the revolution". The far left contrasted "Revolution" with
the Rolling Stones' concurrent single, "
Street Fighting Man", which
Mick Jagger had been inspired to write after attending the violent rally at Grosvenor Square in March. Despite the ambiguity in Jagger's lyrics, "Street Fighting Man" was perceived to be supportive of a radical agenda. The approval from
Time magazine – a mainstream publication widely viewed as reflecting establishment views – added to the song's lack of credibility among the far left. Other commentators on the left applauded the Beatles for rejecting radicalism governed by hatred and violence, and for advocating "pacifist idealism". Among these, the New Left
Students for a Democratic Society's newspaper at
Cornell University stated that "You can argue about effectiveness of non-violence as a tactic, but it would be absurd to claim that it is a conservative notion ... The Beatles want to change the world, and they are doing what they can." With the release of "Revolution 1" three months after the single, some student radicals – unaware of the chronology of the recordings – welcomed the "count me out, in" lyric as a sign that Lennon had partly retracted his objection to Maoist revolution. According to author
Mark Kurlansky, although student activists returned to their colleges after the long summer break motivated to continue the struggle, for many other people, a "feeling of weariness" supplanted their interest, and "by the end of 1968 many people agreed with the Beatles". Among the political right,
William F. Buckley Jr, an arch-conservative, wrote approvingly of the song, only to then be rebuked by the far-right
John Birch Society's magazine. The magazine's editors warned that, rather than denouncing revolution, "Revolution" was urging Maoists not to "blow it all" through their impatience and was espousing a Lenin-inspired, "Moscow line". In reaction to the song and to Lennon and Ono's performance art activities, the British authorities withdrew the protection they had long afforded the Beatles as
MBEs. On 18 October, Lennon and Ono were arrested on charges of drug possession; Lennon maintained he had been warned of the raid and that the drugs were planted by the arresting officers from the London Drug Squad. (pictured at Berkeley in 1968) was among those who attacked Lennon for his apoliticism. Rock critics also entered the political debate over "Revolution", whereas politics had rarely been a subject of interest in their field before 1968.
Greil Marcus commented that political detractors of "Revolution" had overlooked the "message" of the music, "which is more powerful than anyone's words". He added: "There is freedom and movement in the music even as there is sterility and repression in the lyrics. The music doesn't say 'cool it' or 'don't fight the cops' ... the music dodges the message and comes out in front."
Ellen Willis of
The New Yorker wrote that the Rolling Stones understood the "ambiguous relation of rock to rebellion", but "It takes a lot of chutzpah for a multimillionaire to assure the rest of us, 'You know it's gonna be all right' ... Deep within John Lennon there's a fusty old
Tory struggling to get out."
Rolling Stone editor
Jann Wenner wholeheartedly supported the Beatles, saying that any accusations of "revolutionary heresy" were "absurd", since the band were being "absolutely true to their identity as it has evolved through the last six years". In his review of the White Album, Wenner added: "Rock and roll has indeed become a style and a vehicle for changing the system. But one of the parts of the system to be changed is 'politics' and this includes 'new Left' politics." The Beatles' apoliticism was attacked by the French film-maker
Jean-Luc Godard, who had recently made the film
One Plus One in London with the Rolling Stones. In an interview for
International Times in September 1968, Godard said the Beatles were an example of people in Britain who had been "corrupted by money". Soon afterwards, Lennon told
Jonathan Cott of
Rolling Stone that this criticism was "sour grapes" on the director's part, since Godard had been unable to get the band to appear in
One Plus One and so had approached the Stones. On her arrival in London in December, the American singer
Nina Simone was quoted as saying she wanted to "know what the message is" in "Revolution" so that she could perform the song effectively in concert. Instead, she wrote and recorded an answer song, also titled "
Revolution", partly based on Lennon's song. In her lyrics, she challenged Lennon's statements about destruction and "the constitution", and urged him to "clean" his brain.
Lennon's reaction Challenged on his political stance, Lennon exchanged
open letters with
John Hoyland, a student radical from
Keele University, in the pages of
Black Dwarf. Hoyland wrote the first letter in late October 1968, expecting that Lennon's drugs bust and the intolerance shown towards Ono, as a Japanese woman in Britain, would make him more sympathetic to a radical agenda. Hoyland said that "Revolution" was "no more revolutionary" than the radio soap opera ''
Mrs Dale's Diary'' and criticised Lennon for continuing to espouse an ideology the Beatles had expressed in "
All You Need Is Love" when, in the context of 1968, "In order to change the world we've got to understand what's wrong with the world. And then – destroy it. Ruthlessly." Before writing a reply, Lennon met with two other students from Keele University at his home in Surrey, on 3 December. Referring to Hoyland's letter, he said that a destructive approach to societal change merely makes way for a destructive ruling power, citing the
Russian and
French revolutions; he also said that the Far Left's complaints demonstrated their "extremer than thou" snobbery and their inability to form a united movement, adding that if radicals of that calibre did lead a revolution, he and the Rolling Stones would "probably be the first ones they'll shoot ... And it's him – it's the guy that wrote the letter that'll do it, you know." In his letter published in
Black Dwarf on 10 January 1969, Lennon countered that Hoyland was "on a destruction kick" and challenged him to name a single revolution that had achieved its aims. Lennon closed the letter with a postscript saying, "You smash it – and I'll build around it." The exchange, which included a second letter from Hoyland, was syndicated internationally in the underground press.
Oz editor
Richard Neville later described it as "a classic New Left/psychedelic Left dialogue". Lennon was stung by the criticism he received from the New Left. Having campaigned for world peace with Ono throughout 1969, he began to embrace radical politics after undergoing
primal therapy in 1970. In a conversation with British activist
Tariq Ali in January 1971, he said of "Revolution": "I made a mistake, you know. The mistake was that it was anti-revolution." Lennon then wrote "
Power to the People" to atone for the perceived apathy of "Revolution", and instead sang: "You say you want a revolution / We better get it on right away." After moving to New York in 1971, he and Ono fully embraced radical politics with
Chicago Seven defendants
Jerry Rubin and
Abbie Hoffman. By 1972, he had also changed his mind about his rebuke of
Mao Zedong, saying: "I should have never said that about Chairman Mao." Lennon abandoned the cause following
Richard Nixon's victory in the
1972 presidential election and he subsequently denounced revolutionaries and radical politics as useless. In the final interview he gave before
his murder in December 1980, Lennon reaffirmed the pacifist message of "Revolution", saying he still wished to "see the plan" for any proposed revolution. With reference to Lennon's comments in this interview, MacDonald wrote in 1994: "
Tiananmen Square, the ignominious collapse of Soviet communism, and the fact that most of his radical persecutors of 1968–70 now work in advertising have belatedly served to confirm his original instincts." ==Subsequent releases and use in Nike advertisement==