political-parties

"The Communist Party is the sworn inveterate enemy of the Socialist and Democratic Parties. When it associates with them, it does so as a preliminary to destroying them. There is an old German aphorism which says: "To cast an enemy out it is first necessary to embrace him." That is what the Communists mean when they ask for co-operation and alliance with the Socialists... The Communist does not look upon a Socialist as an ally in a common cause. He looks upon him as a dupe, as a temporary convenience, and as something to be thrust ruthlessly to one side when he has served his purpose."

"The cadres of our Party and state are ordinary workers and not overlords sitting on the backs of the people. By taking part in collective productive labour, the cadres maintain extensive, constant and close ties with the working people. This is a major measure of fundamental importance for a socialist system; it helps to overcome bureaucracy and to prevent revisionism and dogmatism."

"As a result, dissatisfaction with capitalism never reached the point at which "proletarians of all countries" felt it necessary to unite to throw off their "chains." That became clear during the Cold War, and it did so largely because western leaders disproved Marx's indictment of capitalism as elevating greed above all else. When set against the perversions of Marxism inflicted by Lenin and Stalin on the Soviet Union and by Mao on China—placing a ruling party and an authoritarian state in control of what was supposed to have been an automatic process of historical evolution—the effect was to discredit communism not just on economic grounds, but also because of its failure to bring about political and social justice. Just as a new world war did not come, so the anticipated world revolution did not arrive. The Cold War had produced yet another historical anachronism."

"The Communist rulers then propose to substitute a whole new system of thought and control dictated from Communist Party headquarters. They think that a few theorists and rulers know what is best for everyone, and they are determined to drive everyone toward that kind of world. One small country after another has been swallowed up by international Communism. Their freedom is lost. Their national pride is crushed. Their religion is trampled on. Their economies are mere feeders for that of Russia. And if they attempt to assert their tradition of freedom, their people are shot down by the thousands. Witness: Hungary."

"This party is only a few days old. It became a party only when Putin headed it. And before that, there was an association without ideology, program, and leader."

"United Russia will survive on the condition that there will be a one-party dictatorship in the country, but the presence of at least some powers in Medvedev dooms it to extinction."

"The symbol of the main Russian political party United Russia is a bear! An amazingly accurate symbol. He destroys beehives and bird nests, rides a motorcycle in the circus, dances the mistress, and most importantly, sleeps for half a year and sucks his paw!"

"The symbol of the United Russia party, the bear, was precisely chosen. Especially if you remember the fairy tale "Teremok". <...> And then the bear came and said: "It's me, bear, you're all screwed!" He sat down on the teremok, and it fell apart."

"... a blank concept for a political party of large landowners called "Possessing Together". It included a ten-page Mozartian-inspired manifesto, an instructive address to fellow citizens, theses on working with rural youth, and more. <...> The central ideologeme of the movement, "Family Values", was especially impressive. <...> The main thing is that such a humanistic ideology would look advantageous in the international arena, where no one would understand what kind of family they are discussing. The concept included visual materials. A strong impression <...> was made by a poster where a brutal bearded Chechen, resembling a young Karl Marx, pulled a raking paw-swastika to the chest of his motherland, who held a baby with eyes full of Byzantine sadness. Behind the motherland was a rural-industrial landscape with beet-aluminum connotations. A mustachioed grenadier in a shako with a double-headed eagle stuck a blue-white-red bayonet into the paw of a Chechen. An alarming bloody inscription crossed the poster: "Hands off family values!" There was another version where a bearded Chechen with a red flag covered with green letters and a grenade in his teeth tried to climb a sparkling oil rig, but the searchlight beam, which brave guys in tricolor tights controlled, pulled out his sinister figure from the darkness (<…> it was torn off from one of the famous paintings on the theme of "storming the Reichstag")."

"I think very poorly of United Russia. United Russia is the party of corruption, the party of crooks and thieves. And it is the duty of every patriot and citizen of our country to make sure that this party is destroyed."

"There is nothing illegal in the similarity of the CEC campaign with the election posters of United Russia. Yes, there is a similarity, but following the law, the party that decides to hang billboards coordinates their sketches with a special commission, so there can be no claims against United Russia."

