Would-be revolutionary partisan (8)
I believe the answer is:
aspirant
'would-be' is the definition.
('aspirant' can be a synonym of 'would-be')
'revolutionary partisan' is the wordplay.
'revolutionary' indicates anagramming the letters.
'partisan' is an anagram of 'ASPIRANT'.
(Other definitions for aspirant that I've seen before include "Ambitious" , "Hopeful candidate" , "Hopeful one" , "Seeker after success" , "One works hard to get to a higher position" .)