Tuesday 15 April 2008

Actually, it didn't

A mantra which was current and much quoted in the twenties and thirties expressed a sincere but, as it turned out, erroneous belief that Communism was not a bad dream but would bring about happiness and prosperity for the world. In 1919 a more widely used word was Bolshevism, and an American journalist named Lincoln Steffens who was on his way out of Russia after having made contact with Bolshevik agents wanted to publicise his admiration for them and their policies. After much thought he perfected a one-line telegram which he hoped would electrify the world.

It read: I have seen the future and it works.

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