James Connolly: How can a person, or a class, be free when its means of life are in the grasp of another? How can the working class be free when the sole chance of existence of its individual members depends upon their ability to make a profit for others? wordsmith.social/protestation/…
Stalin: Firstly, we had to build under fire. Imagine a mason who has to lay bricks with one hand and defend what he is building with the other. wordsmith.social/protestation/…
Andrei Zhdanov: The principal outcome of World War II was the military defeat of Germany and Japan-the two most militaristic and aggressive of the capitalist countries. The reactionary imperialist elements all over the world, notably in Britain, America and France, had reposed great hopes in Germany and Japan, and chiefly in Hitler Germany: firstly as in a force most capable of inflicting a blow on the Soviet Union in order to, if not having it destroyed altogether, weaken it at least and undermine its influence; secondly, as in a force capable of smashing the revolutionary labor and democratic movement in Germany herself and in all countries singled out for Nazi aggression, and thereby strengthening capitalism generally. This was the chief reason for the prewar policy of "appeasement" and encouragement of fascist aggression, the so-called Munich policy consistently pursued by the imperialist ruling circles of Britain, France, and the United States. wordsmith.social/protestation/…
Andrei Zhdanov: Alarmed by the achievements of Socialism in the USSR, by the achievements of the new democracies, and by the postwar growth of the labor and democratic movement in all countries, the American reactionaries are disposed to take upon themselves the mission of "saviors" of the capital system from Communism. The frank expansionist program of the United States is therefore highly reminiscent of the reckless program, which failed so ignominiously, of the fascist aggressors, who, as we know, also made a bid for world supremacy. Just as the Hitlerites, when they were making their preparations for piratical aggression, adopted the camouflage of anti-Communism in order to make it possible to oppress and enslave all peoples and primarily and chiefly their own people, America's present-day ruling circles mask their expansionist policy, and even their offensive against the vital interests of their weaker imperialist rival, Great Britain, by fictitious considerations of defense against Communism. The feverish piling up of armaments, the construction of new military bases and the creation of bridgeheads for the American armed forces in all parts of the world is justified on the false and pharisaical grounds of "defense" against an imaginary threat of war on the part of the USSR. wordsmith.social/protestation/…
Lenin: When industry prospers, the factory owners make big profits but do not think of sharing them with the workers; but when a crisis breaks out, the factory owners try to push the losses on to the workers. wordsmith.social/protestation/…
Stalin: Lenin said that without an apparatus we should have perished long ago, and that without a systematic, stubborn struggle to improve the apparatus we should certainly perish. This means that resolute and systematic struggle against conservatism, bureaucracy and red tape in our apparatus is an essential task of the Party, the working class and all the working people of our country. wordsmith.social/protestation/…
Lepa Radić: I am not a traitor of my people. Those whom you are asking about will reveal themselves when they have succeeded in wiping out all you evildoers, to the last man. wordsmith.social/protestation/…
Georgi Dimitrov: In the war of 1914-1918, already the bourgeoisie was aware that, without the assistance of Social Democracy it would be unable to set alight the flames of chauvinism, to deceive the masses with the slogan of " the defence of the Fatherland," and to drive them to the field of death for the sake of its imperialist interests. Now it is again placing great hopes on Social Democracy. The behaviour of the leading circles of the Second International and their social-chauvinistic position in the war also throws a vivid light on the whole of their previous policy, the policy of stubbornly sabotaging unity in the ranks of the working class and its struggle to avert the imperialist war. wordsmith.social/protestation/…
Georgi Dimitrov: The Social Democratic ministers of a number of countries refused to sell arms to the Spanish people for their heroic struggle, and now, behind the mask of neutrality, are assisting the war contractors in every way in their trade in the weapons of death, and are inflaming the anti-Communist and anti-Soviet campaign. wordsmith.social/protestation/…
