C. L. R. James Quotes
The rich are only defeated when running for their lives.
James, C. L. R. The Black Jacobins: Toussaint L'Ouverture and the San Domingo Revolution. New York: Vintage Books, 1963, p. 114.
The United States money was then on the Gold Standard. The country was growing and needed more money in circulation. But most of the gold that might be available was in England and English bankers could control much of the U. S. economy. The Populists and the Democrats wanted us to use silver to back U. S. money as there was plenty of silver in the United States. The Republicans would not relent and depression was upon the country. A half century later, it would be Republican President Richard M. Nixon, who took the United States off the gold standard. Lease was far ahead of her time.
In most modern societies there is a combination of merit appointments and repayment of the rich. In the United States, wealthy people are often appointed as Ambassadors to countries of which they know little and often do not even speak the language. Assistant secretaries of cabinet level positions also often are awarded to the wealthy campaign contributors. Occasionally, these wealthy people have talent and do a good job. On most occasions where a person is appointed as the direct or indirect result of wealth, the person is mediocre or poor.
This famous charity political dinner is annually attended by the very wealthy. While the Republican party at this time had the wealthy as one of its constituents, it had been considered politically tactful not to make public statements about the party and the wealthy. Bush was not very tactful and the quotation was widely circulated to middle class and poor citizens who resented Bush’s point of view and his wording using “haves” and “have-mores” Others appreciated the humor.
Cyril Lionel Robert James, who sometimes wrote under the pen-name J. R. Johnson, was a Trinidadian historian, journalist and Marxist. His works are influential in various theoretical, social, and historiographical contexts. His work is a staple of Marxism, and he figures as a pioneering and influential voice in postcolonial literature. A tireless political activist, James is the author of the 1937 work World Revolution outlining the history of the Communist International, which stirred debate in Trotskyist circles, and in 1938 he wrote on the Haitian Revolution, The Black Jacobins.
