Hegemony How-To Quotes

“We face a deep moral crisis, which we might also describe as a 'crisis of community.' Alongside increasing economic stratification and the continuation of an adaptive racism, a 'morality' of individualism has grown more and more severe. With this deadly combination, we have been losing the spirit that's needed to hold any community or any nation together: a sense of responsibility for each other. In the long term no community can survive when greed and irresponsibility are incentivized instead of reined in. This crisis point to a decision we have to make as a society: Do we want to live in a nation that is defined by inclusionary, solidaristic community values, or one that is defined by the moralistically bankrupt values of Wall Street and the bigoted, exclusionary "solidarity" of reactionaries?”
― Jonathan Smucker, Hegemony How-To: A Roadmap for Radicals

“If we presently are too feeble a force to win the fight today, what can we do today so that tomorrow we are a little bit stronger, and the day after that, a little stronger still.”
― Jonathan Smucker, Hegemony How-To: A Roadmap for Radicals

“The establishment is in crisis. Popular opinion is on our side. But we have to step out of our comfortable clubhouse and into the terrain of politics. The little clubhouse called "activism" is moldy and decaying. We no longer fit inside of its self-defeating walls. We have to walk away from the sideshow if we want to seize the main stage. This is not about "selling out" or "watering down" our politics or becoming "less radical". There is nothing "radical" about an atachment to outsiderness and marginality. And what is more radical than believing that everyday people can come together and organize a collective vehicle powerful enough to remake the world?”
― Jonathan Smucker, Hegemony How-To: A Roadmap for Radicals

“If I answer, you will stop asking.” In that moment it suddenly dawned on me that one should never know for certain that their partial truth was God’s universal truth—or whether or not God was on their side. I thought of all the horrors that have been committed by people who entertained no doubts about the rightness of their actions, and I decided right then that I would always maintain a healthy measure of self-doubt. I would embrace a life in which questions were more important than definitive answers.”
― Jonathan Smucker, Hegemony How-To: A Roadmap for Radicals

“Today a new generation that does not accept the fanciful notion that "there's no alternative" is in motion and on the rise. The "end of history" is over. The 1980s and 1990s are fading points in the rearview mirror, as we awaken to a very different "morning in America" than the one ushered in with Ronald Reagan's inauguration.”
― Jonathan Smucker, Hegemony How-To: A Roadmap for Radicals