Economic Equality Quotes
This is a catenation of two separate quotes: (1) “Socialism is the philosophy of failure, the creed of ignorance, and the gospel of envy.” —Perth, Scotland, 28 May 1948, in Churchill, Europe Unite: Speeches 1947 & 1948 (London: Cassell, 1950), 347. (2) ("Equal sharing of miseries"): Spoken in the House of Commons on October 22, 1945: "The inherent vice of capitalism is the unequal sharing of blessings. The inherent virtue of Socialism is the equal sharing of miseries".
Vladimir Lenin. This is a classic Lenninism where he argues that the basic principles of Communism solve all problems. He never explains how the abolition of private property would lead to female freedom and independence. Nor is this point argued by other Marxist advocates. It was an almost knee-jerk opportunistic reaction not unlike modern conservatives for whom lower taxes are the cure for all ills. The fact that married women were considered the private property of their husbands was amenable to much less drastic solutions than the elimination of private property. Indeed, we have simply abolished wives from the property class and left other property private.
Many people had come to the conclusion that capitalism as it then existed was not sufficient to correct some of the serious inequities in society. They saw that socialism tended more to focus on those. However, they also saw in socialism per se, as it was than advocated, many other problems. Steffens seems to be the first person to describe that type of person, in this case, himself.
She improved the economy considerably but was stuck in a socialized economic ideology that inhibited major private sector growth, without which it is impossible to eliminate poverty and with which excessive greed can also produce poverty.
