--- title: "Meaning & Key Takeaway of: As liberals, men like Richter viewed…" description: "\"As liberals, men like Richter viewed socialism as the great modern counter-revolution, and believed that the achievement of the socialist goal would le..." image: "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/3c9/ralph-raico-39769_absolutism_as-liberals-men-like-richter-viewed-soci_255848.png" --- # As liberals, men like Richter viewed socialism as the… ![“As liberals, men like Richter viewed socialism as the great modern counter-revolution, and believed that the achievement of the socialist goal would lead both to appalling poverty and state absolutism. There was nothing in the socialist doctrine of the time that would suggest otherwise.” quote by Ralph Raico](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/3c9/ralph-raico-39769_absolutism_as-liberals-men-like-richter-viewed-soci_255848.png) [Download](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/3c9/ralph-raico-39769_absolutism_as-liberals-men-like-richter-viewed-soci_255848.png) [Open image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/3c9/ralph-raico-39769_absolutism_as-liberals-men-like-richter-viewed-soci_255848.png) > “As liberals, men like Richter viewed socialism as the great modern counter-revolution, and believed that the achievement of the socialist goal would lead both to appalling poverty and state absolutism. There was nothing in the socialist doctrine of the time that would suggest otherwise.” [Ralph Raico](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ralph-raico/) ## About This Quote This interpretation was drafted with AI assistance. It is one reading of the quote, not the author's own explanation. The author warns that socialism, seen as a modern counter‑revolution, could bring severe poverty and authoritarian rule. **In simple terms:** Socialism may lead to poverty and tyranny. Key Takeaway Beware of extreme political promises. Themes politics economics ideology history risk Mood cautious critical Type analytical historical When to use this quote - policy debates - academic courses - activist planning - public discourse Key Concepts totalitarianism economic failure class struggle Questions to Reflect On - What evidence supports or refutes this view? - How do modern socialist movements address these concerns? A Different Perspective The quote reflects a specific historical perspective and may not apply universally. ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ No ratings yet [Absolutism](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/absolutism/) [Achievement](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/achievement/) [Doctrine](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/doctrine/) [Economics](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/economics/) [Goal](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/goal/) [Goals](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/goals/) [Men](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/men/) [Philosophy](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/philosophy/) [Political](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/political/) [Poverty](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/poverty/) [Revolution](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/revolution/) [Socialism](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/socialism/) [Socialist](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/socialist/) ## Related quotes > [Nothing in socialist doctrine argues for the abuse of power, from Thomas More, to Karl Marx, to Chavez, to Ocasio-Cortez. Historically, however, it has…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/charlie-kirk/nothing-in-socialist-doctrine-argues-for-the-abuse-of-power-from/) [Charlie Kirk](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/charlie-kirk/) > [“Don’t telegraph your goals; infiltrate the Democratic Party and other liberal institutions and subvert them; treat moral principles as dispensable fictions; and never forget…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/david-horowitz/don-t-telegraph-your-goals-infiltrate-the-democratic-party-and-other/) [David Horowitz](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/david-horowitz/) > [Everyone's goals are the same with very small differences. I mean, the goal of a socialist and the goal of a libertarian are exactly…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/penn-jillette/everyone-s-goals-are-the-same-with-very-small-differences-i-mean-the/) [Penn Jillette](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/penn-jillette/) > [“Margaret Thatcher: ‘Socialism is great—but eventually you run out of other people’s money.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/douglas-e-richards/margaret-thatcher-socialism-is-great-but-eventually-you-run-out-of/) [Douglas E. Richards](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/douglas-e-richards/) > [That democratic socialism, the great utopia of the last few generations, is not only unachievable, but that to strive for it produces something so…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/friedrich-august-von-hayek/that-democratic-socialism-the-great-utopia-of-the-last-few/) [Friedrich August von Hayek](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/friedrich-august-von-hayek/) > [Socialism has been a great tragedy this century.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/robert-heilbroner/socialism-has-been-a-great-tragedy-this-century/) [Robert Heilbroner](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/robert-heilbroner/) > [“Socialism is great—but eventually you run out of other people’s money.