Political Quotes

Harold J. Laski: “Cromwellian England, Revolutionary France, Communist Russia, Fascist Italy, each of these, of set purpose, made an end…”

On the record
Cromwellian England, Revolutionary France, Communist Russia, Fascist Italy, each of these, of set purpose, made an end of the pretence that freedom was a justifiable object of desire.
Said by
Harold J. Laski

Editor's note · Context

Laski critiques historical examples of regimes that suppressed freedom under the guise of social organization.

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The essence of the persecuting position is always that the persecutor has hold of truth and that he would betray its service by allowing it to be questioned.

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We grant toleration in one part of the field only to deny it in another.

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To deny novelty or grievance a right of expression is a certain, if, indeed, an ultimate, validation of the truth they contain.

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Ultimately, that denial is always made upon the same ground: it is insisted that the doctrines or practices attacked are subversive of the civil order.

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