Power rarely voluntarily relinquishes power.
> I can't think of an instance where it worked well.
Worked pretty well for most of the ex Warsaw pact.
> The French Revolution, and the Communist revolutions were all disasters.
What came prior was also a disaster, except it was a disaster for regular people and the unelected Monarchs didn't feel the pain.
What exactly were people supposed to do? Wait patiently for their autocratic rulers to stop acting like autocrats?
> The slave revolt in Haiti has produced long-term poor results compared to the Dominican Republic.
This shows a complete ignorance of historical fact. French Haiti was 90% enslaved, Spanish Santo Domingo was majority free people. It simply isn't a comparable situation.
Again, what were Haitians supposed to do? Sit around being beaten, raped, and worked to death hoping that the slaveowners eventually see the error of their ways?