Marxism Unmasked Quotes

“The worst thing that can happen to a socialist is to have his country ruled by socialists who are not his friends.”
― Ludwig von Mises, Marxism Unmasked: From Delusion to Destruction

“I have pointed out that the worst thing that can happen to a socialist is to have his country ruled by socialists who are not his friends.”
― Ludwig von Mises, Marxism Unmasked

“What Marx called the great catastrophe of the Industrial Revolution was not a catastrophe at all; it brought about a tremendous improvement in the conditions of the people. Many survived who wouldn’t have survived otherwise. It is not true, as Marx said, that the improvements in technology are available only to the exploiters and that the masses are living in a state much worse than on the eve of the Industrial Revolution. Everything the Marxists say about exploitation is absolutely wrong! Lies! In fact, capitalism made it possible for many persons to survive who wouldn’t have otherwise. And today many people, or most people, live at a much higher standard of living than that at which their ancestors lived 100 or 200 years ago.”
― Ludwig von Mises, Marxism Unmasked

“For instance, if there is a difference of opinion with regard to science or genetics, it must be decided by the “leader.” This is the necessary unavoidable consequence of the fact that, according to Marxist doctrine, you do not consider the possibility of dissent among honest people; either you think as I do, or you are a traitor and must be liquidated.”
― Ludwig von Mises, Marxism Unmasked

“Unfortunately, purges are not something which happen just because men are imperfect. Purges are the necessary consequences of the philosophical foundation of Marxian socialism. If you cannot discuss philosophical differences of opinion in the same way you discuss other problems, you must find another solution—through violence and power. This refers not only to dissent concerning policies, economic problems, sociology, law, and so on. It refers also to problems of the natural sciences.”
― Ludwig von Mises, Marxism Unmasked

“With all production, employment, and distribution of output completely under the monopoly control of the State, the fate and fortune of every individual would be at the mercy of the political authority. In addition, these earlier opponents of socialism had cogently argued that with the end of private property and freedom of enterprise, individuals would lose much of the self-interested motivation for industry, innovation, and work effort that exists in a market economy.”
― Ludwig von Mises, Marxism Unmasked

“No opposition party wants to assign so much power to another party. In drafting socialist programs, everybody assumes tacitly that he himself will be the planner or the dictator, or that the planner or dictator will be intellectually completely dependent on him and that the planner or dictator will be his handyman.”
― Ludwig von Mises, Marxism Unmasked

“This is the necessary unavoidable consequence of the fact that, according to Marxist doctrine, you do not consider the possibility of dissent among honest people; either you think as I do, or you are a traitor and must be liquidated.”
― Ludwig von Mises, Marxism Unmasked

“Unfortunately, purges are not something which happen just because men are imperfect. Purges are the necessary consequences of the philosophical foundation of Marxian socialism.”
― Ludwig von Mises, Marxism Unmasked

“In fact, “classes” don’t exist in nature. It is our thinking—our arranging in categories—that constructs classes in our minds. The question is not whether social classes exist in the sense of Karl Marx; the question is whether we can use the concept of social classes in the way in which Karl Marx meant it. We can’t.”
― Ludwig von Mises, Marxism Unmasked

“Nikolai Bukharin [1888–1938], a Communist author who lived in a Communist country, wrote a pamphlet in 19175, in which he said, we asked for freedom of the press, thought, and civil liberties in the past because we were in the opposition and needed these liberties to conquer. Now that we have conquered, there is no longer any need for such civil liberties.”
― Ludwig von Mises, Marxism Unmasked

“Originally, i.e., before Karl Marx, the term “right” meant the supporters of representative government and civil liberties, as opposed to the “left” who favored royal absolutism and the absence of civil rights.”
― Ludwig von Mises, Marxism Unmasked

“To a considerable extent, without knowing it, many people are philosophical Marxists, although they use different names for their philosophical ideas.”
― Ludwig von Mises, Marxism Unmasked

“With all production, employment, and distribution of output completely under the monopoly control of the State, the fate and fortune of every individual would be at the mercy of the political authority.”
― Ludwig von Mises, Marxism Unmasked

“Most of the violent ideas of our times have come from men who themselves wouldn’t have been able to resist any aggression”
― Ludwig von Mises, Marxism Unmasked

“As Mises summarized the dilemma, “It is not an advantage to be ignorant of whether or not what one is doing is a suitable means of attaining the ends sought. A socialist management would be like a man forced to spend his life blindfolded.”
― Ludwig von Mises, Marxism Unmasked

“Mises showed that the end of private property would mean the end to economic rationality.”
― Ludwig von Mises, Marxism Unmasked