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Leon Trotsky

Leon Trotsky Quotes

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Famous Leon Trotsky Quotes

“Socialist economy cannot reject the huge advantages of the world division of labor: on the contrary, it will carry it to the highest development. But in practise, it is not a question of the future socialist society, with an established internal equilibrium, but of the given technically and culturally backward country which in the interests of industrialisation and collectivization is forced to export as much as possible in order to import as much as possible.”

WorldCountryOrderGivenInterestEconomyHugeDevelopmentHighestAdvantageLaborContraryInternalsRejectsDivisionSocialistEquilibriumImportsPractiseDivision Of LaborSocialist Economy
Author:Leon Trotsky
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“Only the defeat of the proletariat in Germany in 1923 gave the decisive push to the creation of Stalin's theory of national socialism: the downward curve of the revolution gave rise to Stalinism, not to the theory of the permanent revolution, which was first formulated by me in 1905. This theory is not bound to a definite calendar of revolutionary events; it only reveals the world-wide interdependence of the revolutionary process.”

WorldFirstsProcessEventsCreationTheoryRevolutionBoundsDefeatWideSocialismPermanentRevolutionaryGermanyDefiniteCurvesCalendarsInterdependenceProletariatStalinism
Author:Leon Trotsky
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“The clearer and deeper the public opinion of the world, in the first instance the opinion of the working masses, will understand the contradictions and the difficulties of the socialist development of an isolated country, the higher will it appreciate the results achieved. The less it identifies the fundamental methods of Socialism with the zigzags and errors of the Soviet bureaucracy, the less will be the danger that, by the inevitable revelation of these errors and of their consequences, the authority, not only of the present ruling group, but of the workers' State itself, may decline.”

WorldFirstsMayCountryStatesResultsOpinionGroupsDangerDevelopmentHigherAuthorityMassConsequenceAppreciateDifficultyMethodFundamentalsErrorsWorkersDeeperSocialismInstanceInevitableRevelationsContradictionSovietIsolatedDeclineSocialistBureaucracyRulingPublic Opinion
Author:Leon Trotsky
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“The slanders poured down like Niagara. If you take into consideration the setting - the war and the revolution - and the character of the accused - revolutionary leaders of millions who were conducting their party to the sovereign power - you can say without exaggeration that July 1917 was the month of the most gigantic slander in world history.”

IfsWorldWarCharacterPartyLeaderMillionsRevolutionMonthsSettingSettingsRevolutionaryConsiderationSovereignAccusedWorld HistoryRebelliousJulyExaggerationSlanderConductingNiagaraRevolutionary Leaders
Book:History of the Russian Revolution
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“The Federated Republic of Europe-the United States of Europe-that is what must be. National autonomy no longer suffices. Economic evolution demands the abolition of national frontiers. If Europe is to remain split into national groups, then Imperialism will recommence its work. Only a Federated Republic of Europe can give peace to the world.”

IfsWorldGivingCountryStatesUnitedUnited StatesGroupsEconomicEvolutionDemandEuropeRepublicSplitsImperialismAutonomyFrontiersAbolitionEuropean Countries
Author:Leon Trotsky
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“Actually, the decision was not only expedient but necessary. The severity of this summary justice showed the world that we would continue to fight mercilessly, stopping at nothing. The execution of the Tsar's family was needed not only in order to frighten, horrify, and dishearten the enemy but also in order to shake up our own ranks, to show them that there was no turning back, that ahead lay either complete victory or complete ruin.”

WorldShowsOrderFightingJusticeDecisionEnemyNeededVictoryLaysRuinsShakesExecutionStoppingSeveritySummaryNo Turning Back
Book:Diary in Exile, 1935
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