"United Russia reminds me of a worse copy of the CPSU... Yes, we have everything. There is a parliament, courts, the president, the prime minister, and so on...and all this is on the ground. But you know - more imitation. There is no efficient operation."

"United Russia has no ideology, no clear program, but has two goals: to stay in the chair and cling to the main money bag - the budget."

"The reality is that today, only United Russia is probably capable of this work. First of all, due to the branching of its structures and the dominant position in local and regional authorities. It has the necessary organizational, intellectual, and political resources to solve such large-scale tasks and is ready to take responsibility to the country for implementing the plans."

"Speaking about United Russia, it is useful to remember that a critical position is always more convenient, but this party is the backbone of a stable modern political system, with all its pluses and minuses. It is its members who perform a huge amount of routine work. Of course, there are no aliens - everything is not without birth spots, but it is ridiculous to blame only the members of United Russia for this. It is important not to reduce the issues of the country's political structure to the demonization of United Russia and its members, especially since there are very different people there. Criticism is necessary, especially since the understanding of the depravity of the one-party system reigns in society."

"I propose to create what in political practice is called a broad popular front. It is a tool for uniting congenial political forces. I would very much like United Russia, some other political parties, trade unions, women's, youth, and veteran organizations, including veterans of the Great Patriotic War and veterans of the war in Afghanistan, that all people who are united by a common desire to strengthen our country, with the idea of finding the most optimal solutions to the problems we face, could work within a single platform. This form of uniting the efforts of all political forces is used in different countries and by different political forces — left, right, and patriotic — this is a tool for uniting political forces close in spirit. I would like the Party, other parties, and public organizations to see all people united by the desire to improve the country's life. This association can be called the All-Russian People's Front, within which non-partisan candidates could enter the Duma on the list of United Russia."

"We have many bilateral agreements with public organizations. We are already working with them, but we are working in some specific areas. The creation of the front is the next step in the consolidation of United Russia and outside organizations. We would like to involve public organizations in writing the program. We would like as many public associations and organizations as possible to offer their ideas for the further development of our country."

"At the same time, yesterday's congress reminded me of the worst examples of mass meetings of the CPSU; however, then the country was smarter, more powerful, and more independent. At the congress of United Russia, there was neither a serious analysis, program for the near future, interesting decisions, or honest assessment of what is happening in the world and our country. And absolutely no real proposals for the next six years of government - nothing to discuss. There is an attempt to wash off opponents by exposing them in an unfavorable light, which looks immoral."

"This is not a party but a trade union of serfs. Or voting protoplasm. Putin holds them as Ivan the Terrible held guardsmen. <...> United Russia is not needed by anyone except Putin."

"United Russia is the second and worst edition of the CPSU. If it starts criticizing Putin, it will immediately end, because it is nothing without him."

"You could understandably reduce terrorism by improving security and increasing the number of police spies, but it can only finally be reduced by removing the number of just causes. ANC terrorism was pointless after the end of apartheid."

"Like many South Africans, I have been wrestling with what the ANC has become. I had to pay homage to what it once was, and what it once stood for."

"I want to warn young people who lend their ears to radicals and who play around with the music from [ANC headquarters in] Lusaka - they will end up inside the bear's fur coat, but they will no longer be able to live."

"Today the state coffers are empty. Even the ruling party is feeling it. The country has taken out an IMF bailout which is being poured into infrastructure. The president’s advisors are pushing for land reform. One of them, Ruth Hall, was advising Robert Mugabe on how to liquidate his pale kulaks back in 2002. Others, like Thembeka Ngcukaitobi, call for the fulfilment of the genocidal prophecy of Makhanda, and have whites deprived of all land and all moveable and liquid assets. By legislating to outlaw possession of firearms for the specific purpose of self-defence, much like in the West, the South African government now seems to be preparing the ground for this. Except it has no real power to enforce it, or any other general law or policy."

"[ANC] leaders are scapegoating and blaming the Afrikaner minority group for the current economic turmoil, unemployment and poverty. All Afrikaners are presented as land thieves and land is presented as the sole solution to all of South Africa’s socio-economic challenges."

