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What is a communist? One who hath yearnings
For equal division of unequal earnings:
Idler, or bungler, or both, he is willing
To fork out his penny and pocket your shilling.

— Ebenezer Elliott Epigram (1850)

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Notes from Wikiquote

Author's note: "And he has two names, Legion and Danger"

Topics

Communism

More quotes by Ebenezer Elliott

Come they from Scythian wilds afar,
Our blood to spill?

Yet walk with me where hawthorns hide
The wonders of the lane.

Almighty Father! let thy lowly child,
Strong in his love of truth, be wisely bold,—
A patriot bard, by sycophants reviled,
Let him live usefully, and not die old!

Donought would have everything;
Eat the lark, and use its wing;
Sip the sweet, and be the sting:
Donought is the only King.

Things of to-day?
Deeds which are harvest for Eternity!

All Ebenezer Elliott quotes →

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For the state to wither away completely, complete communism is necessary.

Vladimir Lenin The State and Revolution (1917)

I dislike Communism because it is undemocratic, and capitalism because it favors exploitation.

Bertrand Russell Unarmed Victory (1963)

Communism is the doctrine of the conditions of the liberation of the proletariat.

Friedrich Engels Principles of Communism (1847)

Communism has sometimes succeeded as a scavenger, but never as a leader. It has never come to power in a country that was not disrupted by war or corruption, or both.

John F. Kennedy

Attribution

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