Who Are the Good Guys?

The first thing to ask about an 'organic' ideology that, however unexpectedly, succeeds in organizing substantial sections of the masses and mobilizing them for political action, is not what is false about it but what is true...It is a highly unstable theory about the world which has to assume that vast numbers of ordinary people, mentally equipped in much the same way as you or I, can simply be thoroughly and systematically duped into misrecognizing entirely where their real interests lie. Even less acceptable is the position that, whereas 'they'—the masses—are the dupes of history, 'we'—the privileged—are somehow without a trace of illusion and can see, transitively, right through into the truth, the essence, of a situation.

That's a good one.

My one concern is that a lot of people who are pro-community get vicious about other people who are pro-community by calling them collectivists. Quotes like this are dead on... but they also give ammunition to people who want to see evil collectivists around every corner and conveniently attach the "collectivist" label to anyone they happen not to like.

Community also allows for right of exit.

Collectivism... not so much.

Very good quote.

Collectivism is a kind of community where not enough people agree with you, so you threaten them with death (e.g. see recent Rosanne, Michael Moore) until their morale improves.