Whether this is the narrator or Mrs Gould speaking, it is quite disingenuous. The second revolution was the one that put Ribiera into power, and which, we learn later, was arranged and financed by Mrs Gould's husband. Indeed, he justifies it partly on her behalf.

Of the first revolution, we hear nothing more, but the fact of it would obviously encourage Charles Gould in his decision to install a more reliable government.

This casual mention of the two revolutions is another example of how Nostromo's surface text becomes gradually undermined with more cynical depths, not unlike the 'text' of political speech.