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The purpose of totalitarian parties, for which Bolshevism provided the model, was not to become the government, but to manipulate the government from behind the scenes.

— Richard Pipes Three “Whys” of the Russian Revolution (1995)

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More quotes by Richard Pipes

Bolshevism and Fascism were heresies of socialism.

Russia Under The Bolshevik Regime (1994)

Lenin wanted power. This may sound self-evident; after all, every politician is assumed to lust for power. But deep down, Lenin’s rivals did not want it.

Three “Whys” of the Russian Revolution (1995)

Moscow’s insistence that ‘fascism’ was the polar opposite of ‘communism’ found wide acceptance in socialist and liberal circles in the West.

Property and Freedom (1999)

Nothing contributed more to the emergence of private property in the West and the rights associated with ownership than the appearance in the late Middle Ages of urban communities.

Property and Freedom (1999)

Fascism issued from the 'Bolshevik' wing of Italian socialism, not from any conservative ideology or movement.

Russia Under The Bolshevik Regime (1995)

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Ill can he rule the great, that cannot reach the small.

Edmund Spenser The Faerie Queene (1589)

The essence of Government is power; and power, lodged as it must be in human hands, will ever be liable to abuse.

James Madison

Bureaucracy and social harmony are inversely proportional to each other.

Leon Trotsky The Revolution Betrayed (1936)

There is danger from all men. The only maxim of a free government ought to be to trust no man living with power to endanger the public liberty.

John Adams

Attribution

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