John Holloway

struggle lost party state power revolution process

“The struggle is lost from the beginning, long before the victorious party or army conquers state power and ‘betrays’ its promises. It is lost once power itself seeps into the struggle, once the logic of power becomes the logic of the revolutionary process, once the negative of refusal is converted into the positive of power-building.”

― John Holloway

picture true world wrong

“We do not need to have a picture of what a true world would be like in order to feel that there is something radically wrong with the world that exists.”

― John Holloway

nonsubordination struggle life

“Nonsubordination is the simple, unspectacular struggle to shape one's life. It is people's reluctance to give up the simple pleasures of life, their reluctance to become machines, the determination to forge and maintain some degree of power-to.”

― John Holloway

happy ending justify rejection wrong world

“We need no promise of a happy ending to justify our rejection of a world we feel to be wrong.”

― John Holloway

doing plural collective choral communal

“Doing is inherently plural, collective, choral, communal.”

― John Holloway

world horror definition

“A whole world of horror is contained in the process of definition.”

― John Holloway

creator god guilty damaged self-changing

“We are the only creators, the only gods. Guilty gods, negated gods, damaged, schizophrenic gods, but above all self- changing gods.”

― John Holloway

definition subordination

“Definition implies subordination.”

― John Holloway

creator system entrap

“We are the sole creators of the system which entraps us.”

― John Holloway

identification domination

“Identification is domination.”

― John Holloway

beginning word scream capitalism horror anger refusal

"It is easy to forget that the beginning is not the word, but the scream. Faced with the mutilation of human lives by capitalism, a scream of sadness, a scream of horror, a scream of anger, a scream of refusal: NO. The starting point of theoretical reflection is opposition, negativity, struggle. It is from rage that thought is born, not from the pose of reason."

― John Holloway

capital dynamic member loyal servant servile courtier

"Capital acquires a dynamic of its own and the leading members of society are quite simply its most loyal servants, its most servile courtiers."

― John Holloway