--- title: "Meaning & Key Takeaway of: Marxism in this country had even been an…" description: "\"“Marxism in this country had even been an eccentric and quixotic passion. One oppressed class after another had seemed finally to miss the point. The h..." image: "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/fbf/joan-didion-497_the-women-s-movement_marxism-in-this-country-had-even-been-an_2058759.jpg" --- # Marxism in this country had even been an eccentric and… ![“Marxism in this country had even been an eccentric and quixotic passion. One oppressed class after another had seemed finally to miss the point. The have-nots, it turned out, aspired mainly to having. The minorities seemed to promise more, but finally disappointed: it developed that they actually…” quote by Joan Didion](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/fbf/joan-didion-497_the-women-s-movement_marxism-in-this-country-had-even-been-an_2058759.jpg) [Download](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/fbf/joan-didion-497_the-women-s-movement_marxism-in-this-country-had-even-been-an_2058759.jpg) [Open image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/fbf/joan-didion-497_the-women-s-movement_marxism-in-this-country-had-even-been-an_2058759.jpg) > ““Marxism in this country had even been an eccentric and quixotic passion. One oppressed class after another had seemed finally to miss the point. The have-nots, it turned out, aspired mainly to having. The minorities seemed to promise more, but finally disappointed: it developed that they actually cared about the issues, that they tended to see the integration of the luncheonette and the seat in the front of the bus as real goals, and only rarely as ploys, counters in a larger game. They resisted that essential inductive leap from the immediate reform to the social ideal, and, just as disappointingly, they failed to perceive their common cause with other minorities, continued to exhibit a self-interest disconcerting in the extreme to organizers steeped in the rhetoric of "brotherhood." And then, at that exact dispirited moment when there seemed no one at all willing to play the proletariat, along came the women's movement.”” [Joan Didion](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/joan-didion/) ## About This Quote This interpretation was drafted with AI assistance. It is one reading of the quote, not the author's own explanation. A critique of fragmented activism where marginalized groups focus on immediate, tangible goals rather than broader systemic change, highlighting missed solidarity. **In simple terms:** Activists often miss larger goals, focusing on small wins. Key Takeaway Seek broader solidarity beyond immediate reforms. Themes activism solidarity politics class minorities movement Mood critical reflective analytical Type political social historical When to use this quote - community organizing - political campaigning - intersectional advocacy - grassroots movements - building alliances Key Concepts systemic change intersectionality political strategy Questions to Reflect On - What unites diverse groups for common cause? - How to balance immediate needs with long‑term goals? A Different Perspective Overemphasis on small victories can dilute larger aims. ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ No ratings yet [Marxism](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/marxism/) [Marxism Country](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/marxism-country-3916420/) [Oppressed](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/oppressed/) [Oppressed Class](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/oppressed-class-1458138/) [Passion Oppressed](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/passion-oppressed-3916421/) ## Related quotes > [These interests of the workers, as the exploited and oppressed, class of society, are the same in all countries.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/clara-zetkin/these-interests-of-the-workers-as-the-exploited-and-oppressed-class/) [Clara Zetkin](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/clara-zetkin/) > [The morality of a society is not judged by the behaviour of an oppressed class but by the rules and laws made by the…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/asma-jahangir/the-morality-of-a-society-is-not-judged-by-the-behaviour-of-an/) [Asma Jahangir](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/asma-jahangir/) > [As I've said many times, the single most oppressed class in America right now is the teenager.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/joe-bob-briggs/as-i-ve-said-many-times-the-single-most-oppressed-class-in-america/) [Joe Bob Briggs](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/joe-bob-briggs/) > [It was heady stuff, recognizing ourselves as an oppressed class, but the level of discussion was poor. We explained systemic discrimination, and men looked…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anonymous/it-was-heady-stuff-recognizing-ourselves-as-an-oppressed-class-but/) [Anonymous](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anonymous/) > [“The 'Manifesto' being our joint production, I consider myself bound to state that the fundamental proposition which forms its nucleus belongs to Marx .