I can think of no revolutionary period in history when a government has gained by stifling the opinion of men who did not see eye to eye with it; and I suggest that the revolutionary insistence that persuasion is futile finds little creative evidence in its support.
Laski argues that governments do not benefit from suppressing dissenting opinions during revolutionary periods.
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More from Harold J. Laski
The intolerance may be Catholic, when it insists that a unity of outlook is essential for the preservation of society; or it may be Protestant when, as with Calvin and the Socinians, it holds that the blasphemous nature of the belief…
Each age makes some idol in its own image and sacrifices upon its altar the freedom of those who refuse it worship.
It has been the historic character of persecution always to degrade the persecutor and to strengthen the persecuted by drawing attention to their claims.
We grant toleration in one part of the field only to deny it in another.
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