Power is not a means; it is an end. One does not establish a dictatorship in order to safeguard a revolution; one makes the revolution in order to establish the dictatorship. The object of persecution is persecution. The object of torture is torture. The object of power is power.

• George Orwell, 1984

The practical ethos of every authoritarian in history (including the self-styled “champions of the proletariat”) is:

It’s not just that I have a lot; it’s that I must always have more than everyone else. Forever.