The flowers bloomed, the schools of thought contended, and Mao's executioners went to work. The slogan had the same function as the Constitution of the Soviet Union, which Aleksandr Zinoviev tellingly defined as a document published in order to find out who agreed with it, so that they could be dealt with.

— Clive James Cultural Amnesia: Notes in the Margin of My Time (2007)

More quotes by Clive James

North Face of Soho (2006)

Glued to the Box (1983)

Cultural Amnesia: Notes in the Margin of My Time (2007)

North Face of Soho (2006)

Quote text and notes from Wikiquote: Clive James (page history), available under CC BY-SA 4.0. Source quality and labels are our own summary of what Wikiquote records.