…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/friedrich-engels/the-manifesto-being-our-joint-production-i-consider-myself-bound-to/) [Friedrich Engels](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/friedrich-engels/) > [“Each step in the development of the bourgeoisie was accompanied by a corresponding political advance in that class. An oppressed class under the sway…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/karl-marx/each-step-in-the-development-of-the-bourgeoisie-was-accompanied-by-a/) [Karl Marx](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/karl-marx/) > [Traditionally Marxism attracts the oppressed. This, however, is not the case in the Arab nation... The socialist programs in Arab history did not always…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/saddam-hussein/traditionally-marxism-attracts-the-oppressed-this-however-is-not-the/) [Saddam Hussein](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/saddam-hussein/) > [To make an omelette, you need not only those broken eggs but someone 'oppressed' to beat them: every revolutionist is presumed to understand that,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/joan-didion/to-make-an-omelette-you-need-not-only-those-broken-eggs-but-someone/) [Joan Didion](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/joan-didion/) > [“Britta wanted to try to turn a guard. Tamara thought it was idiotic. “What are you going to do? Buy him beer and tell…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/vanessa-veselka/britta-wanted-to-try-to-turn-a-guard-tamara-thought-it-was-idiotic/) [Vanessa Veselka](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/vanessa-veselka/) > [The forces of immorality and Marxism and evil count on one thing: Us not showing up. And often, they're justified in that. And I…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/matt-shea/the-forces-of-immorality-and-marxism-and-evil-count-on-one-thing-us/) [Matt Shea](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/matt-shea/) > [Sea Shepherd is to terrorism what Groucho was to Marxism.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/paul-watson/sea-shepherd-is-to-terrorism-what-groucho-was-to-marxism/) [Paul Watson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/paul-watson/) > [Marxism is like a classical building that followed the Renaissance; beautiful in its way, but incapable of growth.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/harold-macmillan/marxism-is-like-a-classical-building-that-followed-the-renaissance/) [Harold MacMillan](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/harold-macmillan/) > [Even if we have to go without bread, we Albanians do not violate principles. We do not betray Marxism - Leninism.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/enver-hoxha/even-if-we-have-to-go-without-bread-we-albanians-do-not-violate/) [Enver Hoxha](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/enver-hoxha/) > [The dialectic is neither fiction nor mysticism, but a science of the forms of our thinking insofar as it is not limited to the…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/leon-trotsky/the-dialectic-is-neither-fiction-nor-mysticism-but-a-science-of-the/) [Leon Trotsky](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/leon-trotsky/) > [“I should say that it was only for me that Marxism seemed over. Surely, I would tell G. at least once a week, it…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/katha-pollitt/i-should-say-that-it-was-only-for-me-that-marxism-seemed-over-surely/) [Katha Pollitt](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/katha-pollitt/) ## More by Joan Didion > [To shift the structure of a sentence alters the meaning of that sentence, as definitely and inflexibly as the position of a camera alters…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/joan-didion/to-shift-the-structure-of-a-sentence-alters-the-meaning-of-that/) [Joan Didion](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/joan-didion/) > [I work every day. Sometimes I don't accomplish anything every day, but if I don't work every day, I get depressed and get afraid…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/joan-didion/i-work-every-day-sometimes-i-don-t-accomplish-anything-every-day-but/) [Joan Didion](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/joan-didion/) > [Style is character.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/joan-didion/style-is-character/) [Joan Didion](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/joan-didion/) > [California is a place in which a boom mentality and a sense of Chekhovian loss meet in uneasy suspension.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/joan-didion/california-is-a-place-in-which-a-boom-mentality-and-a-sense-of/) [Joan Didion](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/joan-didion/) > [“I went because I was interested in the alchemy of issues.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/joan-didion/i-went-because-i-was-interested-in-the-alchemy-of-issues/) [Joan Didion](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/joan-didion/) > [“Why did I write it down? In order to remember, of course, but exactly what was it I wanted to remember? How much of…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/joan-didion/why-did-i-write-it-down-in-order-to-remember-of-course-but-exactly/) [Joan Didion](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/joan-didion/) > [I no longer want reminders of what was, what got broken, what got lost, what got wasted.