Commentaries by Historical Figures on Socialism,
Capitalism, and Imperialism


"Fascism should more appropriately be called Corporatism because it is a merger of state and corporate power."--Benito Mussolini

"We stand for the maintenance of private property... We shall protect free enterprise as the most expedient, or rather the sole possible economic order."--Adolph Hitler

"These capitalists generally act harmoniously, and in concert, to fleece the  people." --Abraham Lincoln


Einstein co-authored a letter dated Dec. 2, 1948 to The New York Times that condemns a terrorist, right wing faction in Israel, headed by Menachem Begin, whose ideology has since come to dominate Israeli politics.  The letter by Einstein et al begins:
See also the Monthly Review article, Albert Einstein, Radical: A Political Profile, by John J. Simon.

"There are truths so evident, so much a part of people's knowledge, that it is now useless to discuss them. One ought to be "Marxist' with the same naturalness with which one is "Newtonian" in physics, or "Pasteurian" in biology, considering that if facts determine new concepts, these new concepts will never divest themselves of that portion of truth possessed by the older concepts they have outdated. Such is the case, for example, of Einsteinian relativity or of Planck's "quantum" theory with respect to the discoveries of Newton; they take nothing at all away from the greatness of the learned Englishman. Thanks to Newton, physics was able to advance until it had achieved new concepts of space. The learned Englishman provided the necessary stepping-stone for them."

"The advances in social and political science, as in other fields, belong to a long historical process whose links are connecting, adding up, moulding and constantly perfecting themselves. In the origin of peoples, there exists a Chinese, Arab or Hindu mathematics; today, mathematics has no frontiers. In the course of history there was a Greek Pythagoras, an Italian Galileo, an English Newton, a German Gauss, a Russian Lobachevsky, an Einstein, etc. Thus in the field of social and political sciences, from Democritus to Marx, a long series of thinkers added their original investigations and accumulated a body of experience and of doctrines."

"The merit of Marx is that he suddenly produces a qualitative change in the history of social thought. He interprets history, understands its dynamic, predicts the future, but in addition to predicting it (which would satisfy his scientific obligation), he expresses a revolutionary concept: the world must not only be interpreted, it must be transformed."

"It is impossible for capitalism to survive, primarily because the system of capitalism needs some blood to suck. Capitalism used to be like an eagle, but now it's more like a vulture. It used to be strong enough to go and suck anybody's blood whether they were strong or not. But now it has become more cowardly, like the vulture, and it can only suck the blood of the helpless."
On December 16, 1964, Malcolm X spoke at a Harvard Law School forum entitled, "The African Revolution and Its Impact on the American Negro."  He explained the role of the American press in justifying imperialism:
 
"Victims of racism are created in the image of racists.  When the victims struggle vigorously to protect themselves from violence of others, they are made to appear in the image of criminals; as the criminal image-is projected onto the victim.  The recent situation in the Congo is one of the best examples of this.  The headlines were used to mislead the public, [to create] wrong images.  In the Congo, planes were bombing Congolese villages, yet Americans read that (How do they say it?) American-trained anti-Castro Cuban pilots were bombing rebel strongholds.  These pilots were actually dropping bombs on villages with women and children.  But because the tags "American-trained" and "anti-Castro Cubans" were applied, the bombing was legal. Anyone against Castro is all right.  The press gave them a "holier than thou" image.  And you let them get away with it because of the labels.  The victim is made the criminal. It is really mass murder-murder of women, children, and babies.  And mass murder is disguised as a humanitarian project.  They fool nobody but the people of America. They don't fool the people of the world, who see beyond the images."
For more information, see: Malcolm X : A Research Site
More information on Bertrand Russel is available from Sparticus Schoolnet and the Anarchist Reading List.