“The American people were possessed by the capitalist spirit without ever having had a bourgeoisie; French political society, in contrast, created a bourgeoisie devoid of the capitalist spirit.”

—  François Furet

Source: The Passing of an Illusion, The Idea of Communism in the Twentieth Century (1999), p. 7

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François Furet 12
French historian 1927–1997

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