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Like a cyclone, imperialism spins across the globe; militarism crushes peoples and sucks their blood like a vampire.
Karl Liebknecht
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Interpretation

What this quote means

The quote illustrates the destructive nature of imperialism and militarism, comparing them to a cyclone and a vampire respectively.

In this quote, Karl Liebknecht uses powerful imagery to convey the violent and exploitative essence of imperialism and militarism. He likens imperialism to a cyclone, suggesting its chaotic and destructive spread across nations, while he compares militarism to a vampire, emphasizing its parasitic nature that drains the life and resources from oppressed peoples. This stark comparison serves to highlight the pervasive and brutal impact of these forces on humanity.

Themes

ImperialismMilitarismViolenceExploitationOppression

In practice

Example use cases

In a speech on social justice, one might quote Liebknecht to emphasize the ongoing struggles against imperialism.

More from Karl Liebknecht

Passive fatalism can never be the role of a revolutionary party, like the Social Democracy.
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The failure of the Russian Socialist Republic will be the defeat of the proletariat of the whole world.
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To the socialist no nation is free whose national existence is based upon the enslavement of another people, for to him colonial peoples, too, are peoples, and, as such, parts of the national state.
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In the present imperialistic milieu there can be no wars of national self-defense.
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Just as invasion is the true and tried weapon in the hands of capital against the class struggle, so on the other hand the fearless pursuit of the class struggle has always proven the most effective preventative of foreign invasions.
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For capitalism, war and peace are business and nothing but business.
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