The successful revolutionary is a statesman, the unsuccessful one a criminal.

Fromm’s aphorism points to how societies retroactively assign moral and legal labels to political violence and upheaval. “Revolutionary,” “statesman,” and “criminal” are not purely descriptive categories here; they are judgments that depend heavily on outcomes and on who controls institutions after the conflict. If a revolt succeeds and consolidates power, its leaders are often absorbed into the language of legitimacy (statecraft, founding, liberation). If it fails, the same acts are prosecuted as treason or crime. The line underscores Fromm’s broader concern with authority, conformity, and the social production of “normality,” warning that legitimacy is frequently a function of power rather than ethical consistency.