Walter Rodney Quotes

1942–1980

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.

Historians

Random Walter Rodney quote

55 quotes

In the epoch of imperialism, the bankers became the aristocrats of the capitalist world.

How Europe Underdeveloped Africa (1972)

A country’s wealth comes not from taxes but from production.

How Europe Underdeveloped Africa (1972)

For the only great men among the unfree and the oppressed are those who struggle to destroy the oppressor.

How Europe Underdeveloped Africa (1972)

To put it another way, the social (class) relations of capitalism are now outmoded, just as slave and feudal relations became outmoded in their time.

How Europe Underdeveloped Africa (1972)

The first prerequisite for mastery of the environment is knowledge of that environment.

How Europe Underdeveloped Africa (1972)

One South African saying put forward that “the white man has no kin, his kin is money.”

How Europe Underdeveloped Africa (1972)

Communalism is one phase through which all human society passed.

How Europe Underdeveloped Africa (1972)

An army has to be trained, disciplined, and organized so that it is a meaningful unit in peace and in war.

How Europe Underdeveloped Africa (1972)

The only positive development in colonialism was when it ended.

How Europe Underdeveloped Africa (1972)

Scientific advance is most generally a response to real need.

How Europe Underdeveloped Africa (1972)

Colonialism had only one hand—it was a one-armed bandit.

How Europe Underdeveloped Africa (1972)

It is only the organization and resoluteness of the working class which protects it from the natural tendency of the capitalist to exploit to the utmost.

How Europe Underdeveloped Africa (1972)

The abandonment of traditional iron smelting in most parts of Africa is probably the most important instance of technological regression.

How Europe Underdeveloped Africa (1972)

By what standard of morality can the violence used by a slave to break his chains be considered the same as the violence of a slave master?

The Groundings with my Brothers (1969)

Science and technology derive from the effort to understand and control the natural environment. Familiarity with the history of science is essential to an awareness of the development of society.

How Europe Underdeveloped Africa (1972)

Apart from language, the pillar of cultural imperialism in most colonies was religion.

How Europe Underdeveloped Africa (1972)

He who makes the powder wins the war.

How Europe Underdeveloped Africa (1972)

Development cannot be seen purely as an economic affair, but rather as an overall social process which is dependent upon the outcome of man’s efforts to deal with his natural environment.

How Europe Underdeveloped Africa (1972)

Capital seeks domination. It grows and spreads and seeks to get hold of everything in sight. The exploitation of Africa gave European monopoly capital full opportunities to indulge in its tendencies for expansion and domination.

How Europe Underdeveloped Africa (1972)

Europeans were anxious to acquire gold in Africa because there was a pressing need for gold coin within the growing capitalist money economy.

How Europe Underdeveloped Africa (1972)

Attribution

Quotes and notes from Wikiquote: Walter Rodney (page history), available under CC BY-SA 4.0.