Bright Christian

Even the blind can see that economic progress entails the oppression and murder of thousands – that big business rules by sheer power and deceit... A capitalistic society can be maintained only by lies. But we are a long way from revolt. Most pious and even many working people think, “Rich and poor have to be.” They ignore the fact that it is impossible to amass any kind of fortune without cheating, without depriving and hurting others and destroying their lives. They fail to realize that, concentrated in a few hands, big business can steer hundreds of thousands toward certain ruin through unemployment. Why do these facts remain hidden from us? Only because we ourselves are also under the rule of the god who blinds us, which is mammon.

-Eberhard Arnold, founder of the Bruderhof communities, in a public lecture in 1923

Labels: Peace