“Anthony Howard, then editor of the left-wing New Statesman, once pointed out that if Huey Long had only used left-wing phraseology he would have enjoyed wide support from the New York and London intelligentsia.” CommunismProgressivesRadicals Book:Reflections on a Ravaged Century Source: Reflections on a Ravaged Century
“There was an old bastard named Lenin Who did two or three million men in. That's a lot to have done in But where he did one in That old bastard Stalin did ten in.” BolshevismMass MurderLimericksJoseph StalinVladimir Lenin Author:Robert Conquest
“The Idea of Anti-imperialism is... to be considered on several grounds. First, it is traditionally pervasive in the United States, though given its most extreme form in anti-Western academe. Second, it is used as a negative label for any effort by the United States, or the West, to encourage liberties, to block fanaticisms, and to make aid dependent on positive economic policies. Those concerned with the future development of their countries, and of the world, cannot afford to let obsolete resentments distort their aims.” WorldFirstsIdeasCountryStatesFormUsedGivenUnitedEffortLibertyUnited StatesEconomicPolicyDevelopmentConcernedNegativeAimWestWesternExtremesAidsBlockLabelsDependentResentmentImperialismFanaticismObsoleteEconomic PolicyFuture Development Author:Robert Conquest
“The Soviet assumption that all other political life-forms and beliefs were inherently and immutably hostile was the simple and central cause of that Cold War.” WarFormPoliticalBeliefCausesSimpleColdAssumptionSovietCold WarHostilePolitical Life Author:Robert Conquest
“We still find, especially in parts of academe, the damaging notion that everything is a struggle for power, or being empowered, or hegemony, or oppression: and that all competition is a zero-sum game. This is not more than repetition of Lenin's destructive doctrine. Intellectually, it is reductionism; politically, it is fanaticism.” StillsGamesStruggleCompetitionNotionDoctrineOppressionDestructiveZeroRepetitionEmpoweredFanaticismHegemonyReductionismZero Sum Game Author:Robert Conquest
“The behavior of any bureaucratic organization can best be understood by assuming that it is controlled by a secret cabal of its enemies.” SecretEnemyBehaviorUnderstoodOrganizationAssumingControlledConquestHilariousCabal Author:Robert Conquest
“To congratulate oneself on one's warm commitment to the environment, or to peace, or to the oppressed, and think no more is a profound moral fault.” ThinkingMoralEnvironmentCommitmentFaultsProfoundOneselfWarmOppressedConquest Author:Robert Conquest
“Everyone is a reactionary about subjects he understands.” HistorySubjectsConquestReactionaries Author:Robert Conquest
“You made a point about proof. In this sort of history we do nt have proof... Yet... the incontrovertibility of the evidence can be plain even when it is not documentary or complete.” MadeEvidenceProofDocumentaries Author:Robert Conquest
