quotations about communism
If property is impossible on account of the desire to accumulate, communism would soon become so through the desire to shirk.
PIERRE-JOSEPH PROUDHON
What Is Property?
In spite of its glowing talk about the welfare of the masses, Communism's methods and philosophy strip man of his dignity and worth, leaving him as little more than a depersonalized cog in the ever-turning wheel of the state.
MARTIN LUTHER KING
JR., Strength to Love
The reason that communism is the greatest evil is simple: Communism is the greatest enemy of personal responsibility ever invented. Communism waters down and diminishes personal accomplishments. Once one sees this clearly, seemingly inexplicable communist-driven policies make sense. Every communist policy--from the minimum wage to single-payer health care to rent control--is designed to minimize and thwart personal responsibility.
TREVOR LOUDON
"Why Is Communism Evil?"
Communism is not always equality; but it is more so than property is. In communism inequality springs from placing mediocrity on a level with excellence.
PIERRE-JOSEPH PROUDHON
attributed, Day's Collacon
I am not a Communist, because Communism concentrates and swallows up in itself for the benefit of the State all the forces of society, because it inevitably leads to the concentration of property in the hands of the State, whereas I want the abolition of the State.
MIKHAIL BAKUNIN
attributed, Mikhail Bakunin
Communism is based on an ethical relativism and a metaphysical materialism that no Christian can accept.
MARTIN LUTHER KING, JR.
Paul's Letter to American Christians, November 4, 1956
We communists are like seeds and the people are the soil. Wherever we go, we must unite with the people, take root and blossom among them.
MAO ZEDONG
Quotations from Chairman Mao Zedung
There are certain types of people who are political out of a kind of religious reason ... I think it's fairly common among socialists: They are, in fact, God-seekers, looking for the kingdom of God on earth. A lot of religious reformers have been like that, too. It's the same psychological set, trying to abolish the present in favor of some better future -- always taking it for granted that there is a better future. If you don't believe in heaven, then you believe in socialism. When I was in my real Communist phase, I and the people around me really believed -- but, of course, this makes us certifiable -- that something like 10 years after World War II, the world would be Communist and perfect.
DORIS LESSING
"Doris Lessing on Feminism, Communism and Space Fiction", New York Times Book Review, July 25, 1982
A Communist should have largeness of mind and he should be staunch and active, looking upon the interests of the revolution as his very life and subordinating his personal interests to those of the revolution; always and everywhere he should adhere to principle and wage a tireless struggle against all incorrect ideas and actions, so as to consolidate the collective life of the Party and strengthen the ties between the Party and the masses; he should be more concerned about the Party and the masses than about any individual, and more concerned about others than about himself. Only thus can he be considered a Communist.
MAO ZEDONG
"Combat Liberalism", Sep. 7, 1937
Communism has sometimes succeeded as a scavenger, but never as a leader. It has never come to power in a country that was not disrupted by war or corruption, or both.
JOHN F. KENNEDY
speech at NATO Headquarters in Naples, Italy, July 2, 1963
Communism is the dream of fools.
C. R. SUMNER
attributed, Day's Collacon
Communism is like prohibition, it's a good idea but it won't work.
WILL ROGERS
The Autobiography of Will Rogers
In the social equation, the value of a single life is nil; in the cosmic equation, it is infinite... Not only communism, but any political movement which implicitly relies on purely utilitarian ethics, must become a victim to the same fatal error. It is a fallacy as naïve as a mathematical teaser, and yet its consequences lead straight to Goya's Disasters, to the reign of the guillotine, the torture chambers of the Inquisition, or the cellars of the Lubianka.
ARTHUR KOESTLER
The Invisible Writing
When everything belongs to everyone, nobody will take care of anything.
ANDRE GIDE
attributed, Thoughts for Meaningful Life
Property is the exploitation of the weak by the strong. Communism is the exploitation of the strong by the weak.
PIERRE-JOSEPH PROUDHON
What Is Property?
Communism is the corruption of a dream of justice.
ADLAI STEVENSON
speech, 1951
Money, not work, is the banner of communism.
JAMES WHITE
attributed, Day's Collacon
Property is theft.
PIERRE-JOSEPH PROUDHON
What Is Property?
Communism is a strange, a perverted creed that has a queer attraction both for the most primitive and for the most sophisticated societies.
HAROLD MACMILLAN
attributed, And I Quote
The trouble with Communism is the Communists, just as the trouble with Christianity is the Christians. They really do not believe in it and hence are hypocrites. All of them pant for money and hope to collar it by changing the rules. Thus fundamental false pretense colors their whole propaganda.
H. L. MENCKEN
Life Magazine, Aug. 5, 1946