First, they control all the means of social control, television, newspapers, police, the courts, the Military etc. These are sometime used by one group of the elite against another, but NOT against the ruling elites as a whole (The Democratic Congress under FDR came to closest to do so, in American history). When the Communists took over Russia in the November 1917, thy went after the elites and one of the reason we in the West came to hate the Communists was they openly took the property of the elite, who either left Russia or was killed (Some did survive as workers,
Side note: While the 1% was killed off or driven into exile by the Communists, the top 10% of income earners, less the top 1%, mostly stayed in Russia. They had skills that were needed to run farms, industries and even the Army. It was the top 1% that the Communists went after for most had no real skills, but just had connections, i.e. they knew what to invest in do to those connections, much like the US today.
I suspect something like what happened in Russia 1917-1921 is what happened in that Mexican city. The people who knew how to run the city survived for they had skills the peasants appreciated.
Second side note: Stalin, when he took power starting in the late 1920s, was a blood thirsty tyrant. Stalin went after 10% I mentioned above for Stalin wanted that top 10% be his loyal followers. It started slowly, but accelerated during the purges of the late 1930s. Stalin almost destroyed Russia's ability to defend itself and improve the conditions of the Russian Population, all for Stalin to stay in power. Thus the Show Trials of the late 1930s where many a good Communists who had fought beside Lenin in 1917-1921 Confessed to being an anti-Revolutionary enemy of Russia. These purges scared the 10% so that any thought of removing Stalin disappeared. Most of the 10% stayed alive, but Stalin made it clear it was do to his personal choice. This has been compared to the Night of Long Knives that Hitler did in 1934 and what Mussolini did after he took over Italy. This can be seen in how the Shah handle the top 10% of Iranians after he was given complete power in 1954. The same with the Greek Generals after they took over Greece in the 1960s, Brazils Generals also in the 1960s, Argentina and Chile in the 1970s and 1980s.
When it came to massive killings, Right wing killings are almost always directed at the Upper Middle Class (the top 10% of income earners LESS the top 1%). The purpose of such killings is to scare the rest of the 10% AND the bottom 90% NOT to do anything. This was NOT the case with the 1917-1921 Situation in Russia, which was a left wing take over. In left wing take over, you do have some killings, but it is aimed at the 1% not the Upper Middle Class. Exile is an acceptable alternative to having to kill someone (Thus the massive number of Cuban Exiles in Florida).
China Communist take over in 1949, was more a traditional rural Chinese Peasant revolt installing a new Dynasty then a Communist Revolt. The Dynasty installed in 1949 called itself a Republic and called itself Communistic, but it is a traditional Dynasty ruled by a new 1% which also included a lot of the old 1%. Thus little killings in the early 1950s, till Mao tried to regain power within the then ruling 1% and again it follow right wing killings of the upper Middle Class not the 1%.
Thus the Right Wing has a tendency to kill off members of the Upper Middle Class (and the lower 90%) but NOT other members of the 1%. Such killings are extensive but most of the Upper Middle Class survive. The 1% want to install FEAR in the population and once enough FEAR is installed the Killings stops. I bring this up for that is how the 1% sees themselves doing such killings AND THEIR ASSUME SO WILL ANY OF THEIR ENEMIES. That a peasant revolt will want THEIR HEADS is something shocking to them. Thus the French Reign of Terror is considered as bad as Stalin's Purges, when the number of people killed are small during the Reign of Terror, but large during the purges (But the 1% was being killed during the Reign of Terror, while just Upper Middle Class people were being killed during the purges). What Lenin did during the Russian Civil War is worse, then what Pinochet did in Chile, even through when it came to people MURDERED, more were killed by agents of Pinochet (Russia was fighting a Civil War and the people FIGHTING and killed while fighting have to be excluded from the Death Toll of 1918-1921 when you are comparing death numbers between the Russian Civil War Period, 1918-1921 AND the Pinochet years right after his coup).
You see this in Egypt. When the Moslem Brotherhood took power, the number of people executed dropped. Crimes long punished by death continued in Egypt under the Brotherhood (and continue under the present Government) but Morsi and the Moslem Brotherhood made almost no arrests of their politician enemies. When the Present Government did its Coup, you had massive arrests AND killing of protesters and now the Government is sentencing members of the Brotherhood to Death. The Brotherhood were and are NOT left wing, but I bring them up for they fell into the same trap as most left wing radicals, they failed to accept the fact the 1% hates they guts and wants them DESTROYED and really do NOT care about the costs. Thus the 1% waited and plotted and overthrew the Brotherhood and then used VIOLENCE to suppress them. It was Morsi's big mistake, he should have taken out the 1%, like Lenin had done in Russia between 1918 and 1921 or do a radical surgery on the 10% as most right wingers do when they take over a government (and what the present Egyptian Government is doing).
The left has always had the problem when it comes to using FORCE. The left sees themselves as the "Good Guys" and people will support them for being the "Good Guys), but in the real world it is the side who is willing to resort to force, when it is needed, is who wins. Taking over the money and wealth from the 1% is what was needed in Russia in 1918 and in many ways what is needed today (FDR's high tax rate had the effect of slowly taking the wealth away from the 1%). Remember it is the LOSS of MONEY and CAPITAL that the 1% hates, more then death itself. Thus killing the 1% is almost a waste of time, you need to take over their assets and when you do so, the 1% will hate your guts but once they NO longer have access to those assets they are powerless.
I suspect something like Russia in 1918-1921 happened in that city. Someone organized the peasants and demanded a resolution of the problem and when the elite refused to do anything, the peasants all left. Ancient Romans said the peasants of Rome did similar revolts in the early years of the Roman Republic. Some modern scholars have attack these reports for they go against Right wing belief that the 1% are needed NOT the bottom 90%, but these stories do exist and were repeated as warnings to later Roman Rulers.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Conflict_of_the_Orders
The peasants abandonment of the City may have been organized or done by the people in desperation (They went out looking for food, taking their families with them, leaving the ruling elites behind to starve). I lean to the peasants just leaving on their own, after any controls the ruling elite had over them disappeared (i.e. any soldiers whose duty was to prevent anyone from leaving, left to look for food first, leaving the gates open for everyone else to leave).
The ruling elite can NOT see a situation where they can be abandoned by the rest of the population. They see themselves as essential, when anyone can do they job in society. The idea that they can be replaced is something they refuse to even think of as a possibility. Look at Senator Warren's comment that no one achieve success without help, and how that observation was ATTACKED. Senator Warren's statement was correct, but it is a REJECTED concept of the elite. They see themselves as better then the rest of us, not as people who do to luck ended up with their wealth (i.e. Born on third base and thought they are the best ball player in history).
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