"We must recognize the fact that many Nazis, Marxists and Fascists believe passionately in their fundamental rightness, and allow nothing to hinder them from their goal in the pursuit of their mission"
About this Quote
Day isn’t granting extremists a grim sort of respect; she’s warning the comfortable that conviction, by itself, is politically dangerous. By naming Nazis, Marxists, and Fascists in one breath, she refuses the soothing habit of treating fanaticism as a single ideology’s disease. The shared trait is psychological and strategic: a closed moral universe where “fundamental rightness” becomes a license to bulldoze reality, dissent, even human life. The line lands because it’s less about their doctrines than about their devotion.
Her phrasing tilts the spotlight onto method. “Believe passionately” sounds almost like praise until the sentence clamps down with “allow nothing to hinder them.” Passion, in Day’s hands, is not a virtue; it’s a fuel source. The most chilling word is “mission” - the sacral language of movements that turn politics into salvation. Once a cause becomes holy, compromise becomes betrayal, and cruelty can masquerade as discipline.
Context matters: Day lived through the era when mass movements proved they could mobilize modern bureaucracy, propaganda, and street violence with terrifying efficiency. As a Catholic Worker activist committed to radical nonviolence and personal responsibility, she’s also taking a subtle swipe at liberal complacency. If your politics are only preferences, they will be steamrolled by people who treat theirs as destiny.
The subtext is a challenge to the reader’s own moral laziness: don’t mistake being “right” for being effective, and don’t underestimate opponents just because their certainty feels irrational. Day is asking for seriousness - not their kind, but seriousness equal to the stakes.
Her phrasing tilts the spotlight onto method. “Believe passionately” sounds almost like praise until the sentence clamps down with “allow nothing to hinder them.” Passion, in Day’s hands, is not a virtue; it’s a fuel source. The most chilling word is “mission” - the sacral language of movements that turn politics into salvation. Once a cause becomes holy, compromise becomes betrayal, and cruelty can masquerade as discipline.
Context matters: Day lived through the era when mass movements proved they could mobilize modern bureaucracy, propaganda, and street violence with terrifying efficiency. As a Catholic Worker activist committed to radical nonviolence and personal responsibility, she’s also taking a subtle swipe at liberal complacency. If your politics are only preferences, they will be steamrolled by people who treat theirs as destiny.
The subtext is a challenge to the reader’s own moral laziness: don’t mistake being “right” for being effective, and don’t underestimate opponents just because their certainty feels irrational. Day is asking for seriousness - not their kind, but seriousness equal to the stakes.
Quote Details
| Topic | Ethics & Morality |
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