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About this quote

What does it mean?
Real social and economic progress comes from determined minorities, not from relying on the masses.
In plain terms
Progress happens when courageous minorities push for it, not through the general public.
What can you take from it?
Effective change often depends on small, determined groups.

Where it applies

  • social movements
  • political organizing
  • advocacy work

Putting it to work

  • empower minority groups
  • build committed coalitions
  • mobilize informed advocates

Questions to consider

  • Who drives social change?
  • Is the masses too slow for reform?

Another view

It undervalues the role of mass mobilization in achieving large-scale democratic change.

More from Emma Goldman

  1. Since every effort in our educational life seems to be directed toward making of the child a being foreign to itself, it must of necessity produce individuals …

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  2. The demand for equal rights in every vocation of life is just and fair; but, after all, the most vital right is the right to love and be loved.

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  3. Resistance to tyranny is man's highest ideal.

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