August Bebel

“We do not wish to abolish the fatherland, as the internationalists of the old school did. We wish to create a larger fatherland that shall embrace all men who are of the same race.”

“Militarism is the most pronounced expression of the class character of the bourgeois state.”

“The State is not the representative of the interests of the whole of society, but only of the interests of the ruling classes.”

“The masses have never thirsted after truth. They turn aside from evidence that is not to their taste, preferring to deify error, if error seduce them.”

“In bourgeois society, woman is a mere instrument of production.”

“What is called patriotism is in most cases a mere mystification, by which the ruling classes seek to attain their own ends.”

“Every great movement, every great historical event, has been prepared by a long and silent evolution.”

“Woman was the first human being that tasted bondage. Woman was a slave before the slave existed.”

“The first demand of a free people is to have the right to vote upon war and peace.”

“The Christian religion is the enemy of liberty and civilization, and the chief pillar of oppression.”

“Antisemitism is the socialism of fools.”

“Whoever can supply them with illusions is easily their master; whoever attempts to destroy their illusions is always their victim.”

“The future belongs to Socialism, that is, in the first place, to the worker and the woman.”

“Only a fool believes that what is spoken in a public place is the same as what is said in private.”