Martin Luther King Jr. ~ A True and Visionary Radical
January15,1929 - April 4,1968
As we celebrate #Martin-Luther-King-Jr-Day, let’s look at some of the things he said that challenged #capitalism and are left out of most history books.
“I imagine you already know that I am much more #socialistic in my economic theory than capitalistic… Capitalism started out with a noble and high motive… but like most human systems it fell victim to the very thing it was revolting against. So today capitalism has out-lived its usefulness.”
Letter to Coretta Scott, July 18, 1952.
“In a sense, you could say we’re involved in the #class-struggle.”
-Quote to New York Times reporter, Jose Igelsias, 1968.
“And one day we must ask the question, ‘Why are there forty million poor people in America? And when you begin to ask that question, you are raising questions about the #economic-system, about a broader distribution of wealth.’ When you ask that question, you begin to question the capitalistic economy. And I’m simply saying that more and more, we’ve got to begin to ask questions about the whole #society…”
-Speech to Southern Christian Leadership Conference Atlanta, Georgia, August 16, 1967.
“Capitalism forgets that #life-is-social. And the kingdom of brotherhood is found neither in the thesis of communism nor the antithesis of capitalism, but in a higher synthesis.”
-Speech to Southern Christian Leadership Conference Atlanta, Georgia, August 16, 1967.
“Call it #democracy, or call it #democratic-socialism, but there must be a better distribution of wealth within this country for all God’s children.”
Speech to the Negro American Labor Council, 1961.
“We must recognize that we can’t solve our problem now until there is a radical #redistribution of #economic and #political #power… this means a #revolution of #values and other things. We must see now that the evils of #racism, economic #exploitation and #militarism are all tied together… you can’t really get rid of one without getting rid of the others… the whole structure of American life must be changed. America is a #hypocritical nation and we must put our own house in order.”
Report to SCLC Staff, May 1967.
“The evils of #capitalism are as real as the evils of #militarism and evils of #racism.”
-Speech to SCLC Board, March 30, 1967.
“I am now convinced that the simplest approach will prove to be the most effective - the solution to poverty is to abolish it directly by a now widely discussed matter: the #guaranteed #income… The curse of poverty has no justification in our age. It is socially as cruel and blind as the practice of cannibalism at the dawn of civilization, when men ate each other because they had not yet learned to take food from the soil or to consume the abundant animal life around them. The time has come for us to civilize ourselves by the total, direct and immediate #abolition-of-poverty.”
Where do We Go from Here?,1967.
“You can’t talk about solving the economic problem of the Negro without talking about billions of dollars. You can’t talk about ending the slums without first saying #profit must be taken out of slums. You’re really tampering and getting on dangerous ground because you are messing with folk then. You are messing with captains of industry. Now this means that we are treading in difficult water, because it really means that we are saying that something is wrong with capitalism.”
Speech to his staff, 1966.
“We are saying that something is wrong … with capitalism… There must be better distribution of wealth and maybe America must move toward a democratic socialism.”
Speech to his staff, 1966.
“If America does not use her vast resources of wealth to end poverty and make it possible for all of God’s children to have the basic necessities of #life, she too will go to hell.”
Speech at Bishop Charles Mason Temple of the Church of God in Christ in support of the Memphis sanitation workers’ strike on March 18th, 1968, two weeks before he was assassinated.
#mlk #mlkday #martinlutherkingjr #civilrights