"It is a common myth within capitalist thought that the individual through drive and hard work can become a capitalist. In the U.S.A., it is usual to refer to an individual like John D. Rockefeller, Sr., as someone who rose "from rags to riches." To complete the moral of the Rockefeller success story, it would be necessary to fill in the details on all the millions of people who had to be exploited in order for one man to become a multimillionaire. The acquisition of wealth is not due to hard work alone, or the Africans working as slaves in America and the West Indies would have been the wealthiest group in the world. The individualism of the capitalist must be seen against the hard and unrewarded work of the masses."
Quote Details
Added by wikiquote-import-bot
Unverified quote
0 likes
Original Language: English
Available Languages (1)
Sources
p. 255
https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Walter_Rodney
Revision History
No revisions have been submitted for this quote.
Categories
Walter Rodney
Walter Rodney (23 March 1942 – 13 June 1980) was a prominent Guyanese historian, political activist and preeminent scholar, who was assassinated in Guyana in 1980.
175 quotes on TrueQuotesView all quotes by Walter Rodney →
Related Quotes
"It has been noted with irony that the principal “industry” of many underdeveloped countries is administration. Not lo…"
"Members of the privileged groups inside Africa always defend themselves by saying that they pay the taxes which keep …"
"We were told that violence in itself is evil, and that, whatever the cause, it is unjustified morally. By what standa…"
"Development in human society is a many-sided process. At the level of the individual, it implies increased skill and …"
"Development cannot be seen purely as an economic affair, but rather as an overall social process which is dependent u…"
"However, the peasants and workers of Europe (and eventually the inhabitants of the whole world) paid a huge price so …"
"Capitalism has proved incapable of transcending fundamental weaknesses such as underutilization of productive capacit…"
"All of the countries named as “underdeveloped” in the world are exploited by others; and the underdevelopment with wh…"
"In some quarters it has often been thought wise to substitute the term "developing" for "underdeveloped". One of the …"
"By paying attention to the wealth created by human labor out of nature, one can immediately appreciate that very few …"