John McDonnell Quotes

If the government or the parties won't address our needs, we will. It's about direct action, even civil disobedience.

We did not have a revolution in order to have a democracy.

America is at that awkward stage. It's too late to work within the system, but too early to shoot the bastards.

The people in power will not disappear voluntarily, giving flowers to the cops just isn't going to work. This thinking is fostered by the establishment; they like nothing better than love and nonviolence.

Words are capable of shaking the entire structure of government

Change comes when people are willing to commit acts of peaceful civil disobedience.

I am not a politician. I am just a simple person who has come to break down this system.

I'll fight with all my strength for change in this country.

The lyrics stand today (1980). They're still my feeling about politics. I want to see the plan. I want to know what you're going to do after you've knocked it all down. I mean, can't we use some of it? What's the point of bombing Wall Street? If you want to change the system, change the system. It's no good shooting people.

Change from below, the formulation of demands from the populace to end unacceptable injustice, supported by direct action, has played a far larger part in shaping British democracy than most constitutional lawyers, political commentators, historians or statesmen have ever cared to admit. Direct action in a democratic society is fundamentally an educational exercise.

Protest beyond the law is not a departure from democracy; it is absolutely essential to it. It is a corrective to the sluggishness of "the proper channels," a way of breaking through passages blocked by tradition and prejudice. It is disruptive and troublesome, but it is a necessary disruption, a healthy troublesome.

One does not necessarily have to wait for a revolutionary situation: it can be created.

I think direct political action, civil disobedience, in particular, is something to be taken very seriously.

Revolution is not a one time event.

If you compromise in any kind of movement or any kind of wave of revolution, if you sort of play the game, things are gonna change far more slowly than you need them to.

For me, 'revolution' simply means radical change.

I'm an anarchist and I do think things such as Occupy Wall Street are about getting a little closer to the solution.

The Arab Awakening or Arab Spring has transformed the geopolitical landscape.

A reform is a correction of abuses; a revolution is a transfer of power.

Those who profess to favor freedom, and yet depreciate agitation, are men who want crops without plowing up the ground.

You can't change the world without a certain amount of healthy willingness to break the rules.

Progressive change in this country has never come from above.

History dictates that unresponsive governments force ordinary people to do extraordinary things.

Organize! Educate! Agitate!

Only force would produce social change.