Socialism Quotes
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Call it democracy, or call it democratic socialism, but there must be a better distribution of wealth within this country for all God’s children.
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More Socialism Quotes
To claim for Socialism that it is a class war is to do it an injustice and indefinitely postpone its triumph. Socialism offers a platform broad enough for all to stand upon. It makes war upon a system, not upon a class.
keir hardie— Said in 1908.
The trouble is with Socialism, which resembles a form of mental illness more than it does a philosophy. Socialists get bees in their bonnets. And because they chronically lack any critical faculty to examine and evaluate their ideas, and because they are pathologically unwilling to consider the opinions of others, and most of all, because Socialism is a mindset that regards the individual – and his rights – as insignificant, compared to whatever the socialist believes the group needs, terrible, terrible things happen when socialists acquire power.
l. neil smith— "Cambodian Road Trip," 15 March 2009
Socialism is, among other things, the political habitat of low self-esteem, incompetence, self-loathing, and a willingness to steal – or have stolen for you what you are unable or unwilling to work for. Socialism is a philosophy fit only for slugs, leaches, and mosquitoes.
l. neil smith— "Alice Shrugged,"[18] 18 December 2008
"The revelation of the secret of water will put an end to all manner of speculation or expediency and their excrescences, to which belong war, hatred, impatience and discord of every kind. The thorough study of water therefore signifies the end of monopolies, the end of all domination in the truest sense of the word and the start of a Socialism arising from the development of individualism in its most perfect form."
viktor schauberger— Implosion Magazine, No. 6, p. 29 (Callum Coats: Energy Evolution (2000))
The day has passed for patching up the capitalist system; it must go. And in the work of abolishing it the Catholic and the Protestant, the Catholic and the Jew, the Catholic and the Freethinker, the Catholic and the Buddhist, the Catholic and the Mahometan will co- operate together? For, as we have said elsewhere, Socialism is neither Protestant nor Catholic,Christian norFreethinker,Buddhist,Mahometan, nor Jew; it isonly HUMAN.
james connolly— 1910 Labour, Nationality, and Religion.
It is fundamental to Socialism that we should liquidate the British Empire as soon as we can.
stafford cripps— Hull Daily Mail, 2 March, 1936.
We mustn't fear to adopt the advanced management methods applied in capitalist countries (...) The very essence of Socialism is the liberation and development of the productive systems (...) Socialism and market economy are not incompatible (...) We should be concerned about right-wing deviations, but most of all, we must be concerned about left-wing deviations.
Deng Xiaoping— Cited by António Caeiro in Pela China Dentro (translated), Dom Quixote, Lisboa, 2004.
Socialism without public ownership is nothing but a fantastic apology
michael foot— The Daily Herald, 1956.
I believe Socialism is the grandest theory ever presented, and I am sure it will someday rule the world. Then we will have attained the Millennium.… Then men will be content to work for the general welfare and share their riches with their neighbors.
— Andrew Carnegie in New York Times (1 January 1885) "A Millionaire Socialist"
As with the Christian religion, the worst advertisement for Socialism is its adherents.
— George Orwell, in The Road to Wigan Pier, Ch. 11.
We are convinced that liberty without Socialism is privilege, injustice; and that Socialism without liberty is slavery and brutality.
mikhail bakunin— "Federalism, Socialism, Anti-Theologism", presented by Bakunin as a Reasoned Proposal to the Central Committee of the League for Peace and Freedom, at the League's first congress held in Geneva (September 1867).
— Variant translation: We are convinced that freedom without Socialism is privilege and injustice, and that Socialism without freedom is slavery and brutality.As quoted in The Political Philosophy of Bakunin : Scientific Anarchism (1953) edited by Grigori? Petrovich Maksimov, p. 269
There can be no justification to admit, in any way, the use of armed forced to intervene in the internal affairs of a WTO [Warsaw Treaty Organization] member country. The solving of domestic problems belongs exclusively to the Party and people of each country and any kind of interference can only do harm to the cause of Socialism, friendship and collaboration among the socialist countries.
nicolae ceauşescu— Commencement address at the Romanian Military Academy (14 August 1968), quoted in The Prague Spring (2010) by M. Mark Stolarik
Conservatism, though a necessary element in any stable society, is not a social program; in its paternalistic, nationalistic and power adoring tendencies it is often closer to Socialism than true liberalism; and with its traditionalistic, anti-intellectual, and often mystical propensities it will never, except in short periods of disillusionment, appeal to the young and all those others who believe that some changes are desirable if this world is to become a better place.
friedrich hayek— p. xi (The Road to Serfdom (1944))
Democracy is the road to Socialism.
karl marx— Attributed to Marx in recent years, including in Communism (2007) by Tom Lansford, p. 48, but the earliest occurrence of this yet located is in The Communist Review (1952) by the Communist Party of Great Britain, p. 15, where it is used to characterize the Communist agenda.