Georgi Dimitrov: It clearly follows from the above that the Communists can have no united front whatsoever with those in a common front with the imperialists and who support the criminal anti-people's war. The working class and all working people can have no dealings with the Social Democratic, "democratic" and "radical" politicians who are betraying the vital interests of the popular masses. Between the masses of the people and these lackeys of imperialism lies the abyss of war. But in the war and the crisis which it has called into being the need for working-class unity and for rallying the masses of the working people around the working class rises more acutely than formerly. Millions of working people in the capitalist world, and, above all, in the warring countries, are vitally interested in bringing about militant working-class unity, and establishing a real popular front against the war let loose by the capitalists, against raging reaction and the unbridled plunder of the masses. And the Communists will not only not cease the struggle for unity of the proletarian ranks and for rallying together the masses of the working people, but will also increase their efforts tenfold in this direction. wordsmith.social/protestation/…
Thomas Woodrow Wilson: I am a most unhappy man. I have unwittingly ruined my country. A great industrial nation is controlled by its system of credit. Our system of credit is concentrated. The growth of the nation, therefore, and all our activities are in the hands of a few men. We have come to be one of the worst ruled, one of the most completely controlled and dominated Governments in the civilized world no longer a Government by free opinion, no longer a Government by conviction and the vote of the majority, but a Government by the opinion and duress of a small group of dominant men. wordsmith.social/protestation/…
Manfred Max-Neef: For decades we have been told that there are not enough resources to overcome poverty, yet there are more than enough resources to satisfy the wants of speculators. Seventeen trillion dollars divided by the 30 billion the FAO estimates as enough for overcoming world hunger, instead of saving private banks, could generate 566 years of a world without hunger. Would not a world without misery be a better world for everyone, even for the banks? What are we facing in our world today? wordsmith.social/protestation/…
Stalin: Lenin taught us that only such leaders can be real Bolshevik leaders as know not only how to teach the workers and peasants but also how to learn from them. wordsmith.social/protestation/…
Kim Jong-il: Even though the reactionary nature of social democracy has been revealed thoroughly, modern revisionists have embellished it and are advocating it today. In order to realize their strategy against socialism, the imperialists are openly forcing the socialist countries to introduce bourgeois liberalization involving a multi-party system, capitalist private ownership and the market economy. Rightist opportunism that serves their anti-socialist strategy is none other than modern social democracy. Social democracy that pursues socialist ideals in the revolutionary struggle of the working class against the oppression of capital was abused by opportunist in its early days and today it is used as an anti-socialist means of the imperialists. As a result, it has become a synonym for the most despicable treachery to revolution and socialism. wordsmith.social/protestation/…
Kim Jong-il: The reactionary nature of modern social democracy is that it attempts to destroy socialism and turn it back to capitalism. There is no difference between opportunistic social democracy of the past and modern social democracy in that they both pursue capitalism. The former plays the role of a brake, checking the revolutionary transition to socialism, whereas the latter plays the role of a guide, opening the road to a "peaceful transition of socialism to capitalism". In a word, the former is a trend of bourgeois reformism while the latter is a trend of bourgeois restorationism. wordsmith.social/protestation/…
Kim Jong-il: Modern social democracy, denying the leadership of the working-class party and the unified guidance of the socialist state, advocates that it aims to build a "humanitarian and democratic socialism" in place of an "administrative-bureaucratic socialism". Needless to say, socialism may have different specific features according to the guiding ideology it relies on and the methods of building and managing it. However, socialism is inconceivable separated from the political leadership of the working-class party and the unified guidance of the socialist state, which are the fundamental principles of socialism. That socialism is developing in different forms is one thing, and that socialism is returning to capitalism is another thing. The former means that it is built and managed to suit the specific situation and national characteristics of each country, invariably maintaining the working-class character. The advantages of the different types of socialism may differ from one another according to their characteristics, but any type is superior to capitalism. Giving up the basic principles of socialism is nothing but degeneration in a capitalistic way, no matter whether it is called "democratic socialism" or "humanitarian and democratic socialism". wordsmith.social/protestation/…
