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Edmund Burke has been a disconcerting figure for people trying to understand revolutions. His literary approach, his comprehensive and caustic rejection of the declared objectives of Europe's first popular revolution and his confident expectation of their collapse into chaos and internal contradiction have often been set aside on the grounds that his views proceeded from little knowledge of France, fiery prejudice, and not from objective analysis, despite his own protestations to the contrary. It is important to gauge narrowly the limits of Burke's usefulness now; for in relation to the European Revolution of 1989, at publication of this issue of "The Political Quarterly," The editorial board shall stand at exactly the analogous moment to that at which Burke reflected.