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Comment by bunderbunder | Hacker News Reader

"Socialism never took root in America because the poor see themselves not as an exploited proletariat but as temporarily embarrassed millionaires." - Steinbeck

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It suddenly occurred to me that the idea of enslaving a class of people under the promise of the "American Dream" is the modern rehash of when the British would put Indian soldiers in the vanguard and promise any who survived immediate promotion to officer rank.

The dream of life-changing remuneration motivated the soldiers to fight, meanwhile the British seldom, if ever, had to pay out.

NOTE: I cannot remember where I heard this and a quick check for a citation failed me. If anyone could verify (perhaps it wasn't the British and Indian...) please do!

This wasn't unique to India but the British army did use what they called a "forlorn hope" as the first wave in attacking a fortress. Most were expected to die, but the survivors were often promoted.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Forlorn_hope

As exploitive as it sounds, given that someone had to attack in the first wave at least this seemed to match the rewards with the risk?

I think you have to look at it in a broader context - who was going to benefit from the fighting?

Thanks. That's made my day.

Ronald Wright, not Steinbeck.

"When reading a pithy observation about the state of the world, never assume the attribution is correct" -Mark Twain

Do you know what the connection between the two writers is? Seems to me that the quote is neither here nor there, but I haven't found anything solid to confirm who said what.

https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/John_Steinbeck#Disputed

> "John Steinbeck once said that socialism never took root in America because the poor see themselves not as an exploited proletariat but as temporarily embarrassed millionaires", Wright, Ronald (2004). A Short History of Progress. Toronto: Anansi Press. pp. 124.

"The problem with quotes found on the Internet is that they are often not true." --Abraham Lincoln

The misattribution doesn't make the observation any less pertinent.

That quote infers the opposite is preferable. I'd rather have a population that strives for their dreams rather than sits back and blames the bourgeois for all their troubles.

That's a false dichotomy.

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