SaveTheWest’s “ANTI-CAPITALISM QUOTE QUIZ”

By Jon Sutz, Editor, SaveTheWest.com

Go to the quiz. Or consider this preface:

It’s almost impossible to imagine that an Islamist terrorist like Osama Bin Laden, a Nazi dictator like Adolf Hitler, history’s worst mass-murderer, socialist ruler Mao Tsetung, and a Hollywood celebrity like Michael Moore would have anything in common.

Yet they do have one common attribute: a venomous, all-consuming hatred of capitalism. They and others throughout history and our world, today, blasted one or more of the basic principles of capitalism; namely, the individual’s natural right…

To think, speak and act independently, based on his/her values and ideals

To independently direct and develop his/her own talents and ambitions

To independently create intellectual and material values

To own the values and property (capital) that he/she produces through his/her labor, unless under an employment or partnership contract, into which he/she entered voluntarily

To engage in voluntary value-transactions with others

To freely exercise all these rights, as long as doing so doesn’t interfere with others’ identical rights

Capitalism in action: 11-year-old **Mikaila Ulmer** of Austin, TX, dreamed of, developed and now profits from a new type of lemonade, which she sells through Whole Foods. Read her inspiring story here.

Under capitalism, the government’s functions and powers are limited to acting as referee, to protect these individual rights and property, to peacefully resolve disputes, and enforce contracts and civil laws. And the brief history of capitalism, since its birth in the late 1700s, particularly in America, produced the greatest growth in human prosperity, health and material comfort in world history. Those who led the most successful campaigns to promote and enforce anti-capitalist ideologies, in contrast, produced oceans of human corpses, misery, poverty and oppression.

These basic facts should be common knowledge among anyone who graduates from our high schools. Tragically, not only are these facts not being taught in our schools, or even colleges, the situation is far worse.

Some of the most notable public figures in our world, and from recent history, defined their mission as being to destroy capitalism, by any means necessary — no matter how many people must be hurt or killed.

Can you match 25 unattributed anti-capitalism quotes of the past and present to the people and organizations who uttered them?

Take SaveTheWest’s “Anti-Capitalism Quote Quiz” to find out!

When you’re done, you might also want to check out our essay, Why would anyone be at war with capitalism?, and Additional Reading, for links to articles and reports that further explore this issue.

(1) Anti-Capitalism Quote Quiz

All of the following 25 quotes were uttered by one of the following eleven people, or, in the case of category (J), by US-based revolutionary communist groups (which often overlap with ANTIFA and anarchists):

(A) Michael Moore, socialist filmmaker
(B) Osama bin Laden
(C) Mao Zedong, socialist Chinese ruler
(D) Bill Ayers, domestic terrorist
(F) Russell Brand, British entertainer
(G) Hugo Chavez, socialist leader of Venezuela
(H) Muhajiri Shaam, Al Qaeda-affiliated Islamist terrorist
(I) Gregor Strasser, Nazi ideologist under Hitler
(J) Various US-based revolutionary communist groups
(K) Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, Congressional candidate (D-NY)
(L) Fidel Castro, socialist Cuban ruler

Click the number at the left of each quote to see who said it. (Then, at the end of each answer, click “Back” to return to where you were.)

(1) “I find capitalism repugnant. It is filthy, it is gross, it is alienating, because it causes war, hypocrisy and competition.”

(2) “We can either ditch capitalism and save the planet, or ditch the planet and save capitalism.”

(3) “We are socialists, we are enemies of today’s capitalistic economic system for the exploitation of the economically weak, with its unfair salaries, with its unseemly evaluation of a human being according to wealth and property instead of responsibility and performance, and we are all determined to destroy this system under all conditions.”

(4) “The world is held hostage by major corporations, which are pushing it to the brink. World politics are not governed by reason but by the force and greed of oil thieves and warmongers and the cruel beasts of capitalism. The effects of global warming have touched every continent. Drought and deserts are spreading, while from the other floods and hurricanes unseen before the previous decades have now become frequent. The United States is the thrall of major corporations that are the true criminals against the global climate and are to blame for the global economic crisis, driving tens of millions into poverty and unemployment.”

(5) “I get up every morning and think, ‘Today I’m going to make a difference. Today I’m going to end capitalism. Today I’m going to make a revolution.’ I go to bed every night disappointed, but I’m back to work tomorrow, and that’s the only way you can do it.”

