 Lennon stated : " ' Imagine ' , which says : ' Imagine that there was no more religion , no more country , no more politics , ' is virtually the Communist manifesto , even though I 'm not particularly a Communist and I do not belong to any movement . " He told NME : " There is no real Communist state in the world ; you must realize that . The Socialism I speak about ... [ is ] not the way some <unk> Russian might do it , or the Chinese might do it . That might suit them . Us , we should have a nice ... British Socialism . " Ono described the lyrical statement of " Imagine " as " just what John believed : that we are all one country , one world , one people . " Rolling Stone described its lyrics as " 22 lines of graceful , plain @-@ spoken faith in the power of a world , united in purpose , to repair and change itself " . 
