Dictatorships Quotes
Power tends to corrupt, and absolute power corrupts absolutely. Great men are almost always bad men.
Perhaps the most famous quotation in all of Political Science is this one. What is fascinating is that 74 years earlier, Shelly, the most famous of the English Poets expressed the same idea in one of his great poems. See {627920}. The last sentence of this quote is often excluded.
See {585638} for the kind of statement that led people to fear him as a dictator.
Hayek uses this line to explain that fascism may emerge when communism—or belief in its promise—fails, as seen in Stalinist Russia and pre‑Hitler Germany.
The dictator that he thought Russia needed, Stalin, turned on him in 1937 for not agreeing with Stalin enthusiastically enough, had a 1 day trial for treason, and executed the best military man in the country despite the fact that Russia would need its military to fight the German invasion.
English conservatives were so fearful of socialism and communism that they applauded the efforts of even fascist dictators in putting down labor unions or anything that was favored by the left. Even Churchill ignored the anti-democratic and dictatorial behavior of Mussolini, as did many other British conservatives. The very regimes that some of the British aristocracy supported then turned on England and the democratic world and threatened their very existence. Churchill was chastened by the lesson he learned. The quotation also illustrates how political leaders learn and grow from their experiences and actions. Churchill was not prime minister when he sent this communication. For other politicians who made the same error as Churchill see {623198}. {623200} and {623201}.
Many notables of the left and the right supported Mussolini in his early political days. Virtually all of the worst dictators were welcomed by many when they first appeared on the scene. Human nature seems to have us all looking for exceptional leaders and statesmen and that is exactly what the dictator relies upon to acquire power, By the time most recognize the truth, the dictator has control of all the levers of compulsion. Many Americans were fooled just as the Europeans were. For others, see {623202}. {623200} and {623201}.