(6) “Capitalism is an evil, and you cannot regulate evil. You have to eliminate it.”

(7) “The world has suffered the oppressive darkness of Western capitalism for long enough. It’s time they get a taste of divine justice.”

(8) “Revolutionary martyrdom is unavoidable because going to war against capitalism, imperialism and settler-colonialism is the condemned duty of all exploited and oppressed people.”

(9) “The path to stop the hegemony of capitalism is to carry out a real radical change that will help you liberate the White House and everyone else from the hegemony of major corporations.”

(10) “The left is back, and it’s the only path we have to get out of the spot to which the right has sunken us. Socialism builds and capitalism destroys.”

(11) “The capitalist system seeks to turn the entire world into a fiefdom of the major corporations under the label of ‘globalization’ in order to protect democracy. And Iraq and Afghanistan and their tragedies; and the reeling of many of you under the burden of interest-related debts, insane taxes and real estate mortgages; global warming and its woes; and the abject poverty and tragic hunger in Africa.”

(12) “Worldwide capitalism, in its relentless drive for profit, inevitably leads to war, fascism, poverty, disease, starvation and environmental destruction. The capitalist class, through its state power — governments, armies, police, schools and culture — maintains a dictatorship over the world’s workers. The capitalist dictatorship supports, and is supported by, the anti-working-class ideologies of racism, sexism, nationalism, individualism and religion.”

(13) “It is thus necessary that the individual should finally come to realize that his own ego is of no importance in comparison with the existence of his nation; that the position of the individual ego is conditioned solely by the interests of the nation as a whole…that above all, the unity of a nation’s spirit and will are worth far more than the freedom of the spirit and will of an individual… we understand only the individual’s capacity to make sacrifices for the community, for his fellow man.”

(14) “The cause of all this disastrous situation is the destructive capitalist system. Capitalism is the road to hell. I would exhort the government and the people of the earth to say that if the destructive nature of capitalism exists, let’s fight against it and make it obey us. If capitalism resists, then we have to give battle against capitalism and open our way to save mankind.”

(15) “The war in Iraq makes millions of dollars for big corporations, either weapons manufacturers or those working in the reconstruction, such as Halliburton and its sister companies. It is crystal clear who benefits from igniting the fire of this war and this bloodshed. They are the merchants of war, the bloodsuckers who run the policy of the world from behind the scenes: President Bush and his ilk, and the media giants.”

(16) “Each activity and each need of the individual will thereby be regulated by the party as the representative of the general good. There will be no license, no free space, in which the individual belongs to himself. This is Socialism—not such trifles as the private possession of the means of production. Of what importance is that if I range men firmly within a discipline they cannot escape? Let them then own land or factories as much as they please. The decisive factor is that the State, through the party, is supreme over them, regardless whether they are owners or workers. All that, you see, is unessential. Our Socialism goes far deeper… [T]he people about us are unaware of what is really happening to them. They gaze fascinated at one or two familiar superficialities, such as possessions and income and rank and other outworn conceptions. As long as these are kept intact, they are quite satisfied. But in the meantime they have entered a new relation; a powerful social force has caught them up. They themselves are changed. What are ownership and income to that? Why need we trouble to socialize banks and factories? We socialize human beings.”

(17) “The weeds of socialism are better than the crops of capitalism.”

(18) “If any one, especially leadership, promises you a frictionless, peaceful transition from capitalism to socialism, they should be shot dead where they stand, right then and there, for they are traitors to the revolution and dangerous peddlers of poison.”

(19) “Capitalism is a destructive development model that is putting an end to life; it threatens to put a definitive end to the human species. Capitalism is the road to hell, to the destruction of the world. I am convinced that the path to a new, better and possible world is not capitalism, the path is socialism.”

(20) “Right now, when we have this no-holds-barred Wild West hypercapitalism, what that means is profit at any cost. Capitalism has not always existed in the world, and it will not always exist in the world. When this country started, we did not operate on a capitalist economy. Ultimately, we are marching towards progress on [destroying capitalism].”

(21) “Like how the capitalists have their own army – the pigs – so too must the masses. Like how the capitalists have their own war, so too must the masses and especially the workers. But instead of the parasitic capitalist state’s army, we want a heroic and selfless People’s Army. And instead of an unjust war against the people, we want a People’s War against the capitalists.”

