It's the dialectical process at work. To destroy the status quo, you simply put energy into its opposite and wait until the two collide. What emerges from the fray won't be what entered it. In the resultant chaos, you can impose your Marxist doctrine on society, in the interest of restoring order, you understand.
Yes, that's exactly the dynamic I'm talking about. Some very strange events and edicts can emerge from societal urgency, uncertainty, unrest, and fear. And in the midst of it, it becomes extremely difficult to discern truth from fiction, right from wrong. Fear of being out of step with social momentum can make a coward of many a man. It's a scene fitting for an end-of-time drama.