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anonymous/socialism-is-great-but-eventually-you-run-out-of-other-people-s-money/) [Anonymous](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anonymous/) > [“We humans, through old habits, and because of the inherent structure of human knowledge have a tendency to make static, definite, and, in a…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/alfred-korzybski/we-humans-through-old-habits-and-because-of-the-inherent-structure-of/) [Alfred Korzybski](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/alfred-korzybski/) > [“George Bush made a mistake when he referred to the Saddam Hussein regime as 'evil.' Every liberal and leftist knows how to titter at…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/christopher-hitchens/george-bush-made-a-mistake-when-he-referred-to-the-saddam-hussein/) [Christopher Hitchens](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/christopher-hitchens/) > [The absolutist trumpets his plain vision; the relativist sees only someone who is unaware of his own spectacles.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/simon-blackburn/the-absolutist-trumpets-his-plain-vision-the-relativist-sees-only/) [Simon Blackburn](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/simon-blackburn/) > [Absolutism is a guarantee of objectionable morals in the same way that absolutism in government is a guarantee of objectionable government.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/robert-briffault/absolutism-is-a-guarantee-of-objectionable-morals-in-the-same-way/) [Robert Briffault](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/robert-briffault/) > [As Camille Paglia's success has demonstrated, what is most marketable is absolutism and attitude undiluted by thought.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/wendy-kaminer/as-camille-paglia-s-success-has-demonstrated-what-is-most-marketable/) [Wendy Kaminer](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/wendy-kaminer/) > [Peace cannot be built on exclusivism, absolutism, and intolerance. But neither can it be built on vague liberal slogans and pious programs gestated in…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/thomas-merton/peace-cannot-be-built-on-exclusivism-absolutism-and-intolerance-but/) [Thomas Merton](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/thomas-merton/) > [In the light of absolute values (religious or ethical) man himself is judged to be limited or imperfect, while he can occasionally accomplish acts…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/t-e-hulme/in-the-light-of-absolute-values-religious-or-ethical-man-himself-is/) [T. E. Hulme](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/t-e-hulme/) > [Those who claim absolutism is merely a myth are right that it has been misused simply as a byword for political centralisation.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/peter-wilson/those-who-claim-absolutism-is-merely-a-myth-are-right-that-it-has/) Peter Wilson ## More by Ralph Raico > [The nation as such is not a large subject that has needs, that works, practices economy, and consumes. . . . Thus the phenomena…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ralph-raico/the-nation-as-such-is-not-a-large-subject-that-has-needs-that-works/) [Ralph Raico](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ralph-raico/) > [Winston Churchill was a man of blood and a politico without principle, whose apotheosis serves to corrupt every standard of honesty and morality in…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ralph-raico/winston-churchill-was-a-man-of-blood-and-a-politico-without-principle/) [Ralph Raico](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ralph-raico/) > [The current disfavor into which socialism has fallen has spurred… the frenzy to proclaim oneself a liberal. Many writers today have recourse to the…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ralph-raico/the-current-disfavor-into-which-socialism-has-fallen-has-spurred-the/) [Ralph Raico](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ralph-raico/) > [Keynes, far from being a wholehearted lover of freedom, viewed with some sympathy the fascist and Communist ‘experiments’ of the 1930s.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ralph-raico/keynes-far-from-being-a-wholehearted-lover-of-freedom-viewed-with/) [Ralph Raico](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ralph-raico/) > [Tariffs, government contracts, naval and military spending, nationalized industries, tax policy, social welfare, the legal privileging of labor unions were among the means at…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ralph-raico/tariffs-government-contracts-naval-and-military-spending-nationalized/) [Ralph Raico](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ralph-raico/) > [With virtually no knowledge of or interest in history, the masses simply take their unprecedented high living standards under capitalism for granted.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ralph-raico/with-virtually-no-knowledge-of-or-interest-in-history-the-masses/) [Ralph Raico](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ralph-raico/) > [The chief value of the rule lies in preventing an immediate and obvious but inferior good from replacing a longer-range, less obvious but superior…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ralph-raico/the-chief-value-of-the-rule-lies-in-preventing-an-immediate-and/) [Ralph Raico](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ralph-raico/) > [Protectionism, socialism, all varieties of state favoritism and restrictions on competition, and the growth of bureaucracy and jobbery were the means by which special…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ralph-raico/protectionism-socialism-all-varieties-of-state-favoritism-and/) [Ralph Raico](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ralph-raico/) > [Liberalism is, in fact, the ideology of the capitalist revolution that prodigiously raised the living standards of the mass of people; a doctrine gradually…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ralph-raico/liberalism-is-in-fact-the-ideology-of-the-capitalist-revolution-that/) [Ralph Raico](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ralph-raico/) > [ What is the free market? Well, the free market, \[we're told\] is really a terrible, inhuman kind of arrangement, because it treats people like… ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ralph-raico/what-is-the-free-market-well-the-free-market-we-re-told-is-really-a/) [Ralph Raico](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ralph-raico/) [Explore all 11 Ralph Raico quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ralph-raico/) ## More Absolutism quotes > [Those who claim absolutism is merely a myth are right that it has been misused simply as a byword for political centralisation.