Anti War Activists

"Capitalism may hold the working class subjection by the strength of its might and power, but capitalism will never do it with the willing consent and acquiescence of that working class. Always and under all circumstance, will there be found fresh voices, growing not only in volume, but in numbers, raised to protest against this enslavement, and the rigour of the oppression will determine always the vigour of the protest."

"The working-class, generally, is slowly beginning to realise, the true value of solidarity and are gradually becoming aware of the fact that their interests, whether they be railwaymen, dockers, engineers, or miners, are indissolubly wrapped up with one another, and that they stand or fall as a class."

"He attended the Anti-Imperialist Conference at Brussels, having come straight from mass agitation at the docks in various ports. Within a few days after the Brussels Conference comes the news of his death. He thus died in harness, a good comrade, an energetic fighter—living, working and fighting under the banner of the Communist International. He will not be forgotten, nor will his work cease, for it was a part of the struggle of the working class for freedom."

"Written right across every page of human history is the declaration that no people can be free so long as the private ownership of the means of production and distribution endures."

"The tragedy of the War is now to be followed by the greater tragedy of peace. The ostensible plea for the War as a struggle for the freedom of small nations now becomes clear as a War of Imperialism. The War for the so-called democratisation of Germany has now turned into a War for the crushing of the rising working class of Europe."

"Our comrades in Russia are stretching out their arms, beseeching assistance, and this way lies real assistance. They are standing upright in the full dignity and strength of their newly-won freedom, imploring us to rise from our knees and stand erect, side by side with them and shoulder to shoulder—forming the only League of Nations capable of preventing war and ensuring peace: the League of International Working-Class Solidarity, bound and knit together by the bond of comradeship, and not commercial and profit-seeking interest."

"They may crush us, but they will never crush our principles; rather will they by crushing us intensify the determination of those who come after us to follow on in our steps, undaunted and courageous until the dawn of the great day when “All shall be better than well.”"

"The hour is rapidly arriving when every man and woman of our class will have to make a great decision. We shall have to choose whether capitalism with all its attendant miseries and horrors is to remain enthroned here in Britain, or whether we intend to be free indeed. We shall have to choose whether we really believe in the application of the right of self-determination for all nations, or whether, for generations yet to come, we prefer to remain the tools of Imperialism, and the slaves of profit."

"Thus, the doctrines of Hinduism were never reduced to a set of formal creeds and Hindu religion has always been willing to receive new experiences and to incorporate new knowledge."

"The civilizations of the East are very old; their roots stretch back into the past to a time when Europe was still a cockpit of fighting savages."

"If it is, then the sooner they give up the pretence of playing with public affairs and return to private life the better. If they cannot make a job of the House of Commons, let them at least make something of their own houses. If they cannot learn to save men from the destruction which incurable male mischievousness bids fair to bring upon them, let women at least learn to feed them, before they destroy themselves."

"The thought of the Upanishads is bold and free, and their general conclusion is that mystical experience is the pathway to reality."

"I must add that Albertine greatly admired at home a large bronze of Barbedienne."

"Do you want me to tell you how this is going? The guy suffocates, he sinks, he drowns, only his eyes are out of the water and what does he see? A bronze from Barbedienne."

"Because beyond hell, it is in any salon, with bronze of Barbedienne or not, that the suffering is: as soon as other people see clearly in the game of the human being."

"dear Bernard, with his two bronzes of Barbedienne and his wedding crown in orange blossom that stands on the mantelpiece..."

"What is the future? We cannot produce a blueprint, the future alone can evolve that. What we must agree on, rather are the general principles of the society we want to create. The politicians tell us we live in age of technological miracles. But it is up to us to apply them to a new society, to use the new media so as to gain greater mastery over the environment. While people today simply watch televisions a surrogate for the lives they have ceased to live; in the new society they will use it as a means of widening their experience, of mastering the environment and of keeping in touch the real lives of other people. If television programmes they induce the maximum hypnosis in the greatest numbers, they would enable us to extend the real democracy to the entire population."

"On reading Trotsky's History of the Russian Revolution we are struck by a fundamental contradiction: as an honest historian he shows us just how much the Party lagged behind the masses, and as a Bolshevik theorist he must reaffirm that the Party was necessary for the succession of the revolution."

"A spectre is haunting Europe - the spectre of student revolt. All the powers of old Europe have entered into a holy alliance to exorcize this spectre : Pope and Central Committee, Kissinger and de Gaulle, French Communists and German police-spies."

"In her 29-year career in the Army and Army Reserves, Colonel Ann Wright served at the NATO subcommand Allied Forces Central Europe, and later as a diplomat in various posts around the world, but resigned from the U.S. government in protest of George W. Bush’s war on Iraq. She agrees...that NATO is an impediment to peace in Europe."