(22) “As you liberated yourselves before from the slavery of monks, kings, and feudalism, you should liberate yourselves from the deception, shackles and attrition of the capitalist system.”

(23) “These capitalists create their own press and then speak of the ‘freedom of the press.’ In reality, every one of the newspapers has a master, and in every case this master is the capitalist, the owner. This master, not the editor, is the one who directs the policy of the paper. If the editor tries to write other than what suits the master, he is ousted the next day. This press, which is the absolutely submissive and characterless slave of the owners, molds public opinion.”

(24) “The socialist system will eventually replace the capitalist system; this is an objective law independent of man’s will. However much the reactionaries try to hold back the wheel of history, eventually revolution will take place and will inevitably triumph.”

(25) “We must prepare today, yesterday and tomorrow for the prolong confrontation, the protracted war, against the capitalist state. We must carry out military actions against the enemies of the people!”

The answers

(1)(L) Fidel Castro; details on his 60 year run of brutal oppression and murder to enforce his socialist doctrines here. Back.

(2)(F) Russell Brand, British comedian and social activist, October 2014. Back.

(3)(I) Gregor Strasser, Nazi ideologist under Hitler, 1933. Back.

(4)(B) Osama bin Laden, January 2010 (paraphrased, mostly direct quotes though). Back.

(5)(D) Bill Ayers, American terrorist, April 2012. Back.

(6)(A) Michael Moore, socialist multi-millionaire filmmaker, September 2009. Back.

(7)(H) Muhajiri Shaam, Dutch jihadist and member of the al-Qaeda-affiliated group Jahbat-al Nusra, September 2014. Back.

(8)(J) Red Guards – Los Angeles, a US-based Maoist-Stalinist violent communist revolutionary group, in its manifesto (archived here). Back.

(9)(B) Osama bin Laden, September 2011. Back.

(10)(G) Hugo Chavez, 2009. His socialist revolution in Venezuela – which was morally supported by numerous Hollywood celebrities – transformed his South American nation from one of the wealthiest in the Western hemisphere to one of the poorest. Back.

(11)(B) Osama bin Laden, 2007. Back.

(12)(J) Revolutionary Communist Progressive Labor Party (US) manifesto (sidebar; screencap). Back.

(13)(E) Adolf Hitler, speaking in Buckeburg on Oct. 7, 1933. Hitler’s national socialism resulted in the deaths of an estimated 11 million civilian noncombatants. When soldiers are added in, the total deaths caused by aggression from all Axis powers rises to an estimated 60 million. Back.

(14)(G) Hugo Chavez, December 2009. His socialist revolution in Venezuela – which was morally supported by numerous Hollywood celebrities – transformed his South American nation from one of the wealthiest in the Western hemisphere to one of the poorest. Back.

(15)(B) Osama bin Laden, April 15, 2004. Back.

(16)(E) Adolf Hitler, 1933, to Hermann Rauschning. Hitler’s national socialism resulted in the deaths of an estimated 11 million civilian noncombatants. When soldiers are added in, the total deaths caused by aggression from all Axis powers rises to an estimated 60 million. Back.

(17)(C) Mao Zedong. The worst mass murderer in history, Mao killed an estimated 65 million people under his socialist revolution. Back.

(18)(J) Red Guards – Los Angeles, a US-based Maoist-Stalinist violent communist revolutionary group, in its manifesto (archived here). Back.

(19)(G) Hugo Chavez, speech in Copenhagen, Denmark, 2009. His socialist revolution in Venezuela – which was morally supported by numerous Hollywood celebrities – transformed his South American nation from one of the wealthiest in the Western hemisphere to one of the poorest. Back.

(20)(K) Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, Congressional candidate (D-NY), 2018. Back.

(21)(J) Red Guards – Los Angeles, a US-based Maoist-Stalinist violent communist revolutionary group, in its manifesto (archived here). Back.

(22)(B) Osama bin Laden, 2007. Back.

(23)(E) Adolf Hitler, in 1940 speech to Rheinmetall-Borsig Works in December 1940. Hitler’s national socialism resulted in the deaths of an estimated 11 million civilian noncombatants. When soldiers are added in, the total deaths caused by aggression from all Axis powers rises to an estimated 60 million. Back.

(24)(C) Mao Zedong, 1957. The worst mass murderer in history, Mao killed an estimated 45 to 65 million people under his socialist revolution. Back.

