« In what sense has socialism failed? It is true that the Soviet Union and its satellite countries in Eastern Europe were called "socialists", but they were also called "democratic". Were they socialists? We can discuss what socialism is, but some conceptions are essential, like workers' control over production, the abolition of wage-earning, things like that. Have these concepts been applied in these countries? Not even in thoughts. Again, in the pre-Bolshevik period of the Russian Revolution, there were some socialist initiatives, but they were wiped out after the Bolsheviks took power in just a few months. In fact, democratic changes in Russia were crushed as quickly as the socialist transformations. The seizure of Bolshevik power was a coup d'etat. And that was understood as such at the time. Thus, for the mainstream in the Marxist movement, Lenin's seizure of power was considered counter-revolutionary; for the independent left and people like Bertrand Russel, there was no doubt about it; for the libertarian left, this was immediately a truism. But this truism has been removed from people's heads over the years, in a prolonged attempt to discredit the very idea of socialism by associating it with Soviet totalitarianism `...` This triumph of propaganda has shown great value to Western elites because being able to say "this is socialism, look where it leads" has greatly facilitated the blocking of real changes in our social system. (page 78-79) »

« You see, one of the great illusions of the Americans - one of the pillars of the whole indoctrination system - is to believe that power is government. Government is not power, it is a segment of power. True power lies in the hands of those who own society; state leaders are usually only servants. (page 27) »