"I resigned 16 years ago from the Bush W. administration in opposition to Bush’s war on Iraq. Tragically another administration led by the same swamp monsters are propelling the U.S. into an unnecessary and horrific military confrontation with Iran. Trump probably does not know that Iran is a country of 80 million people that has withstood 40 years of sanctions from the U.S. after the Iranian revolution in 1979 and it has a military that has as much battle experience in Syria as the U.S.. Iran is a country that battled a U.S. sponsored war from Iraq from 1980-1988 and Trump probably doesn’t remember that Donald Rumsfeld handed chemical weapons to Saddam to use on Iran. Iran suffered over 1 million deaths from that war. Trump probably does not know that Iran is a large country, definitely not on the small scale of countries that the U.S. normally attacks, invades and occupies....Trump probably does not realize that the country of Cuba that seems to be a massive threat to the U.S. (or to the wealthy, influential Cuban-American exiles in Miami and South Florida) ...has been under the most severe sanctions and blockade the U.S. has put on any country, for almost 60 years... Trump’s advisers, headed by John Bolton, are taking over and orchestrating his policies that have quickly destabilized the world and has jeopardized the security of the United States."

"Americans should challenge policies of our country that are wrong and harm others."

"I think it’s the military industrial complex that needs more weapons sales, and the Russians have always been the bogeyman for the United States from the Cold War period. And even though we had 20 years of peace and tranquility with the Russians, now they are being vilified again. Not to say that it’s–you know, there are some things they’ve done I don’t care for at all. But the fact that now they are the enemy, and the increase in the number of weapons all the countries are manufacturing and selling, is big business."

"“Education? Yes. Health care? Yes. But understand that the health care that we’re talking about, by and large, is going backwards, going backwards. We’re subsidizing the insurance companies. And all the plans that I’ve heard of, except Dennis’s, is a continued subsidization of the insurance companies.”"

""If things are going bad, just remember who put these people in power. What I’m trying to say to you Americans, and that is you have to become empowered. You’re too busy trusting your leaders, thinking they’re going to do the job for you. They’ve proven they cannot do the job, whether it’s war, whether it’s education, whether it’s health care. Please go to nationalinitiative.us and vote to empower yourself. Because that is the only answer. Representative government and our government is broken. It’s in pieces, and the people are the only ones that can do something about it. There’s only two venues for change. One is the government, where the problem lies, and the other is with the American people. And that’s the message of my campaign, is the American people have to step forward and solve the problem. Don’t wait on your leaders, because they’ll never get the job done.”"

"When the industry that profits from health care calls the shots on the way health care is going to be delivered, then you are going to see the anomalous situation that you have in this country where they can’t even deliver it to everybody fairly.""

"“Stop and think. When he’s talking about the money we’re squandering. 21 million Americans could have a four-year college scholarship for the money we’ve squandered in Iraq. 7.6 million teachers could have been hired last year if we weren’t squandering this money. Now, how do you think we got into this problem? The people on this stage, like the rest of us, are all guilty and very guilty, and we should recognize that, because there is linkage!”"

"“The scourge of our present society, particularly in the African-American community, is the war on drugs. I’ll repeat again as a challenge to my colleagues on this stage, that if they really want to do something about the inner cities, if they really want to do something about what’s happening to the health of the African-American community, it’s time to end this war.”"

"The only way you’re going to pay for it is not by saddling business. All you do by forcing business to pay for health care or passing a law telling people they have to go buy insurance, which is a subsidy for the insurance companies, all these plans are going backwards."

"“Is it a surprise to anybody in this room that if you don’t have any money, you don’t get any justice? (Laughter.) Is that a surprise to you all? (Applause.) My gracious, the only way you’re going to get justice is to turn around and empower yourselves to become lawmakers so you can change the system, and there’s no thought of really changing the system today. It’s politics as usual. (Applause.)”"

"Well, I don’t enjoy running for president. I’m running for president because I don’t know of anybody around that’s prepared to end this war. And it should be ended. And the sooner we can pull American troops out, as soon as possible. And it can be done in 120 days, Charlie. And what we can then do is begin an aggressive diplomacy. And that would mean to go to Iran, go to Saudi Arabia, go to Syria. And tell these people, help us restabilize the region that we destabilized, and tell them we made a mistake in doing this. A tragic mistake, and it puts the whole world at risk of a possible nuclear confrontation."

"“First off, what’s wrong with Iran acquiring nuclear devices. Truthfully, look at it. We’ve got ‘em. China’s got ‘em. India’s got ‘em. Anybody’s who’s afraid of us has got them." -- On Iran’s Nuclear Program. Interview."

"“No, we are failing, and it’s our leadership that’s failing, and the American people, if they had the power to make laws in partnership with representative government, they could correct this.""

