A revolutionary can be a pain (4)
I believe the answer is:
ache
'be a pain' is the definition.
(I've seen this before)
'a revolutionary' is the wordplay.
'revolutionary' becomes 'che' (Che Guevara the Marxist revolutionary).
'a'+'che'='ACHE'
'can' acts as a link.
(Other definitions for ache that I've seen before include "Dull prolonged pain" , "Each (anag.)" , "burn" , "Persistent dull pain" , "Dull steady pain" .)