Wherever capitalism appears, in pursuit of its mission of exploitation, there will Socialism, fertilized by misery, watered by tears, and vitalized by agitation be also found, unfurling its class-struggle banner and proclaiming its mission of emancipation.
eugene v. debs— "The American Movement" (written 1898, first published 1908)
In all our plans for the future, we are re-defining and we are re-stating our Socialism in terms of the scientific revolution. But that revolution cannot become a reality unless we are prepared to make far-reaching changes in economic and social attitudes which permeate our whole system of society. The Britain that is going to be forged in the white heat of this revolution will be no place for restrictive practices or for outdated methods on either side of industry.
harold wilson— Usually quoted as "the white heat of the technological revolution". Speech at Labour Party conference, October 1, 1963. Labour Party Annual Conference Report, 1963, pages 139-140.
No word in our language not even "Socialism" has been employed more loosely than " Mysticism ." … The history of the word begins in close connexion with the Greek mysteries. A mystic is one who has been, or is being, initiated into some esoteric knowledge of Divine things, about which he must keep his mouth shut…
william ralph inge— Christian Mysticism (1899), Preface
Socialism is humanity's second nature. All politicians do is turn human vice into votes.
— “Can the Incredible Hulk Strike at Socialism?” WorldNetDaily.com, September 30, 2011.
As with the Christian religion, the worst advertisement for Socialism is its adherents.
— George Orwell, in The Road to Wigan Pier, Ch. 11
Between complete Socialism and communism there is no difference whatever in my mind.Communism is in fact the completion of Socialism; when that ceases to be militant and becomes triumphant, it will be communism.
william morris— 1893 Addressing Hammersmith Socialist Society.
For the West, the enemy was not "Socialism" but capitalism. How to tame and subdue the polar bear, how to take over the talent, the science, the technology, how to buy out the human capital, how to acquire the intellectual property rights?
michel chossudovsky— Chapter 16, The "Thirdworldization" of the Russian Federation, p. 240
Our Party’s Songun-based revolutionary leadership, Songun-based politics, is a revolutionary mode of leadership and socialist mode of politics that gives top priority to military affairs, and defends the country, the revolution and Socialism and dynamically pushes ahead with overall socialist construction by dint of the revolutionary mettle and combat capabilities of the People’s Army.
kim jong-il— "The Songun-based revolutionary line is a great revolutionary line of our era and an ever-victorious banner of our revolution", address to the senior officials of the Central Committee of the Worker's Party (29 January 2003)
As for the bourgeois state, at the present moment, we are seeking to overcome it, to overthrow it.… Our objective is total, scientific, Marxist Socialism.
salvador allende— Conversations With Allende (1970) by Regis Debray
Capitalism is the exploitation of man by man. Yes? Well Socialism is exactly the reverse.
len deighton— Funeral in Berlin (1964; repr. Harmondsworth: Penguin, 1966) p. 145Another Czech joke
Peaceful surrender of power by the bourgeoisie is possible, if it is convinced that resistance is hopeless and if it prefers to save its skin. It is much more likely, of course, that even in small states Socialism will not be achieved without civil war, and for that reason the only programme of international Social-Democracy must be recognition of civil war, though violence is, of course, alien to our ideals.
— "A Caricature of Marxism and Imperialist Economism" (August - October 1916) Collected Works, Vol. 23, pp. 28-76 [1]
Marxism is not only the theory of Socialism, it is an integral world outlook, a philosophical system, from which Marx’s proletarian Socialism logically follows. This philosophical system is called dialectical materialism.
joseph stalin— Anarchism or Socialism (1906)
The road to Socialism lies through a period of the highest possible intensification of the principle of the state … Just as a lamp, before going out, shoots up in a brilliant flame, so the state, before disappearing, assumes the form of the dictatorship of the proletariat, i.e., the most ruthless form of state, which embraces the life of the citizens authoritatively in every direction...
— Terrorism and Communism : A Reply to Karl Kautsky (1920; 1975), p. 177
It is time to realize that neither Socialism, nor friendship, nor good-neighborliness, nor respect can be produced by bayonets, tanks or blood.
— Eduard Shevardnadze Cited in: North Atlantic Assembly. Political Committee (1990) Reports. p. 7