"“How the hell do you think I was able to stop the draft with a five month filibuster? I’m a good tactician! And here’s how you do it Chris. You know that he’s going to veto it, so you get 2/3rds vote to override his veto!” — Being questioned on the viability of passing anti-war legislation. Interview."

"“What we’ve got to have is a law! A law, not a resolution, a law.. A law that says that if you don’t get out of Iraq, what you’ve got to do is prosecute the President criminally for disobeying the law!” — On how his views on the Iraq War differed from then-candidate Obama’s. Interview."

"“It’s easy to get the troops out. But what are you doing to address the problems, and what are you doing to address the problems you’re leaving behind. I would go to Iran, I would go to Syria, I would go to Saudi Arabia, I would go to Israel, and Russians and Chinese, but primarily the regional group, and say, ‘We screwed up. We screwed up. Help us solve this problem’. So now, that takes a lot of leadership to admit that we’ve made a mistake. And that is one of the primary problems with the legacy of Vietnam: that as a nation, we never admitted the moral wrong.” -- On the comparison between the Iraq War and the Vietnam War. Interview."

"The country is run by corporate America, particularly the military-industrial complex, the medical-industrial complex, and we do nothing about it. Look at this election and it’s all money. Follow the money, and you’ll find out what you’re going to get in the way of leadership"

"“I don’t know why we’re dancing around. The Congress is not getting us out of Iraq.” — On the Iraq War. Interview."

"The military-industrial complex not only controls our government lock, stock and barrel, but they control our culture."

"“Because they are running for office and it’s politics as usual, business as usual. And they don’t want to rock the boat! They don’t want to rock the boat! And so they just dance around the issues and they’ll keep on doing so long as you in the media keep lifting them up. Does that answer your question Chris?” — On being asked why the media does not challenge Democrats on ending the Iraq War. Interview."

"Chris Matthews: “Where have you been for 35 years, sir?” Mike Gravel: “Hiding under a rock for ten years because I was so disgusted.” -- On Gravel's hiatus from politics. Interview."

"“You know what's worse than a soldier dying in vain? It's more soldiers dying in vain.” — On staying in Iraq. Speech."

"“Well, we’re failing our children, and let me give the figure, how bad it is. 30%, one-third of our children, do not graduate from high school, and that’s a good number. I’ve been in parts of the country where it’s 40%. We’re failing? Of course, we’re failing. How can we not fail when we make the No. 1 priority in this country the military-industrial complex? We’re spending more money on our defense than all of the rest of the world put together. There’s no money left to make what should be the No. 1 priority, and that’s education.”"

"“No, outsourcing is not the problem. What is the problem is our trade agreements that we have that benefit the management and, of course, the shareholders, and have neglected on either side of the issue, whether it’s in Mexico or in other countries or the United States. That’s the problem that must be addressed.”"

"“The people must be brought into the operation of government, to make the laws that affect their lives, and thereby become the fourth check in our government’s system of checks and balances.” -- Mike Gravel on the 'National Initiative'. Video."

"“I’m the fellow that ended the draft. I’m the one that stopped the nuclear testing in the north Pacific. I’m the one that brought about the Alaska pipeline. I’m the one that released the Pentagon Papers and had to go to the Supreme Court because Richard Nixon was trying to throw me in jail. That’s what I did 28, 29, 30 years ago. That was leadership then. And I was excoriated by the media at that point. I was a loose cannon. Well, right today, I’ve had the good fortune to live this long, and people look back and say, “My God, were you a courageous leader.” Well, that’s the leadership you’ll get when I become president of the United States. Now, can the American people stand that kind of leadership? That remains to be seen.”Huffpost Debate"

""George Bush communicated over a year ago that we would not leave there until he left office. What, do we not believe him? … How do you get out? You pass a law. Not a resolution, a law, making it a felony to be there." — On Gravel's plan to pull out of Iraq. Speech."

"“But that’s before I had a chance to stand with them a couple of three times. It’s like the Senate. You go there and you say, ‘How the hell did I get here?’ You stay there six months, and you say, ‘How the hell did the rest of them get here?’” — On Gravel's intent to win the Presidency. Speech."

"“Totally. I think it's abominable that they go out and do these raids, separate families. (Applause.) Stop and think -- all these people want to do is earn enough money to feed their families, whether they send them money back home or they bring their families here. If we made it easier for them to go back and forth on the borders, you wouldn't have this problem.”"

"“I'm first-generation American. My parents came here like many of your parents, and I spoke French before I could speak English as a child. And my parents carved out -- my dad was very humble, didn't have a third-grade education, but he was able to work and prosper in this country, and so I honor anybody that comes to this country as an immigrant, because we're all immigrants. There's been nobody else but the Indians in this great land.”"