“The rise of Communist states - dictatorship with centrally planned, nationalized economies - did more to distort and confuse the meaning of socialism than any other event in history.”

—  Michael Harrington

Source: Socialism: Past and Future (1989), p. 67

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 rise of Communist states - dictatorship with centrally planned, nationalized economies - did more to distort and co…" by Michael Harrington?
Michael Harrington photo
Michael Harrington 17
American political writer 1928–1989

Related quotes

Walter Lippmann photo

“…the totalitarian states, whether of the fascist or the communist persuasion, are more than superficially alike as dictatorships, in the suppression of dissent, and in operating planned and directed economies. They are profoundly alike.”

Walter Lippmann (1889–1974) American journalist

Quote in The Good Society by Walter Lippmann, Transaction Publications (2005) p. 89. First published in 1937.

Barry Eichengreen photo

“Aside from Yugoslavia, experiments with decentralization did not extend to planning innovation, the greatest weakness of the socialist economies. Even where markets were allowed to exert more influence over current production, the state was still responsible for planning the future. And state socialism provided only weak incentives for innovation. The Schumpeterian pressure that forced capitalist firms to innovate or die was not present in the planned economy.”

Barry Eichengreen (1952) Economist

Barry Eichengreen, The European economy since 1945 : coordinated capitalism and beyond, Ch. 5 : Eastern Europe and the Planned Economy

Fyodor Dan photo

“The Social Democratic movement need have no fear in regard to the political activity of Trotsky. On the contrary, he is more likely to give the death blow to the Communist movement outside Russia and to induce the Communist workers to return to Social Democracy than to strengthen any Communist Party or to weaken the Social Democrats in any way.”

Fyodor Dan (1871–1947) Russian revolutionary

Ibid. p. 621.

David C. McClelland photo

“At any rate that is precisely what happens: the “means” oriented stories come from countries which have managed to overcome the obstacles to economic achievement more successfully than other countries… These results serve to direct our attention as social scientists away from an exclusive concern with the external events in history to the “internal” psychological concerns that in the long run determine what happens in history”

David C. McClelland (1917–1998) American psychological theorist

Source: The Archiving Society, 1961, p. 104-5

Jonah Goldberg photo

“[C]apitalism is as much to blame for the consolidation and homogenization of nations as champions of progressive central planning are, if not more so.”

Jonah Goldberg (1969) American political writer and pundit

2010s, 2018, Socialism is So Hot Right Now (2018)

“Hitlerian socialism… was a form of socialism that resembled a combination of utopian socialism and the socialist market economy found in communist China.”

L. K. Samuels (1951) American writer

Source: Killing History: The False Left-Right Political Spectrum and the Battle between the ‘Free Left’ and the ‘Statist Left', (2019), p. 305

George W. Bush photo

“I will always be honored to carry a title that means more to me than any other: citizen of the United States of America”

George W. Bush (1946) 43rd President of the United States

2000s, 2009, Farewell speech to the nation (January 2009)
Context: It has been the privilege of a lifetime to serve as your President. There have been good days and tough days. But every day I have been inspired by the greatness of our country and uplifted by the goodness of our people. I have been blessed to represent this Nation we love. And I will always be honored to carry a title that means more to me than any other: citizen of the United States of America, and so, my fellow Americans, for the final time: Good night. May God bless this house and our next President. And may God bless you and our wonderful country.

Alan Greenspan photo

“While local economies may experience significant price imbalances, a national severe price distortion seems most unlikely in the United States, given its size and diversity.”

Alan Greenspan (1926) 13th Chairman of the Federal Reserve in the United States

October 19, 2004 http://www.federalreserve.gov/boarddocs/speeches/2004/20041019/default.htm, playing down the threat of a national housing bubble.
2000s

Adolf Hitler photo

“Not long ago, an American magazine wrote that what was worst about National Socialism was its women. They said that National Socialism did more for women than any other nation. It improved their social position. It began to bring them together in tremendous organizations. It sent the women of the educated classes into the factories so that female workers could go on vacation, and so on. The paper concluded that the democracies could not imitate this.”

Adolf Hitler (1889–1945) Führer and Reich Chancellor of Germany, Leader of the Nazi Party

As quoted in The Third Reich: A New History by Michael Burleigh, p. 2842
Other remarks

Joseph Stalin photo

“The State is a machine in the hands of the ruling class for suppressing the resistance of its class enemies. in this respect the dictatorship of the proletariat does not differ essentially from dictatorship of any other class, for the proletarian State is a machine for the suppression of the bourgeoisie.”

Joseph Stalin (1879–1953) General secretary of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union

The Problems of Leninism

Related topics