b: : Perhaps this will help:: : The monstrous evils of the twentieth century have shown us that the greediest money grubbers are gentle doves compared with money-hating wolves like Lenin, Stalin, and Hitler, who in less than three decades killed or maimed nearly a hundred million men, women, and children and brought untold suffering to a large portion of mankind.
: : - Eric Hoffer
L: Ah yes and Eric Hoffer would happen to be what?
b: Eric Hoffer was a self-educated itinerant
worker and later longshoreman. Whenever he
had some time he was in the local library
ready. Definitely not your run of the mill
proprietarian. He had quite a bit to say
about The True Believer in his book of
the same name.
Qx: I've read and do own this book personally and for whatever fine attributes Eric Hoffer had I wouldn't count him in as a propertarian of any sort. He was self-educated and it shows in his writings. Like so many psychologists of his time he was also quite unconscious of politics and only observed the surface arguments. Freud and Jung were hardly political thinkers at all but I do like Viktor Frankl's writings a lot also. Especially in regards to the experiences he indured. As for Hoffer.....he should have written more about the union movement since he was a life-long union member in San Francisco.
I'm quite surprised that nobody has challenged you on you use of Hoffer as a quote to buttress you're arguments. He would most likely hardly agree with you.
Now, about that quote from Hoffer. He wasn't perfect in his political analysis and he should have kept in mind that Hitler had allowed the construction of death camps etc.. to be a largely corporate affair with lots of contract bids going on until the end of the war. I can't agree with the statement that Lenin, Stalin, and Hitler were money-hating wolves. They all understood fully the uses of money and weren't at odds with their consciences when doing such things as selling off crown jewels and raw natural resources.
Lenin and Stalin used money for economic attainment and also for enriching themselves. Of course ,this was done in the name of the people just as Bakhunin had predicted. The American billionaire Armand Hammer had a jovial relationship with Stalin for decades and copmmercial exchange between the USSR and the USA was mainly due to his efforts. But hey...go ahead and believe that spurious remark from Hoffer's book and don't do some researching for yourselves.
None.
