"The deeper we trace the political influences in history, the more are we convinced that the "will to power" has up to now been one of the strongest motives in the development of human social forms. The idea that all political and social events are but the result of given economic conditions and can be explained by them cannot endure careful consideration. That economic conditions and the special forms of social production have played a part in the evolution of humanity everyone knows who has been seriously trying to reach the foundations of social phenomena. This fact was well known before Marx set out to explain it in his manner. A whole line of eminent French socialists like Saint–Simon, Considerant, Louis Blanc, Proudhon and many others had pointed to it in their writings, and it is known that Marx reached socialism by the study of these very writings."
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. 1 "The Insufficiency of Economic Materialism"
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."
"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 …"
"This Caesarean madness stops at no barrier. Without compunction it rides roughshod over those achievements of the pas…"
"For the machine, because of the way it is built, can work only in a given direction, no matter who pulls its levers."