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From their French masters, [the slaves] had known rape, torture, degradation, and, at the slightest provocation, death. They returned in kind. For two centuries the higher civilization had shown them that power was used for wreaking your will on those whom you controlled. Now that they held power they did as they had been taught.

— C. L. R. James The Black Jacobins (1938)

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More quotes by C. L. R. James

The cruelties of property and privilege are always more ferocious than the revenges of poverty and oppression. For the one aims at perpetuating resented injustice, the other is merely a momentary passion soon appeased.

The Black Jacobins (1938)

Christopher Columbus landed first in the New World at the island of San Salvador, and after praising God enquired urgently for gold.

The Black Jacobins (1938)

Here, on the cricket field if nowhere else, all men in the island are equal, and we are the best men in the island.

Beyond a Boundary (1963)

The rich are only defeated when running for their lives.

The Black Jacobins (1938)

If you are not their slaves, you are rebels.

The Black Jacobins (1938)

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