Neither Democrats, Nor Dictators: Anarchists (1926)
Context: Theoretically "democracy" means popular government; government by all for everybody by the efforts of all. In a democracy the people must be able to say what they want, to nominate the executors of their wishes, to monitor their performance and remove them when they see fit.
Naturally this presumes that all the individuals that make up a people are able to form an opinion and express it on all the subjects that interest them. It implies that everyone is politically and economically independent and therefore no-one, to live, would be obliged to submit to the will of others. <!--
If classes and individuals exist that are deprived of the means of production and therefore dependent on others with a monopoly over those means, the so-called democratic system can only be a lie, and one which serves to deceive the mass of the people and keep them docile with an outward show of sovereignty, while the rule of the privileged and dominant class is in fact salvaged and consolidated. Such is democracy and such it always has been in a capitalist structure, whatever form it takes, from constitutional monarchy to so-called direct rule.
“Popular congresses are the only means to achieve popular democracy. Any system of government other than popular congresses is undemocratic.”
The Green Book (1975)
The Green Book (1975)
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Muammar Gaddafi 66
Libyan revolutionary, politician and political theorist 1942–2011Related quotes
“Kings govern by means of popular assemblies only when they cannot do without them.”
Speech to the House of Commons (October 31, 1776).
1770s
1910s, The New Nationalism (1910)
Letter to W.T. Barry http://press-pubs.uchicago.edu/founders/documents/v1ch18s35.html (4 August 1822), in The Writings of James Madison (1910) edited by Gaillard Hunt, Vol. 9, p. 103; these words, using the older spelling "Governours", are inscribed to the left of the main entrance, Library of Congress James Madison Memorial Building.
1820s
Crisis of the House Divided: An Interpretation of the Issues in the Lincoln Douglas Debates http://archive.li/CFqbg (1959), p. xi
1950s
Inaugural address (4 March 1921).
1920s
1870s, Message to the Senate and House of Representatives (1870)
“Popularity means people think they know you.”
Source: Firefly Lane