"It has escaped with little comment that the ANC vote in the Western Cape fell yet again in 2019. Yet we all know that for the past several decades there has been an immense inward flow of Africans from the Eastern Cape into the Western Cape – as well as many Africans from the rest of Africa. Simple demography would have led one to expect a steadily increasing ANC vote in such circumstances. In fact the very opposite has happened and the ANC, which once ruled the province, is now down to 28.63%. ... is there anywhere else in South Africa where a heavily increasing African population goes hand in hand with an ANC vote falling at every election while the DA scores around double the ANC total?"

"No one in the ANC is suggesting that whites should be discriminated against in the resolution of the land question."

"We know that disrespect for property rights has a detrimental effect on any country's economy. We have the example of Venezuela as well as Zimbabwe close [by]. … We know that [the international community] will not invest in a country where your property rights are not safe and are not protected. This is why we need to avert [expropriation without compensation, and investors] need to send a strong message to the [ANC] government to rethink their position. Millions of people will be detrimentally affected, even those that don't have property. We see that in Zimbabwe where there is a 90% unemployment rate."

"The people who have now taken power in the name of the ANC are working very hard to destroy the legacy of Mandela, to destroy the constitution that we achieved. And it calls upon us now that to take a stand to say no, but we cannot accept that you destroy our constitutional order."

"Our people are still staying in the same houses that were given to them by apartheid. Our people still stay in the shacks. They came and abandoned you here. They have forgotten about you. They are going to come back next year during elections and say ‘no, you must remember Nelson Mandela, this is the party of Mandela, and we have come a long way with the ANC’. Mandela is no more. He is dead, with his party."

"South Africa is not a poor country. As I have said, our budget this year is R126 billion. [The ANC] also are going to reorganise the budget, restructure the budget in order to avoid the wastage of Apartheid. We will be able to use the country's resources in a more efficient manner, and to prevent the corruption which is so endemic in the National Party government. The gravy trains, where most of the funds of the country have gone [to], have come to an end. We have committed ourselves to leaders trying to lead a style of life similar to those of the community. ... I am going to suggest that my own salary, if I am elected as state president, must be cut. I am doing that unlike the National Party government which has ... attempted to pay large sums to the director generals, when there are 5 million people unemployed, when there are 7 million people without houses. We are not going to live as fat cats. My friends in the National Party can do that, that is what they know."

"Today it feels good to be an African. It feels good that I can stand here as a South African and as a foot soldier of a titanic African army, the African National Congress, to say to all the parties represented here, to the millions who made an input into the processes we are concluding, to our outstanding compatriots who have presided over the birth of our founding document, to the negotiators who pitted their wits one against the other, to the unseen stars who shone unseen as the management and administration of the Constitutional Assembly, the advisers, the experts and the publicists, to the mass communication media, to our friends across the globe -- congratulations and well done!"

"… the strategic task of the ANC is to position the peoples of Africa, and specifically the indigenous South African Africans, as frontline fighters for the creation of a non-racial, democratic, humane and humanist global human society. … the ANC has never identified its principal objective as being accession to positions of political power. Where striving to access such political power became unavoidable because of the 1994 victory of the Democratic Revolution, the ANC has sought to explain that it would use such political power to transform South Africa into the kind of entity we have sought to define. In essence, responding to the racist, colonial domination of the indigenous African majority which characterised politics and governance in South Africa and virtually the entirety of the rest of Africa as it was formed in 1912, the ANC took exactly the opposition view – i.e. that it stood for the freedom of all humanity, black and white, including the colonial oppressors, and much more besides! Established in 1912 as a “Parliament of the Black Oppressed”, pursuing the strategic objective we have just stated, the ANC came to be accepted especially by the indigenous African majority as virtually their only true representative and defender of their interests."

"Over the past few weeks, as the world commemorates Nelson Mandela, an uncomfortable spotlight has been shone on Conservatives who branded the ANC as terrorists in the 1980s."

