110+ Leon Trotsky Quotes On War, Revolutionary And Marxist

Leon Trotsky was a Russian revolutionary and Marxist theorist. He was a leader in the 1917 October Revolution that overthrew the Tsar and established the Soviet Union. Trotsky was an advocate of world revolution and a leader in the creation of the Red Army. Following is our collection on famous quotes by Leon Trotsky on war, revolutionary, marxist.

Top 10 Leon Trotsky Quotes

1. If you cannot convince a Fascist, acquaint his head with the pavement.
2. Our planet is being turned into a filthy and evil-smelling imperialist barrack.
3. Religions are illogical primitive ignorance. There is nothing as ridiculous and tragic as a religious government.
4. Life is beautiful. Let the future generations cleanse it of all evil, oppression, and violence, and enjoy it to the full.
5. Communism needs democracy like the human body needs oxygen.
6. Abusive language and swearing are a legacy of slavery, humiliation, and disrespect for human dignity, one’s own and that of other people.
7. Bureaucracy and social harmony are inversely proportional to each other.
8. Root out the counterrevolutionaries without mercy, lock up suspicious characters in concentration camps... Shirkers will be shot, regardless of past service.
9. The end may justify the means as long as there is something that justifies the end.
10. One of the most surprising things in life is the sudden realization that one has become old

Leon Trotsky Short Quotes

• Technique is noticed most markedly in the case of those who have not mastered it.
• When one runs with the wolves, one must howl with the pack.
• The pillars of Hercules of the United States are vulgarity and stupidity.
• In a serious struggle there is no worse cruelty than to be magnanimous at an inopportune time.
• He who slanders the victim aids the executioner.
• Ideas that enter the mind under fire remain there securely and for ever.
• Old age is the most unexpected of all the things that can happen to a man.
• The dictatorship of the Communist Party is maintained by recourse to every form of violence.
• If we had more time for discussion we should probably have made a great many more mistakes.
• The revenge of history is more powerful than the revenge of the most powerful General Secretary.

Leon Trotsky Quotes About Revolutionary

The revolution has its own laws: in the period of its culmination it pushes the most highly developed, determined and far-seeing stratum of the revolutionary class to the most advanced positions. — Leon Trotsky

Against my protests a mausoleum was built on the Red Square, a monument unbecoming and offensive to the revolutionary consciousness. — Leon Trotsky

Once again, he who ignores the problems of revolutionary strategy would do better not to talk about revolutions at all. — Leon Trotsky

That the existence of the Soviet Union has an international revolutionary significance is a commonplace equally recognized by friends and foes. — Leon Trotsky

I emphasized the significance of revolutionary strategy. — Leon Trotsky

What shall we call an "immediate possibility"? In 1923 the situation in Germany was profoundly revolutionary, but what was lacking for a victorious revolution was a correct strategy. — Leon Trotsky

In 1925 - 27 the revolution in China was destroyed by the false revolutionary strategy of the Stalinist faction. To this last question I consecrate my book, Problems of the Chinese Revolution (issued by the Pioneer Publishers, New York 1932). — Leon Trotsky

Revolutionary realism tries to draw the maximum advantage from every situation - that is what makes it revolutionary - but at the same time it does not permit us to set ourselves fantastic aims - that is what makes it realistic. — Leon Trotsky

Leon Trotsky Quotes About Life

As long as I breathe I hope. As long as I breathe I shall fight for the future, that radiant future, in which man, strong and beautiful, will become master of the drifting stream of his history and will direct it towards the boundless horizons of beauty, joy and happiness! — Leon Trotsky

Life is not an easy matter... You cannot live through it without falling into frustration and cynicism unless you have before you a great idea which raises you above personal misery, above weakness, above all kinds of perfidy and baseness. — Leon Trotsky

As long as human labor power, and, consequently, life itself, remain articles of sale and purchase, of exploitation and robbery, the principle of the “sacredness of human life” remains a shameful lie, uttered with the object of keeping the oppressed slaves in their chains. — Leon Trotsky

The depth and strength of a human character are defined by its moral reserves. People reveal themselves completely only when they are thrown out of the customary conditions of their life, for only then do they have to fall back on their reserves. — Leon Trotsky

As for us, we were never concerned with the Kantian-priestly and vegetarian-Quaker prattle about the sacredness of human life. — Leon Trotsky

If one cannot get along without a mirror, even in shaving oneself, how can one reconstruct oneself or one's life, without seeing oneself in the "mirror" of literature? — Leon Trotsky

Life is not an easy matter. You cannot live through it without falling into frustration and cynicism unless you have before you a great idea which raises you above personal misery, above weakness, above all kinds of perfidy and baseness. — Leon Trotsky

Leon Trotsky Quotes About Revolution

All the parties of capitalist society, all its moralists and all its sycophants will perish beneath the debris of the impending catastrophe. The only party that will survive is the party of the world socialist revolution. — Leon Trotsky