(25)(J) Red Guards – Los Angeles, a US-based Maoist-Stalinist violent communist revolutionary group, in its manifesto (archived here). Back.

(2) Why would anyone be at war with capitalism?

Members from the Occupy Wall Street movement carry signs and banners as they march down Broadway during a May Day demonstration in New York, May 1, 2012. (Photo: Reuters)

The advent of capitalism in Western Europe and North America in the mid-1700s produced the most dramatic advancement in history of human progress, living standards, individual wealth, and opportunity to pursue one’s happiness and fulfillment, in an ever-expanding range of occupations.

For thousands of years, human life consisted of stagnation, poverty and short lifespans, of misery and toil, in which societies were organized around one or a small group of people who were born into absolute power, or acquired it through violent conquest. Capitalism, in contrast, and the political-legal principles necessary to support it — democratic elections, a free press and evidence-based courts — enabled people to self-govern both their own lives, and the governments that they created.

While not perfect or all-inclusive at its birth (black people, women and other minority groups were initially left out), eventually the freedom principles that gave birth to capitalism were extended to all people where capitalism prevailed. As the former slave Frederick Douglass said:

And for the first time in history, people of any race, ethnicity, gender, religion or sexual orientation could arrive on the shore of a capitalist country, with nothing but the clothes on their backs, and with hard work, thrift and determination, become whatever they wished. Innumerable stories 1, 2, 3) document these successes, of people who went from literally zero, to wealthy, within a few years or decades, through their own, individual exercise of the freedoms and rights that undergird capitalist societies.

Here, for example, is a terrific four-minute video that depicts this unprecedented advancements in human progress since the advent of capitalism:

Measured in other terms, below is the skyrocketing rate of gross domestic product (the total value of goods and services produced, aka GDP) per-person, in the U.S., Europe and the non-capitalist world, before and after the birth of capitalism (source: American Enterprise Institute). Contrary to popular myth, this wealth and rising standard of living are because of capitalism — not the forced redistribution of confiscated wealth, through the welfare state:

Chart courtesy of the American Enterprise Institute.

Communists, socialists, fascists, anarchists and Islamists (Muslim supremacists), on the other hand, all practice forms of statism or tribalism, in which one’s values, decisions, status and possessions (or lack thereof) are all dictated by either (a) the collective, or (b) a tiny elite, to which the collective is subservient. Each ideology is at war with the individualist principles that are the heart of capitalism.

In the 20th century alone, the anti-capitalists who pursued the socialist ideal (communism) murdered an estimated 100 million people in the 20th century alone. Add in the anti-capitalist fascists, Islamists, tribal warlords and other repressive regimes, and the death toll skyrockets to more than 260 million.

And yet, today, capitalism is dying, because Western societies have allowed anti-capitalists to almost completely take over our educational, news and entertainment industries. Consider:

“The Communist Manifesto” is the most-assigned “economics” textbook in U.S. colleges, assigned more than twice as frequently as any other economics book.

83% of U.S. college graduates and 68% of elected officials cannot identify the functional differences between the free market and a command economy.

44% of American Millennials say they’d rather live under socialism than under capitalism (42%).

58% of American Millennials say they would rather live under either communism, socialism or fascism, than under capitalism.

45% of 16-20-year-olds say they would vote for a socialist for elective office, while 21% say they would vote for a communist.

64% of Americans overall (across political parties) now agree with Marx’s core doctrine, “From each according to his ability, to each according to his needs.”

38% of American adults think the First Amendment “goes too far” in protecting freedom of expression.

The vast majority of these people are rejecting capitalism — and the key components of the U.S. Constitution that champion its underlying principles — not because they know what capitalism actually is, or means, or has given them. Rather, they arrived at this stance because:

(1) They have been exposed to nonstop lies and egregious distortions about capitalism, by the same people and organizations who whitewash and glorify opposing ideologies, while making no mention of, or denying the savage violence, mass murder, intimidation, racism and oppression that those systems require to survive. This is one of the reasons why anti-capitalist ideologues insist on having absolute control over their nations’ educational systems, as they have said over and over again.

(2) Those who know the reality of capitalism (and opposing ideologies) have either not been effective in countering this system of indoctrination, have sought to compromise with it, or have chosen to not engaged in the ideological warfare necessary to correct the record.

See detailed research data that supports these assertions at this special report:

“America At The Precipice” by Jon Sutz