Arendt, Hannah -- Origins of Totalitarianism, Part 3, ch. 10 “A Classless Society,” sec. 1 (1951)

Dave — Tue, 28 Apr 2020 21:40:11 +0000

For the propaganda of totalitarian movements which precede and accompany totalitarian regimes is invariably as frank as it is mendacious, and would-be totalitarian rulers usually start their careers by boasting of their past crimes and carefully outlining their future ones. The Nazis were “convinced that evil-doing in our time has a morbid force of attraction,” Bolshevik assurances inside and outside Russia that they do not recognize ordinary moral standards have become a mainstay of Communist propaganda, and experience has proven time and again that the propaganda value of evil deeds and general contempt for moral standards is independent of mere self-interest, supposedly the most powerful psychological factor in politics.

Hannah Arendt (1906–1975) German-American philosopher, political theorist
Origins of Totalitarianism, Part 3, ch. 10 “A Classless Society,” sec. 1 (1951)

Orwell, George -- Essay (1948-06), “‘Such, Such Were the Joys …’,” Partisan Review (1952-09)

Dave — Tue, 12 Aug 2014 12:47:49 +0000

At the time I could not see beyond the moral dilemma that is presented to the weak in a world governed by the strong: Break the rules or perish.

George Orwell (1903–1950) English journalist, essayist, writer [pseud. of Eric Arthur Blair]
Essay (1948-06), “‘Such, Such Were the Joys …’,” Partisan Review (1952-09)

This autobiographical essay was drafted around 1939, revised around 1946, and then completed in May or June of 1948. Collected in Such, Such Were the Joys, essay 8 (1953), though the full, unredacted version was not published until 2000.

WIST Quotations

Arendt, Hannah -- Origins of Totalitarianism, Part 3, ch. 10 “A Classless Society,” sec. 1 (1951)

Orwell, George -- Essay (1948-06), “‘Such, Such Were the Joys …’,” Partisan Review (1952-09)