“The purpose of totalitarian parties, for which Bolshevism provided the model, was not to become the government, but to manipulate the government from behind the scenes.”

—  Richard Pipes

Source: Three “Whys” of the Russian Revolution (1995), p. 39

Adopted from Wikiquote. Last update June 3, 2021. History

Help us to complete the source, original and additional information

Do you have more details about the quote "The purpose of totalitarian parties, for which Bolshevism provided the model, was not to become the government, but to …" by Richard Pipes?
Richard Pipes photo
Richard Pipes 46
American historian 1923–2018

Related quotes

Theodore Roosevelt photo

“Political parties exist to secure responsible government and to execute the will of the people. From these great tasks both of the old parties have turned aside. Instead of instruments to promote the general welfare they have become the tools of corrupt interests, which use them impartially to serve their selfish purposes. Behind the ostensible government sits enthroned an invisible government owing no allegiance and acknowledging no responsibility to the people.”

Theodore Roosevelt (1858–1919) American politician, 26th president of the United States

"The Progressive Covenant With The People" http://memory.loc.gov/cgi-bin/query/r?ammem/papr:@filreq(@field(NUMBER+@band(trrs+1146))+@field(COLLID+roosevelt)) speech (August 1912)
1910s
Context: Political parties exist to secure responsible government and to execute the will of the people. From these great tasks both of the old parties have turned aside. Instead of instruments to promote the general welfare they have become the tools of corrupt interests, which use them impartially to serve their selfish purposes. Behind the ostensible government sits enthroned an invisible government owing no allegiance and acknowledging no responsibility to the people. To destroy this invisible government, to dissolve the unholy alliance between corrupt business and corrupt politics, is the first task of the statesmanship of the day.

Benjamin Disraeli photo

“So you see, my dear Coningsby, that the world is governed by very different personages from what is imagined by those who are not behind the scenes.”

Benjamin Disraeli (1804–1881) British Conservative politician, writer, aristocrat and Prime Minister

Sidonia speaking
Book 4, Chap. 15.
Books, Coningsby (1844)

Benjamin Disraeli photo

“You cannot choose between party government and Parliamentary government. I say, you can have no Parliamentary government if you have no party government; and, therefore, when Gentlemen denounce party government, they strike at that scheme of government which, in my opinion, has made this country great, and which I hope will keep it great.”

Benjamin Disraeli (1804–1881) British Conservative politician, writer, aristocrat and Prime Minister

Source: Speech http://hansard.millbanksystems.com/commons/1848/aug/30/business-of-the-session in the House of Commons (30 August 1848).

Jesse Ventura photo

“Government's become just a battle of power between the two parties.”

Jesse Ventura (1951) American politician and former professional wrestler

I Ain't Got Time To Bleed (1999)
Context: I view the traditional two parties as in some ways very evil. They've become monsters that are out of control. The two parties don't have in mind what's best for Minnesota. The only things that are important to them are their own agendas and their pork. Government's become just a battle of power between the two parties. But now that Minnesota has a governor who truly comes from the private sector, a lot of light's going to be shed on how the system is unfair to people outside the two parties.

Gordon Tullock photo

“What is important will be manipulated by the government.”

Gordon Tullock (1922–2014) American economist

Tullock challenges: happiness, revolutions, and democracy

Harry Truman photo

“There isn’t any difference between the totalitarian Russian Government and the Hitler government and the Franco government in Spain. They are all alike. They are police state governments.”

Harry Truman (1884–1972) American politician, 33rd president of the United States (in office from 1945 to 1953)

Source: News Conference at Key West, March 30, 1950

Alex Salmond photo

“It is not the purpose of Government to legislate - rather it is for Government and Parliament to legislate with a purpose.”

Alex Salmond (1954) Scottish National Party politician and former First Minister of Scotland

Principles and Priorities : Programme for Government (September 5, 2007)

Everett Dean Martin photo

“When we think we are most free our opinions and our behavior are being skillfully manipulated by persons operating behind the scenes.”

Everett Dean Martin (1880–1941)

Source: The Conflict of the Individual and the Mass in the Modern World (1932), p. 29

Bonar Law photo

“I think perhaps it would be useful if I repeat again to you the words which I used in the first speech when I became leader of our party [in 1911]…"No government of which I am a member will ever be a government of reaction…" That was my view then:… it is my view today, and if I thought the Unionist party was, or would ever become, a party of that kind, I would not be a member of it.”

Bonar Law (1858–1923) Former Prime Minister of the United Kingdom

At the Public Baths, Old Kent Road (7 November, 1922).

Marcus Aurelius photo

“What is divine is full of Providence. Even chance is not divorced from nature, from the inweaving and enfolding of things governed by Providence. Everything proceeds from it.”

Marcus Aurelius book Meditations

Hays translation
All that is from the gods is full of Providence.
II, 3
Meditations (c. 121–180 AD), Book II

Related topics