On all sides, at every step one comes across problems which man is quite capable of solving immediately. But capitalism is in the way. It has amassed enormous wealth—and has made men the slaves of this wealth. It has solved the most complicated technical problems—and has blocked the application of technical improvements because of the poverty and ignorance of millions of the population, because of the stupid avarice of a handful of millionaires.
Vladimir Lenin, “Civilized Barbarism”