Kim Jong-il: Modern social democracy is an outcome of illusions about capitalism. Out of illusions about "material prosperity" of developed capitalist countries, some people have been seduced by it and are giving up the revolutionary principle. If anyone analyzes the conditions of history experienced in the developed capitalist countries and socialist counties and their characteristics, he would never harbour such foolish illusions. wordsmith.social/protestation/…
Kim Jong-il: The first philosophy of the working class was created by Marx. His philosophy is a critical inheritance and development of preceding philosophies. By discarding what was unscientific and reactionary in the preceding materialism and dialectics and by inheriting and developing a reasonable core, Marx created dialectical materialism. By applying it to social history, he clarified historical materialism. He directed his main efforts to critically examining the existing philosophical theories so as to free the working class, which was making a fresh appearance on the historical stage, from the outdated and reactionary outlook on the world. He gave scientific answers to the questions of correlation between matter and consciousness and between being and thinking, which until then had yet to be resolved despite repeated debates; on this basis he developed his philosophical theory. wordsmith.social/protestation/…
Kim Jong-il: Social democracy, as an ideological trend of rightist opportunism, appeared long ago. Opportunist ideologies of all hues including social democracy are reactionary trends of thought which the imperialists and reactionaries made use of in earlier times to destroy the communist movement and the working-class movement from within. wordsmith.social/protestation/…
Friedrich Engels: The opposite of competition is monopoly. Monopoly was the war-cry of the Mercantilists; competition the battle-cry of the liberal economists. It is easy to see that this antithesis is again a quite hollow antithesis. Every competitor cannot but desire to have the monopoly, be he worker, capitalist or landowner. Each smaller group of competitors cannot but desire to have the monopoly for itself against all others. Competition is based on self-interest, and self-interest in turn breeds monopoly. In short, competition passes over into monopoly. wordsmith.social/protestation/…
Walter Lippmann: Ours is a problem in which deception has become organized and strong; where truth is poisoned at its source; one in which the skill of the shrewdest brains is devoted to misleading a bewildered people. wordsmith.social/protestation/…
Martin Wolf: Corporations are not rule-takers but rather rule-makers. They play games whose rules they have a big role in creating, via politics. wordsmith.social/protestation/…
Walter Lippmann: The creation of consent is not a new art. It is a very old one which was supposed to have died out with the appearance of democracy. But it has not died out. It has, in fact, improved enormously in technic, because it is now based on analysis rather than on rule of thumb. And so, as a result of psychological research, coupled with the modern means of communication, the practice of democracy has turned a corner. A revolution is taking place, infinitely more significant than any shifting of economic power. wordsmith.social/protestation/…
Walter Lippmann: It is so much easier to talk of poverty than to think of the poor, to argue the rights of capital than to see its results. Pretty soon we come to think of the theories and abstract ideas as things in themselves. We worry about their fate and forget their original content. wordsmith.social/protestation/…
Walter Lippmann: Though it is disguised by the illusion that a bureaucracy accountable to a majority of voters, and susceptible to the pressure of organized minorities, is not exercising compulsion, it is evident that the more varied and comprehensive the regulation becomes, the more the state becomes a despotic power as against the individual. For the fragment of control over the government which he exercises through his vote is in no effective sense proportionate to the authority exercised over him by the government. wordsmith.social/protestation/…
Walter Lippmann: Chief Factors Limiting Access to Facts: 1) Artificial censorship 2) Limitations of social contact 3) Comparatively meager time in a day for paying attention to public affairs. 4) Distortion arising because events have to be compressed into very short messages 5) Difficulty of making a small vocabulary express a complicated world 6) Fear of facing those facts which would seem to threaten the established routine of men's lives. wordsmith.social/protestation/…
Walter Lippmann: Without some form of censorship, propaganda in the strict sense of the word is impossible. In order to conduct a propaganda there must be some barrier between the public and the event. Access to the real environment must be limited, before anyone can create a pseudo-environment that he thinks wise or desirable. wordsmith.social/protestation/…
Walter Lippmann: But what is propaganda, if not the effort to alter the picture to which men respond, to substitute one social pattern for another? wordsmith.social/protestation/…
