There are certain types of people who are political out of a kind of religious reason.… I think it’s fairly common among socialists: They are, in fact, God-seekers, looking for the kingdom of God on earth. A lot of religious reformers have been like that, too. It’s the same psychological set, trying to abolish the present in favor of some better future — always taking it for granted that there is a better future. If you don’t believe in heaven, then you believe in socialism. When I was in my real Communist phase, I and the people around me really believed — but, of course, this makes us certifiable — that something like ten years after World War II, the world would be Communist and perfect.
Doris Lessing, novelist, as quoted in “Doris Lessing on Feminism, Communism and Space Fiction,” Lesley Hazelton, New York Times Book Review (July 25, 1982).
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Doris Lessing
