Raymond Williams Quotes

Democracy and socialism are means to an end, not the end itself.

Socialism is... not only a way of life, but a certain scientific approach to social and economic problems.

I think democratic socialism will ultimately prevail in this country because it makes an enormous amount of sense.

In all societies that have applied a form of socialism, a certain degree of social economic equality has been achieved.

If we are going to achieve a real equality, the U.S. will have to adopt a modified form of Socialism.

I am convinced Socialism is the only answer.

His [Marx's] most explosive and indeed most original contribution to the cause of revolution was that he interpreted the compelling needs of mass poverty in political terms as an uprising, not for the sake of bread or wealth, but for the sake of freedom as well.

My whole thing is I don't take from Castro being an intelligent man as long as he is doing the thing that needs to be done. But the thing is at the end of the day you're not bettering the island. You're only making it worse. So, for me it's just making sure that people have the right to speak their minds and have an opportunity in life to better their life.

We have not yet built a communist society.It is not so easy to build such a society.

I'm not a communist, a socialist or a radical. But these issues have to be addressed.

Socialism needs to pull down wealth; liberalism seeks to raise up poverty. Socialism would destroy private interests, Liberalism would preserve [them] ... by reconciling them with public right. Socialism would kill enterprise; Liberalism would rescue enterprise from the trammels of privilege and preference. Socialism assails the preeminence of the individual; Liberalism seeks ... to build up a minimum standard for the mass. Socialism exalts the rule; Liberalism exalts the man. Socialism attacks capitalism; Liberalism attacks monopoly.

Socialism is not a science, a sociology in miniature: it is a cry of pain.

I am convinced there is only one way to eliminate these grave evils, namely through the establishment of a socialist economy, accompanied by an educational system which would be oriented toward social goals.

Socialism is young and has made errors. Many times revolutionaries lack the knowledge and intellectual courage needed to meet the task of developing the new man with methods different from the conventional ones - and the conventional methods suffer from the influences of the society, which created them.

Conservatism defends those coercive arrangements which a still-lingering savageness makes requisite. Radicalism endeavours to realize a state more in harmony with the character of the ideal man.

I think this is a moment of a lot of possibilities, and openings. Occupy and the 99% movement are really going to break through, and we are going to create a new economy, an economy that we need that works for everyone. Where everyone works, everyone counts and everyone contributes.

Progressivism is usually seen as a stepping back from individualism into a progressive community...

[Martin Luther King] King was a socialist and King was an activist who was really a radical by the end.

I personally think that people should get the book because it is like a blueprint. It shows you the work that needs to be done if we're ever going to get economic equality, health, reproductive health, violence. I mean, it's every category.

As far as Bernie Sanders is concerned, he is a decent, honest person, and I supported him. What he means by socialism is New Deal Liberalism. In fact, his actual policies would not have been a great surprise to General Eisenhower. The fact that this is called a "political revolution" is a sign of how far to the right the political spectrum has shifted, mainly in the last 30 years since the neoliberal programs began to be instituted. What he was calling for was a restoration of something like New Deal Liberalism, which is a very good thing.

We are called upon to help the discouraged beggars in life's marketplace. But one day we must come to see that an edifice which produces beggars needs restructuring.

To claim for socialism that it is a class war is to do it an injustice and indefinitely postpone its triumph. Socialism offers a platform broad enough for all to stand upon. It makes war upon a system, not upon a class.

For you will never be what you ought to be until they [your fellow humans] are what they ought to be.

As [Martin Luther] King said, it never cost anybody a dime to integrate the lunch counters. When you start talking about trying to deal with jobs and hunger and things that require investment, then that's really the tough stuff, because everybody wants to do right if it doesn't cost them anything.

I am for Socialism because I am for humanity.