Michael Parenti: The peoples of Eastern Europe believed they were going to keep all the social gains they had enjoyed under communism while adding on all the consumerism of the West. Many of their grievances about existing socialism were justified but their romanticized image of the capitalist West was not. They had to learn the hard way. Expecting to advance from Second World to First World status, they have been rammed down into the Third World, ending up like capitalist Indonesia, Mexico, Zaire, and Turkey. They wanted it all and have been left with almost nothing. wordsmith.social/protestation/…

Michael Parenti: Capital requires protection, as do the institutions through which it operates. As capital expands its operations, the state that is associated with its protection must develop its capacity for autocratic control. Thus, the "Free World" increasingly resembles a dreary string of heartless police states. wordsmith.social/protestation/…

Nadezhda Konstantinovna Krupskaya: No, workers cannot expect anything from god or the tsar. It is also a waste of time to expect the capitalists to change their minds and stop exploiting them, just as it would be to wait for wolves to stop eating sheep or for birds to give up catching insects. wordsmith.social/protestation/…

Xi Jinping: Why did the Soviet Union disintegrate? Why did the Communist Party of the Soviet Union fall from power? An important reason was that the struggle in the field of ideology was extremely intense, completely negating the history of the Soviet Union, negating the history of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union, negating Lenin, negating Stalin, creating historical nihilism and confused thinking. Party organs at all levels had lost their functions, the military was no longer under Party leadership. In the end, the Communist Party of the Soviet Union, a great party, was scattered, the Soviet Union, a great socialist country, disintegrated. This is a cautionary tale! wordsmith.social/protestation/…

Che Guevara: Revolution, in history, is like the doctor assisting at the birth of a new life, who will not use forceps unless necessary, but who will use them unhesitatingly every time labor requires them. It’s a labor bringing the hope of a better life to the enslaved and exploited masses. wordsmith.social/protestation/…