"Political rights do not exist because they have been legally set down on a piece of paper, but only when they have become the ingrown habit of a people, and when any attempt to impair them will meet with the violent resistance of the populace. Where this is not the case, there is no help in any parliamentary Opposition or any Platonic appeals to the constitution. One compels respect from others when he knows how to defend his dignity as a human being. This is not only true in private life, it has always been the same in political life as well. The peoples owe all the political rights and privileges which we enjoy today in greater or lesser measure, not to the good will of their governments, but to their own strength."
Quote Details
Added by wikiquote-import-bot
Unverified quote
0 likes
Social activistsImmigrants to the United StatesSocial anarchistsHistorians from GermanyNon-fiction authors from Germany
Original Language: English
Available Languages (1)
Sources
Ch. 5 "The Methods of Anarcho-Syndicalism"
https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Rudolf_Rocker
Revision History
No revisions have been submitted for this quote.
Categories
Rudolf Rocker
Rudolf Rocker (25 March 1873 – 19 September 1958) was an anarcho-syndicalist anarchist, writer, historian and prominent social activist. He was the partner of Milly Witkop.
40 quotes on TrueQuotesView all quotes by Rudolf Rocker →
Related Quotes
"For two decades the supporters of Bolshevism have been hammering it into the masses that dictatorship is a vital nece…"
"I am an Anarchist not because I believe Anarchism is the final goal, but because there is no such thing as a final goal."
"The deeper we trace the political influences in history, the more are we convinced that the "will to power" has up to…"
"Every process which arises from our physical being and is related to it, is an event which lies outside of our voliti…"
"However fully man may recognise cosmic laws he will never be able to change them, because they are not his work. But …"
"No thinking man in this day can fail to recognise that one cannot properly evaluate an historical period without cons…"
"The will to power which always emanates from individuals or from small minorities in society is in fact a most import…"
"The view which sees in every capitalist only a profit machine may very well meet the demands of propaganda, but it is…"
"Because of his social position there are left no limits to the power lust of the modern capitalist. He can interfere …"
"For the machine, because of the way it is built, can work only in a given direction, no matter who pulls its levers."