Elites had good reason to be uneasy: the recent revolution in France, and the alarming uprisings in 1830 (France again), 1848 (multiple countries), 1871 (France once more), and 1905 (Russia) made plain the threat of politicized lower classes. While relaxation of speech restrictions followed each upheaval, they often proved temporary as the disruptive potential of unregulated speech revealed itself. Power, as it was constituted in the nineteenth century, saw the populace as a threat.
