But he showed that when he was finally committed to throwing all his political capital onto the table, he could win, if by the narrowest of margins.
His writings at the time are filled with references to the "army of the red flag" throughout the world and to the victory of the Russian Revolution of 1917, but it was not until January 1921 that he was finally committed to Marxism as the philosophical basis of the revolution in China.
Even so, so far only the Scottish government has pledged the full £15m it needs to provide: the new private donors announcement still leaves Long with £11m to find from other benefactors, before he can finally commit to getting the V&A in Dundee built in 2015.
The 49-year-old shock jock has long been threatening to buy a home in the Hamptons, and he's finally committed to a $5.5 million Amagansett house there, according to published reports.
Sure, he had expressed doubts before but it seemed as if, after six years of us living together and a summer of working together as a team, he was finally committing to us as a family.
Following the release of his book last week, the author caught up with VICE to talk about what made him finally commit to writing an autobiography, why he feels trying to reason with homophobic family members can be a futile endeavor, and why we should make more room for cross-generational friendships within the LGBTQ community.
At one stage, the former Halifax scholar pondered a future with his adopted nation, before an England debut in June 2010 - when he scored a try against France from full-back - saw him finally commit to the country of his birth.
The main character has deluded himself into believing that he is a superman, but as circumstances assail him he becomes overwhelmed with shame and finally commits suicide.
When Lucious realizes that Jamal is teetering with the idea of reaching out to Cookie to help him create music, Papa Lyon finally commits to giving his son the attention he craves.
The final song was "Suicidal Thoughts", a song where The Notorious B.I.G. contemplates and finally commits suicide.
When Ashbrook finally commits to his new venture, the book picks up.
