At any time the question is still Which side are you on? - even if sometimes the answer is a plague on both your houses.

People don't really change all that much. The strong oppress and exploit the weak, revolutions devour their children, you can't put your trust in leaders.

"Police and striking miners: now there's a problem!" No way. That doesn't mean that there aren't always going to be bad people doing bad things on your side, and good people trying not to do bad things on the other side. But most of the time there's a balance of justice on one side or the other. Which can change as the times change, and in different situations.