The People's Stick

"The People's Stick"is apolitical metaphorby 19th-century Russian anarchistMikhail Bakuninused in his 1873 workStatism and Anarchyto critique Marxism and the notion of thedictatorship of the proletariat.The full quote states:

When the people are being beaten with a stick, they are not much happier if it is called "the People's Stick".

The phrase is widely, though incorrectly, attributed toNoam Chomsky.^[1]Other scholars have also noted the phrase as emblematic of the inherent oppressiveness of a state power, even in a nominally socialist government.^[2]

References

^Noam Chomsky (13 December 2013).The Essential Chomsky.New Press. pp. 510–.ISBN 978-1-59558-566-0.
^Lucien Van der Walt; Michael Schmidt (2009).Black Flame: The Revolutionary Class Politics of Anarchism and Syndicalism.AK Press. p. 54.ISBN 978-1-904859-16-1.

[Chomsky2013-1] Noam Chomsky (13 December 2013).The Essential Chomsky.New Press. pp. 510–.ISBN 978-1-59558-566-0.

[WaltSchmidt2009-2] Lucien Van der Walt; Michael Schmidt (2009).Black Flame: The Revolutionary Class Politics of Anarchism and Syndicalism.AK Press. p. 54.ISBN 978-1-904859-16-1.

[1]

[2]

See also

References