I suspect they end themselves. The rest of us just need to lay low.

I'm reminded of the scene in "Seven Samurai" when the villagers bring the seven samurai armor and weapons from dead samurai and Toshiro Mifune's character explodes at the peasants — always pretending to be afraid, humble, powerless, but all the while hoarding weapons, food....

It depends on whether the people can shoot back.

On one hand you have a brave but tragic resistance like Iran right now where dozens of young people have protested and been brutally cut down or publically executed.

On the other hand you have numerous times in history where a government has learned the phrase "Governments are supposed to fear their people". Usually fire is involved.

Both will eventually achieve their aims, but the first example is usually slower and more costly to do so.

Many conflicts start as the first type and become the second.

Agree. North Korea is a shining example of this. They just make sure that they compensate their police and army forces slightly better than the serfs and keep their upper tiers in a state of suspended terror.