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| - \What a true Leninist and a political conservative have in common is the fact that they reject what one could call liberal Leftist \irresponsibility\ (advocating grand projects of solidarity, freedom, etc., yet ducking out when one has to pay the price for it in the guise of concrete and often \cruel\ political measures):\nlike an authentic conservative, a true Leninist is not afraid to pass to the act, to assume all the consequences, unpleasant as they may be, of realizing his political project. Rudyard Kipling (whom Brecht admired) [...] liberal Leftists reject the Social Democratic \compromise,\ they want a true\nrevolution, yet they shirk the actual price to be paid for it and thus prefer to adopt the attitude of\na Beautiful Soul and to keep their hands clean. In contrast to this false radical Leftist's position\n(which wants true democracy for the people, but without the secret police to fight counterrevolution,\nwithout their academic privileges being threatened), a Leninist, like a Conservative, is authentic in the\nsense of fully assuming the consequences of his choice, i.e. of being fully aware of what it\nactually means to take power and to exert it.\ - Slavoj Žižek
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