“I am a person who has never used violence himself. My present opinion is that people who have obtained the ballot should use it and solve their problems in that way.”

— Upton Sinclair

Interview with Rene Fulop-Miller (24 March 1923)
Context: I am a person who has never used violence himself. My present opinion is that people who have obtained the ballot should use it and solve their problems in that way. In the case of peoples who have not obtained the ballot, and who cannot control their states, I again find in my own mind a division of opinion, which is not logical, but purely a rough practical judgment. My own forefathers got their political freedom by violence; that is to say, they overthrew the British crown and made themselves a free Republic. Also by violence they put an end to the enslavement of the black race on this continent.

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American novelist, writer, journalist, political activist 1878–1968

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