George Pelecanos Quotes

If work were such a splendid thing the rich would have kept more of it for themselves.

Labor is, on the one hand, more and more furnished by a class; Property or Capital, on the other, held and controlled by another class. Here you have workers without property—the proletariat. There you have property without work—or capital…. The workers without property are excluded from their products, from the riches they create—which accumulate in the hands of the property holders, capitalists and large land-owners.

It would be well for those interested to reflect whether there now exists, or ever has existed, a wealthy and civilized community in which one portion did not live on the labor of another.... Remember that labor is the only source of wealth, and how small a portion of it, in all old and civilized countries, even the best governed, is left to those by whose labor wealth is created.

There is and always has been in an advanced stage of wealth and civilization, a conflict between labor and capital.

Capitalism is the legitimate racket of the ruling class.

If work was a good thing, the rich would have it all and not let you do it.

With the coming of peace, the workers are no longer needed as soldiers; they are no longer comrades, defenders of the fatherland, heroes. Once more they become beasts of burden, objects of exploitation.

This trial is a fight between capital and labor, of which this is but a manifestation up here in the woods.

The American system is the most ingenious system of control in world history. With a country so rich in natural resources, talent, and labor power, the system can afford to distribute just enough wealth to just enough people to limit discontent to a troublesome minority.

The contest will be between the capitalists and operatives; for into these two classes it must ultimately divide society.

Since Mill, in 1848, wrote his chapter on the future of the working classes, the question of the distribution of wealth has be-come of still greater importance. We cannot look round on the political phenomena of to-day without seeing that this question is at the root of them. We see the perplexity in which men stand, and the divisions springing up in our great political parties, because of the uncertainty of politicians how to grapple with it.

The will of the capitalist is certainly to take as much as possible. What we have to do is not to talk about his will, but to enquire about his power, the limits of that power, and the character of those limits.

The rich don't have to kill to eat. They employ people, as they call it. The rich don't do evil themselves. They pay. People do all they can to please them, and everybody's happy.

Labor is one of the processes by which A acquires property for B.

This is the problem for which revolutionary theory has yet to find the right solution, if there is one. The difficulty is that the economic interests of the two classes are antagonistic.

Laissez Faire was very good sauce for the goose, labor, but was very poor sauce for the gander, capital.

Freedom in capitalist society always remains about the same as it was in ancient Greek republics: Freedom for slave owners.

Racism, in the first place, is a weapon used by the wealthy to increase the profits they bring in by paying Black workers less for their work.

Capitalism and democracy are the opposite of each other. Capitalism is a system that guarantees that a few are going to do very well, and everybody else is going to serve the few. Democracy means everybody has a seat at the table. Everybody.

While there's capitalism, there'll be socialism, because there is always a response to injustice.

Property is theft.

It is impossible for capitalists and laborers to have common interests.

A doctrine of class war seemed to provide a solution to the problem of poverty to people who know nothing about how wealth is created.

If capital and labor ever do get together it's good night for the rest of us.

The trouble with the profit system has always been that it was highly unprofitable to most people.