Play me False 2

"Just as we do not judge an individual by his own idea of himself, so we cannot judge a ... period of revolutionary upheaval by its own selfconsciousness"

Or (alt. trans):

'Just as one does not judge an individual by what he thinks about himself, so one cannot judge such a period of transformation by its consciousness.'

Marx

Now, why would it be wrong (dare one say 'false'?) to judge a period by its 'own consciousness of itself'??