"To witness the damage a single person can inflict on a country, one can head to South Africa. Following the liberation from apartheid, Nelson Mandela, as president from 1994, created a climate of reconciliation while democratizing the country and liberalizing the economy. Under Mandela and his successor, Thabo Mbeki, inflation was tamed, government debt was halved and the growth rate reached 5 per cent. The outside world thought South Africa could be the next economic miracle. But the leader of the ANC’s left wing, Jacob Zuma, agitated against this ‘neoliberal’ model and gained power in 2009–18 on a programme promising that state control of the economy would create fair distribution. He really did change things – for the worse."

"Zuma jacked up public spending, but for consumption and corruption, not investment. State-owned companies were drained by Zuma and his lackeys, who are suspected of having looted about the equivalent of 20 per cent of GDP. Constant power outages and collapsing infrastructure contributed to growth collapsing and soon becoming negative. After being halved under the predecessors, public debt doubled under Zuma. Extreme poverty had also halved under the previous administration; under Zuma it not only stopped declining but even began to increase. That’s the way it usually goes. Strongmen who complain that growth takes too long to provide results are like the farmer who has no patience with the harvest and quickly makes himself popular by letting everyone gorge on the seed. Fewer seeds means you will have less to eat next season. Sooner or later, you’ll run out of other people’s harvests, as Thatcher would have said."

"The apartheid government was characterised by repression. The current [ANC] government is characterised by predation. This predatory behaviour has become clear by the huge losses the fiscus has suffered by the predation of a few who manipulated the levers of power with impunity and continue to do so. … They have emptied the public purse, now they aim to empty out our private wallets, whether it be by high VAT, high petrol taxes, or the latest scam, land expropriation."

"For most Africans, Gaddafi is a generous man, a humanist, known for his unselfish support for the struggle against the racist regime in South Africa. If he had been an egotist, he wouldn’t have risked the wrath of the West to help the ANC both militarily and financially in the fight against apartheid. This was why Mandela, soon after his release from 27 years in jail, decided to break the UN embargo and travel to Libya on 23 October 1997. Mandela didn’t mince his words when the former US president Bill Clinton said the visit was an ‘unwelcome’ one – ‘No country can claim to be the policeman of the world and no state can dictate to another what it should do’. He added – ‘Those that yesterday were friends of our enemies have the gall today to tell me not to visit my brother Gaddafi, they are advising us to be ungrateful and forget our friends of the past."

"The last decade has seen many of the gains of the early years of democracy reversed through state capture and corruption, a failure of collective leadership, policy uncertainty and a growing distance between the people and their movement and their government. We have had to come to terms with the erosion of the values of the ANC and confront difficult questions about the quality and integrity of our leadership as the ANC."

"The ANC is a national liberation movement committed to the liberation of all the people of South Africa, black and white, from racial fear, hatred and oppression."

"When the ANC says that they will target British companies, this shows what a typical terrorist organisation it is. I fought terrorism all my life and if more people fought it, and we were all more successful, we should not have it and I hope that everyone in this hall will think it is right to go on fighting terrorism. They will if they believe in democracy."

"We are in an election year and it is not advisable for us to subscribe to the lie that the past decade has been a completely wasted one. It was the ANC in charge, and we should not be taking such a message of defeatism to those who have given us their votes, and trust."

"I always voted at my party's call, And I never thought of thinking for myself at all."

"The role of the party is to recognize people’s understanding, to raise it to a higher plain, to support progressive thinking and acts."

"There can be but two great political parties in this country."

"Party is organized opinion."

"You cannot choose between party government and Parliamentary government. I say you can have no Parliamentary government if you have no party government; and therefore when gentlemen denounce party government, they strike at the scheme of government which, in my opinion, has made this country great, and which, I hope, will keep it great."

"Of course, both major parties today seek to serve the national interest. They would do so in order to obtain the broadest base of support, if for no nobler reason. But when party and officeholder differ as to how the national interest is to be served, we must place first the responsibility we owe not to our party or even to our constituents but to our individual consciences."

"If I could not go to heaven but with a party, I would not go there at all."

"A political party—it’s like a sausage grinder; it grinds all the heads up together into one mash, and then it turns them out, link by link, into fatheads and meatheads!"