Lucy Parsons Quotes & Sayings

Never be deceived that the rich will allow you to vote away their wealth. — Lucy Parsons

So many able writers have shown that the unjust institutions which work so much misery and suffering to the masses have their root in governments, and owe their whole existence to the power derived from government we cannot help but believe that were every law, every title deed, every court, and every police officer or soldier abolished tomorrow with one sweep, we would be better off than now. — Lucy Parsons

Let every dirty, lousy tramp arm himself with a revolver or a knife, and lay in wait on the steps of the palaces of the rich and stab or shoot the owners as they come out. Let us kill them without mercy, and let it be a war of extermination. — Lucy Parsons

We must devastate the avenues where the wealthy live — Lucy Parsons

Concentrated power can be always wielded in the interest of the few and at the expense of the many. Government in its last analysis is this power reduced to a science. Governments never lead; they follow progress. When the prison, stake or scaffold can no longer silence the voice of the protesting minority, progress moves on a step, but not until then. — Lucy Parsons

Can you not see that it is the INDUSTRIAL SYSTEM and not the boss which must be changed?. — Lucy Parsons

Anarchism has but one infallible, unchangeable motto, "Freedom." Freedom to discover any truth, freedom to develop, to live naturally and fully." - Lucy Parsons — Lucy Parsons

The coming change can only come through a revolution, because the possessing class will not allow a peaceful change to take place; still we are willing to work for peace at any price, except at the price of liberty. — Lucy Parsons

Strike not for a few cents more an hour, because the price of living will be raised faster still, but strike for all you earn, be content with nothing less. — Lucy Parsons

If, in the present chaotic and shameful struggle for existence, when organized society offers a premium on greed, cruelty, and deceit, men can be found who stand aloof and almost alone in their determination to work for good rather than gold — Lucy Parsons

Anarchists know that a long period of education must precede any great fundamental change in society, hence they do not believe in vote begging, nor political campaigns, but rather in the development of self-thinking individuals. — Lucy Parsons