SOCIALISM QUOTES II

quotations about socialism

Socialism quote

Socialism is in a way the shadow of capitalism. Nothing guarantees the future of socialism so much as capitalism, because socialism is capitalism's self-criticism.

RICHARD WOLFF

interview, Fox Business, August 2017


Socialism is not a science, a sociology in miniature: it is a cry of pain.

ÉMILE DURKHEIM

Le socialisme

Tags: Emile Durkheim


To make men Socialists is nothing, but to make Socialism human is a great thing.

OSCAR WILDE

Pall Mall Gazette, February 15, 1889

Tags: Oscar Wilde


Socialism is nothing but the capitalism of the lower classes.

OSWALD SPENGLER

The Hour of Decision

Tags: Oswald Spengler


Socialism is also unselfishness embraced as an axiom.

ROGER KIMBALL

The New Criterion


Many people consider the things government does for them to be social progress but they regard the things government does for others as socialism.

EARL WARREN

Address to National Press Club in Washington DC, April 1953


The moment the idea is admitted into society, that property is not as sacred as the law of God, and that there is not a force of law and public justice to protect it, anarchy and tyranny commence. If "Thou shall not covet," and "Thou shall not steal," are not commandments of Heaven, they must be made inviolable precepts in every society, before it can be civilized or made free.

JOHN ADAMS

A Defence of the Constitutions of Government

Tags: John Adams


We want to achieve a new and better order of society: in this new and better society there must be neither rich nor poor; all will have to work. Not a handful of rich people, but all the working people must enjoy the fruits of their common labour. Machines and other improvements must serve to ease the work of all and not to enable a few to grow rich at the expense of millions and tens of millions of people. This new and better society is called socialist society. The teachings about this society are called socialism.

VLADIMIR LENIN

"To the Rural Poor", Collected Works


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 CARNAGIE

"A Millionaire Socialist", New York Times, January 1, 1885


If socialism is a nonentity in the experiencing world, then what is it in reality? I have argued that in the experiencing world, what was set up was not socialism but statism. Statism is a fact whereas socialism is a faith or a belief. Reality and ideal enter into conflict with each other. This conflict was most evident in Maoist China. Maoism had a commitment to ideal (socialism), unwilling to bow to the fact of statism. The Cultural Revolution is in essence a conflict between statism as a fact and socialism as a faith.

HENRY WANG

Socialism and Governance: A Comparison Between Maoist and Dengist Governance


The socialist pretends to have glimpsed paradise on earth. Those who decline the invitation to embrace the vision are not just ungrateful: they are traitors to the cause of human perfection. Dissent is therefore not mere disagreement but treachery. Treachery is properly met not with arguments but (as circumstances permit) the guillotine, the concentration camp, the purge.

ROGER KIMBALL

The New Criterion


The inherent vice of capitalism is the unequal sharing of blessings; the inherent virtue of socialism is the equal sharing of miseries.

WINSTON CHURCHILL

speech in the House of Commons, "Demobilisation", October 22, 1945

Tags: Winston Churchill


As we know, socialism is calculational chaos. Rational appraisement and allocation are eternally elusive. It is a gigantic negative-sum game in which each player quickly grabs a piece of the pie, and all the while the pie shrinks before the players' eyes.

LARRY J. SECHREST

Ludwig von Mises Memorial Lecture at the Austrian Scholars Conference in Auburn, Alabama, "The Anti-Capitalists: Barbarians at the Gate", March 15, 2008


I believe that for the past twenty years there has been a creeping socialism spreading in the United States.

DWIGHT D. EISENHOWER

speech to Republican leaders in Custer State Park, South Dakota, June 11, 1953

Tags: Dwight D. Eisenhower


The socialist economy has become so strong, so vigorous that from the summits we have reached we can issue an open challenge of peaceful economic competition to the most powerful capitalist country--the United States of America.

NIKITA KHRUSHCHEV

concluding speech to twenty-second congress of the Communist party of the Soviet Union, October 27, 1961


People came from far and near
To buy poison and tears
The decor was delectable
The service impeccable
It was expensive -- what isn't?
It sold black plague and socialism
There was no reason to exist
If you weren't on the mailing list

FUTURE BIBLE HEROES

"Death Opened a Boutique"


But whenever one meets modern thinkers (as one often does) progressing towards a madhouse, one always finds, on inquiry, that they have just had a splendid escape from another madhouse. Thus, hundreds of people become Socialists, not because they have tried Socialism and found it nice, but because they have tried Individualism and found it nasty.

G. K. CHESTERTON

Alarms and Discursions

Tags: G. K. Chesterton


The issue is Socialism versus Capitalism. I am for Socialism because I am for humanity. We have been cursed with the reign of gold long enough. Money constitutes no proper basis of civilization. The time has come to regenerate society -- we are on the eve of universal change.

EUGENE V. DEBS

open letter to the American Railway Union, Chicago Railway Times, January 1, 1897

Tags: Eugene V. Debs


The ripeness of society for Socialism is not to be disproved by the number of wrecks and ruins which abound.

JOHN SPARGO

Elements of Socialism


Socialism can only arrive by bicycle.

JOSE ANTONIO VIERA GALLO

foreword, Energy and Equity