[Svip]

The author is not clear on his limits about when art leads to revolution. Does the 'Night at the Opera' of the Belgian revolution count as a way to use art to promote a revolutionary vision (in this case, independence from the Netherlands)?

Or how about all the works of poems, prose and literature, where sentiment of a revolutionary or nationalist aspiration (say against a foreign empire occupying your people's lands) are hidden through code words, to avoid the imperial censors, like we saw by the many peoples of the Austrian Empire in the 19th century?

Or is he talking about art as the ends itself to promote or prevent a revolution rather than a means? That seems like an impossible aspiration to reach, so the qualification seems pointless. The masses won't risk lives for art, but they will for bread. And if you write a song to that effect, they'll gladly sing along.