Eugene Genovese on the leftist atrocities throughout history

We have yet to answer our right wing critics' claims, which are regrettably well documented, that throughout history - from ancient times to the peasant wars of the 16th century to the Reign of Terror and beyond - social movements that have espoused radical egalitarianism and participatory democracy have begun with mass murder and ended in despotism.

~ Eugene D. Genovese, "The Question," Dissent, Summer 1994