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Quote by Leon Trotsky

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The History of the Russian Revolution By Leon Trotsky - Volume Two

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Author

Leon Trotsky
Leon Trotsky

Leon Trotsky was a Russian revolutionary, politician, and theorist, one of the key figures in Marxist theory. Born on November 7, 1879, and died on August 21, 1940. Trotsky played a significant role in the Russian Revolution, being one of the founders of the Bolshevik Party and a close comrade of Lenin. He was involved in the political struggles after the revolution and eventually fell out with Stalin, leading to his exile and eventual assassination. more

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“Those who substitute "people" for class, by prioritising the proletarian class above the party, believe they are rendering it a supreme homage whilst in fact they are declassing it, drowning it in "popular" confusion, and sacrificing it on the altar of counter-revolution.”

“To the Jacobins of this epoch [the French Revolution], as well as to those of our times, this popular entity constitutes a superior personality possessing attributes peculiar to the gods of never having to answer for their actions and never making a mistake. Their wishes must be humbly acceded to. The people may kill, burn, ravage, commit the most frightening cruelties, glorify their hero today and throw him into the gutter tomorrow, it is all the same; the politicians will not cease to vaunt the people's virtues and to bow to their every decision.”

“When the proletariat declares the dissolution of the hitherto existing world order, it merely declares the secret of its own existence, since it is in fact the dissolution of this order. When it demands the negation of private property, it is only laying down as a principle for society what society has laid down as a principle for the proletariat, what has already been incorporated in itself without its consent as the negative result of society.”

“What does it mean to be a proletarian, really? [...] It means you are a cog in a process of production that relies on what you do and think, while excluding you from being anything but its product. It means the end of sovereignty, the conversion of all experiential value to exchange value, the final defeat of autonomy.”

“Sie liebt Europa. Den Reichtum des alten Kontinents, den Überfluss sogar bei den unteren Schichten, die Sorglosigkeit dieser Völker, die die Erniedrigung der der Armut und die Diktaturen vergessen haben, die überzeugt sind, in Sicherheit zu sein, weil sie die Verdienstvollsten, die Fleißigsten, die Intelligentesten sind. Sie liebt es, dass überall geheizt wird, sogar die Postgebäude sind sauber, jeder möchte als Franzose geboren sein. Die Franzosen sind die Einzigen, die das nicht merken. Aber vielleicht wird sich das, was wie so vieles ewig schien, irgendwann auch ändern.”