"If, in the present chaotic and shameful struggle for existence, when organized society offers a premium on greed, cruelty, and deceit, men can be found who stand aloof and almost alone in their determination to work for good rather than gold, who suffer want and persecution rather than desert principle, who can bravely walk to the scaffold for the good they can do humanity, what may we expect from men when freed from the grinding necessity of selling the better part of themselves for bread? The terrible conditions under which labor is performed, the awful alternative if one does not prostitute talent and morals in the service of mammon; and the power acquired with the wealth obtained by ever so unjust means, combined to make the conception of free and voluntary labor almost an impossible one. And yet, there are examples of this principle even now. In a well bred family each person has certain duties, which are performed cheerfully, and are not measured out and paid for according to some pre-determined standard; when the united members sit down to the well-filled table, the stronger do not scramble to get the most, while the weakest do without, or gather greedily around them more food than they can possibly consume. Each patiently and politely awaits his turn to be served, and leaves what he does not want; he is certain that when again hungry plenty of good food will be provided. This principle can be extended to include all society, when people are civilized enough to wish it."
Quote Details
Added by wikiquote-import-bot
Unverified quote
0 likes
Anarcho-communistsAnarcha-feministsSocialist feministsAfrican American communistsAfrican American anarchists
Original Language: English
Available Languages (1)
Sources
Imported from EN Wikiquote
https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Lucy_Parsons
Revision History
No revisions have been submitted for this quote.
Categories
Lucy Parsons
Lucy Eldine Gonzalez Parsons (1851 – 7 March 1942) was a radical American labor organizer, anarchist, and orator. She was born in Virginia, likely as a slave, to parents of Native American, Black American and Mexican ancestry. She often went by the name of Lucy Gonzalez.
43 quotes on TrueQuotesView all quotes by Lucy Parsons →
Related Quotes
"Let every dirty, lousy tramp arm himself with a revolver or a knife, and lay in wait on the steps of the palaces of t…"
"Never since the days of the Spartan Helots has history recorded such brutality as has been ever since the war and as …"
"Women are stripped to the skin in the presence of leering, white-skinned, black-hearted brutes and lashed into insens…"
"What has ever been granted to the countless millions of workers of Earth without a fight? Czar Nicholas has discovere…"
"The trusts will not allow you to vote them out of power because they are the power, as is shown by the interview give…"
"Remind them that the sword still hangs upon the wall and the heart still beats within the man, and that that sword wi…"
"Never be deceived that the rich will allow you to vote away their wealth."
"Oh, working man! Oh, starved, outraged, and robbed laborer, how long will you lend attentive ear to the authors of yo…"
"Who, pray, are benefiting by all this waste and confusion? The dew, a mere small percentage of the population of the …"
"In the 1880's socialist and labor organizer Lucy Gonzales Parsons was actively organizing women workers in Chicago. H…"