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/joan-didion/i-no-longer-want-reminders-of-what-was-what-got-broken-what-got-lost/) [Joan Didion](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/joan-didion/) > [My mother 'gave teas' the way other mothers breathed. Her own mother 'gave teas.' All of their friends 'gave teas,' each involving butter cookies…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/joan-didion/my-mother-gave-teas-the-way-other-mothers-breathed-her-own-mother/) [Joan Didion](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/joan-didion/) > [I'm not very interested in people. I recognize it in myself - there is a basic indifference toward people.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/joan-didion/i-m-not-very-interested-in-people-i-recognize-it-in-myself-there-is-a/) [Joan Didion](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/joan-didion/) > [“Was there ever in anyone's life span a point free in time, devoid of memory, a point when choice was any more than sum…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/joan-didion/was-there-ever-in-anyone-s-life-span-a-point-free-in-time-devoid-of/) [Joan Didion](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/joan-didion/) > [“Research to date has shown that, like many other stressors, grief frequently leads to changes in the endocrine, immune, autonomic nervous, and cardiovascular systems;…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/joan-didion/research-to-date-has-shown-that-like-many-other-stressors-grief/) [Joan Didion](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/joan-didion/) > [“By the end of the week she was thinking constantly about where her body stopped and the air began about the exact point in…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/joan-didion/by-the-end-of-the-week-she-was-thinking-constantly-about-where-her/) [Joan Didion](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/joan-didion/) > [“I just can't see the upside in this," I heard myself say by way of explanation. Later he said that if John had been…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/joan-didion/i-just-can-t-see-the-upside-in-this-i-heard-myself-say-by-way-of/) [Joan Didion](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/joan-didion/) > [ I read so ravenously that I would read through whole categories. I was crazy about reading biographies. \[...\] I think biographies are very urgent… ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/joan-didion/i-read-so-ravenously-that-i-would-read-through-whole-categories-i-was/) [Joan Didion](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/joan-didion/) > [To those of us who remained committed mainly to the exploration of moral distinctions and ambiguities, the feminist analysis may have seemed a particularly…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/joan-didion/to-those-of-us-who-remained-committed-mainly-to-the-exploration-of/) [Joan Didion](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/joan-didion/) [Explore all 515 Joan Didion quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/joan-didion/) ## More Marxism quotes > [“I should say that it was only for me that Marxism seemed over. Surely, I would tell G. at least once a week, it…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/katha-pollitt/i-should-say-that-it-was-only-for-me-that-marxism-seemed-over-surely/) [Katha Pollitt](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/katha-pollitt/) > [The dialectic is neither fiction nor mysticism, but a science of the forms of our thinking insofar as it is not limited to the…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/leon-trotsky/the-dialectic-is-neither-fiction-nor-mysticism-but-a-science-of-the/) [Leon Trotsky](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/leon-trotsky/) > [Even if we have to go without bread, we Albanians do not violate principles. We do not betray Marxism - Leninism.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/enver-hoxha/even-if-we-have-to-go-without-bread-we-albanians-do-not-violate/) [Enver Hoxha](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/enver-hoxha/) > [Marxism is like a classical building that followed the Renaissance; beautiful in its way, but incapable of growth.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/harold-macmillan/marxism-is-like-a-classical-building-that-followed-the-renaissance/) [Harold MacMillan](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/harold-macmillan/) > [Sea Shepherd is to terrorism what Groucho was to Marxism.