Re: Socialism of fools

["Devine, James" <jdevine@xxxxxxx>]

I recently quoted Fred Engels as referring to anti-semitism as the "socialism of fools." 
 
Pen-l alumnus Jurriaan Bendien writes me that: >From memory the "socialism of fools" remark was by August Bebel, circa 1873.<
 
I looked for the quote on the web. The following is part of what I found. 
 
James Heartfield, a person who Louis P. has a heart-felt dislike also cites Bebel: > A century ago, the German socialist August Bebel exposed the limitations of another one-sided and illusory criticism of the market. In his day, the 'predatory' capitalists who were singled out for special treatment were Jews. Responding to the demotic attacks on 'Jewish capitalism', Bebel denounced this as 'the socialism of fools'. < http://www.vanguardonline.f9.co.uk/0704.htm
 
 Jeremy Seabrook  from the GUARDIAN: >  The German socialist August Bebel said anti-semitism is the socialism of fools. In northern British towns and elsewhere, it is widely believed the BNP [British National Party, often seen as fascist] are the new socialists. If racism is our socialism of fools, to what species of wisdom does the socialism of progressives belong, when it finally recognises its own long absence from the blighted landscapes of sometime industrial Britain? < http://www.politics.guardian.co.uk/homeaffairs/comment/0,11026,1156556,00.html <http://www.politics.guardian.co.uk/homeaffairs/comment/0,11026,1156556,00.html> 
 
Another Louis P. favorite, Todd Gittlin says: > The German socialist August Bebel once said that anti-Semitism was "the socialism of fools." What we witness now is the progressivism of fools. It is a recrudescence of everything that costs the left its moral edge. And, appallingly, it is this contemptible message the anti-Semitic students at San Francisco State chose to parrot. < http://www.mojones.com/commentary/columns/2002/06/gitlin_june.html <http://www.mojones.com/commentary/columns/2002/06/gitlin_june.html> 
 
I guess I sit corrected, though I couldn't find the quote from Bebel's mouth.
 
Jim Devine jdevine@xxxxxxx <mailto:jdevine@xxxxxxx>  http://bellarmine.lmu.edu/~jdevine <http://bellarmine.lmu.edu/~jdevine>