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/peter-wilson/those-who-claim-absolutism-is-merely-a-myth-are-right-that-it-has/) Peter Wilson > [In the light of absolute values (religious or ethical) man himself is judged to be limited or imperfect, while he can occasionally accomplish acts…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/t-e-hulme/in-the-light-of-absolute-values-religious-or-ethical-man-himself-is/) [T. E. Hulme](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/t-e-hulme/) > [Peace cannot be built on exclusivism, absolutism, and intolerance. But neither can it be built on vague liberal slogans and pious programs gestated in…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/thomas-merton/peace-cannot-be-built-on-exclusivism-absolutism-and-intolerance-but/) [Thomas Merton](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/thomas-merton/) > [As Camille Paglia's success has demonstrated, what is most marketable is absolutism and attitude undiluted by thought.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/wendy-kaminer/as-camille-paglia-s-success-has-demonstrated-what-is-most-marketable/) [Wendy Kaminer](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/wendy-kaminer/) > [Absolutism is a guarantee of objectionable morals in the same way that absolutism in government is a guarantee of objectionable government.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/robert-briffault/absolutism-is-a-guarantee-of-objectionable-morals-in-the-same-way/) [Robert Briffault](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/robert-briffault/) > [The absolutist trumpets his plain vision; the relativist sees only someone who is unaware of his own spectacles.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/simon-blackburn/the-absolutist-trumpets-his-plain-vision-the-relativist-sees-only/) [Simon Blackburn](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/simon-blackburn/) > [“George Bush made a mistake when he referred to the Saddam Hussein regime as 'evil.' Every liberal and leftist knows how to titter at…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/christopher-hitchens/george-bush-made-a-mistake-when-he-referred-to-the-saddam-hussein/) [Christopher Hitchens](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/christopher-hitchens/) > [“We humans, through old habits, and because of the inherent structure of human knowledge have a tendency to make static, definite, and, in a…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/alfred-korzybski/we-humans-through-old-habits-and-because-of-the-inherent-structure-of/) [Alfred Korzybski](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/alfred-korzybski/) > [The absolutist takes himself to speak to the ages, with the tongue of angels, but the relativist hears only one version among others, the…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/simon-blackburn/the-absolutist-takes-himself-to-speak-to-the-ages-with-the-tongue-of/) [Simon Blackburn](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/simon-blackburn/) > [The saving principles and doctrines of the Church are established, fixed, and unchangeable.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/james-e-faust/the-saving-principles-and-doctrines-of-the-church-are-established/) [James E. Faust](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/james-e-faust/) > [Does it seem to you impossible to imagine anything more inextricable than the social contract, when you think of the frightful number of relations…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/pierre-joseph-proudhon/does-it-seem-to-you-impossible-to-imagine-anything-more-inextricable/) [Pierre-Joseph Proudhon](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/pierre-joseph-proudhon/) > [Moral relativism says morality is relative, not absolute, I want to show moral relativism, in its popular form, is logically incoherent.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/peter-kreeft/moral-relativism-says-morality-is-relative-not-absolute-i-want-to/) [Peter Kreeft](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/peter-kreeft/) > [The uniting of Orthodoxy with state absolutism came about on the soil of a non-belief in the Divineness of the earth, in the earthly…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/nikolai-berdyaev/the-uniting-of-orthodoxy-with-state-absolutism-came-about-on-the-soil/) [Nikolai Berdyaev](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/nikolai-berdyaev/) > [“The science of absolutism or liberation (Vitaraag Vignan) begins upon the attainment of samkit (the right belief that 'I am pure Soul').”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/dada-bhagwan/the-science-of-absolutism-or-liberation-vitaraag-vignan-begins-upon/) [Dada Bhagwan](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/dada-bhagwan/) > [“In an absolutism, the autocrat is visible and tangible. The real despotism of republican institutions is far deeper, more insidious, because it rests on…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/alexander-berkman/in-an-absolutism-the-autocrat-is-visible-and-tangible-the-real/) [Alexander Berkman](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/alexander-berkman/) [Browse all 84 Absolutism quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/absolutism/) ```json { "@context": "https://schema.org", "@graph": [ { "@type": "Quotation", "text": "As liberals, men like Richter viewed socialism as the great modern counter-revolution, and believed that the achievement of the socialist goal would lead both to appalling poverty and state absolutism. 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