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/paul-watson/sea-shepherd-is-to-terrorism-what-groucho-was-to-marxism/) [Paul Watson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/paul-watson/) > [The forces of immorality and Marxism and evil count on one thing: Us not showing up. And often, they're justified in that. And I…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/matt-shea/the-forces-of-immorality-and-marxism-and-evil-count-on-one-thing-us/) [Matt Shea](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/matt-shea/) > [“Britta wanted to try to turn a guard. Tamara thought it was idiotic. “What are you going to do? Buy him beer and tell…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/vanessa-veselka/britta-wanted-to-try-to-turn-a-guard-tamara-thought-it-was-idiotic/) [Vanessa Veselka](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/vanessa-veselka/) > [Liberalism makes this mistake in regard to private property and Marxism makes it in regard to socialized property... The Marxist illusion is partly derived…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/reinhold-niebuhr/liberalism-makes-this-mistake-in-regard-to-private-property-and/) [Reinhold Niebuhr](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/reinhold-niebuhr/) > [One of the great problems of philosophy, is the relationship between the realm of knowledge and the realm of values. Knowledge is what is;…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jacques-monod/one-of-the-great-problems-of-philosophy-is-the-relationship-between/) [Jacques Monod](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jacques-monod/) > [Marxism is the opium of the Marxists.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/joan-robinson/marxism-is-the-opium-of-the-marxists/) [Joan Robinson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/joan-robinson/) > [“Marxism rejected the family and the state, but in practice it kept these institutions. Every pure religion disapproved of man's worrying about this world,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/alija-izetbegovic/marxism-rejected-the-family-and-the-state-but-in-practice-it-kept/) [Alija Izetbegović](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/alija-izetbegovic/) > [If people don't like Marxism, they should blame the British Museum.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/mikhail-gorbachev/if-people-don-t-like-marxism-they-should-blame-the-british-museum/) [Mikhail Gorbachev](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/mikhail-gorbachev/) > [“The trouble with Marxism is that it takes up too many evenings.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/oscar-wilde/the-trouble-with-marxism-is-that-it-takes-up-too-many-evenings/) [Oscar Wilde](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/oscar-wilde/) > [ \[Marxism will\] in a generation or so \[go\] into the limbo of most heresies, but meanwhile it will have poisoned the Russian Revolution. ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/gilbert-k-chesterton/marxism-will-in-a-generation-or-so-go-into-the-limbo-of-most-heresies/) [Gilbert K. Chesterton](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/gilbert-k-chesterton/) > [“Time is the ultimate form of socialism. Each receives the same amount equally, yet how we manage our time is reflected by our lives.…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/donald-mol/time-is-the-ultimate-form-of-socialism-each-receives-the-same-amount/) [Donald Mol](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/donald-mol/) [Browse all 366 Marxism quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/marxism/) ```json { "@context": "https://schema.org", "@graph": [ { "@type": "Quotation", "text": "“Marxism in this country had even been an eccentric and quixotic passion. One oppressed class after another had seemed finally to miss the point. The have-nots, it turned out, aspired mainly to having. The minorities seemed to promise more, but finally disappointed: it developed that they actually cared about the issues, that they tended to see the integration of the luncheonette and the seat in the front of the bus as real goals, and only rarely as ploys, counters in a larger game. They resisted that essential inductive leap from the immediate reform to the social ideal, and, just as disappointingly, they failed to perceive their common cause with other minorities, continued to exhibit a self-interest disconcerting in the extreme to organizers steeped in the rhetoric of \"brotherhood.\" And then, at that exact dispirited moment when there seemed no one at all willing to play the proletariat, along came the women's movement.”", "creator": { "@type": "Person", "name": "Joan Didion" }, "isPartOf": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#website" }, "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/joan-didion/marxism-in-this-country-had-even-been-an-eccentric-and-quixotic/", "about": { "@type": "Thing", "name": "Marxism" }, "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/joan-didion/marxism-in-this-country-had-even-been-an-eccentric-and-quixotic/#quotation", "image": { "@type": "ImageObject", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/fbf/joan-didion-497_the-women-s-movement_marxism-in-this-country-had-even-been-an_2058759.jpg", "contentUrl": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/fbf/joan-didion-497_the-women-s-movement_marxism-in-this-country-had-even-been-an_2058759.jpg", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/fbf/joan-didion-497_the-women-s-movement_marxism-in-this-country-had-even-been-an_2058759.jpg", "width": 1080, "height": 1080, "caption": "“Marxism in this country had even been an eccentric and quixotic passion. 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