Revolutions are always verbose. — Leon Trotsky

Insurrection is an art, and like all arts has its own laws. — Leon Trotsky

Look back at history - those who guided the revolution in the time of its culmination never kept their leading positions long after the turning point. — Leon Trotsky

In the appendix to my History of the Russian Revolution I give a detailed and documented study of the ideas of the Bolshevik party on the October revolution. This study, I hope, will make it impossible in the future to ascribe to [Vladimir] Lenin the theory of Socialism in a single country. — Leon Trotsky

Let us not forget that revolutions are accomplished through people, although they be nameless. Materialism does not ignore the feeling, thinking, and acting man, but explains him. — Leon Trotsky

[Vladimir] Lenin died in January, 1924; three months later [Joseph] Stalin expounded in writing Lenin's conception of the proletarian revolution. — Leon Trotsky

The theory of the permanent revolution, in contradiction to the theory of socialism in one country, was recognized by the entire Bolshevik party during the period from 1917 to 1923. — Leon Trotsky

[Joseph] Stalin closes the exposition of these [Leon Trotsky] ideas with the words, "Such are in general the characteristic features of [Vladimir] Lenin's conception of the proletarian revolution." — Leon Trotsky

It is quite clear that the German and Chinese revolutions in case of victory would have changed the face of Europe and Asia, and perhaps of the whole world. — Leon Trotsky

Leon Trotsky Quotes About Forces

The historic ascent of humanity, taken as a whole, may be summarized as a succession of victories of consciousness over blind forces -- in nature, in society, in man himself. — Leon Trotsky

The historic ascent of humanity, taken as a whole, may be summarized as a succession of victories of consciousness over blind forces - in nature, in society, in man himself. — Leon Trotsky

Where force is necessary, there it must be applied boldly, decisively and completely. — Leon Trotsky

Nowhere else did repressions, purges, suppressions, and all other kinds of bureaucratic hooliganism in general acquire such horrifying scope as in Ukraine, in the struggle against powerful forces concealed in the Ukrainian masses that desired more freedom and independence. — Leon Trotsky

Not believing in force is the same as not believing in gravitation. — Leon Trotsky

Where force is necessary, there it must be applied boldly, decisively and completely. But one must know the limitations of force; one must know when to blend force with a maneuver, a blow with an agreement. — Leon Trotsky

With all due respect to all philistines, the dictatorship of the proletariat does just consist in "giving a hiding" to the classes that were previously supreme, before forcing them to recognize the new order and to submit to it. — Leon Trotsky

Only in the Fall of 1924 did [Joseph] Stalin discover that it is especially Russia, as distinguished from other countries, which can by its own forces build up a socialist society. — Leon Trotsky

The Left Opposition declared that the new tempo of industrialization were above our forces, and that the liquidation of the kulaks as a class in the course of three years was a fantastic task, if one wishes to say so, we find ourselves this time "less radical" than the Stalinists. — Leon Trotsky

The motive force of history is truth and not lies. — Leon Trotsky

Leon Trotsky Famous Quotes And Sayings

In a country where the sole employer is the State, opposition means death by slow starvation. The old principle: who does not work shall not eat, has been replaced by a new one: who does not obey shall not eat. — Leon Trotsky

The struggle against war and its social source, capitalism, presupposes direct, active, unequivocal support to the oppressed colonial peoples in their struggles and wars against imperialism. A 'neutral' position is tantamount to support of imperialism. — Leon Trotsky

Learning carries within itself certain dangers because out of necessity one has to learn from one's enemies. — Leon Trotsky

You are pitiful isolated individuals; you are bankrupts; your role is played out. Go where you belong from now on -- into the dustbin of history! — Leon Trotsky

‎The party that leans upon the workers but serves the bourgeoisie, in the period of the greatest sharpening of the class struggle, cannot but sense the smells wafted from the waiting grave. — Leon Trotsky

Everything is relative in this world, where change alone endures. Everything is better than some things and worse than others. Which you choose to compare your experiences and situation with determines whether you will be happy and grateful or sad and jealous. — Leon Trotsky

There is a limit to the application of democratic methods. You can inquire of all the passengers as to what type of car they like to ride in, but it is impossible to question them as to whether to apply the brakes when the train is at full speed and accident threatens. — Leon Trotsky

To renounce the conquest of power is voluntarily to leave the power with those who wield it, the exploiters. The essence of every revolution consisted and consists in putting a new class in power, thus enabling it to realize its own program in life. It is impossible to wage war and to reject victory. — Leon Trotsky

In inner-party politics, these methods lead, as we shall yet see, to this: the party organization substitutes itself for the party, the central committee substitutes itself for the organization, and, finally, a dictator substitutes himself for the central committee. — Leon Trotsky

Workers – men and women – of all countries, place yourselves under the banner of the Fourth International. It is the banner of your approaching victory! — Leon Trotsky

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. — Leon Trotsky

Dialectical thought is related to vulgar thinking in the same way that a motion picture is related to a still photograph. The motion picture does not outlaw the still photograph but combines a series of them according to the laws of motion. — Leon Trotsky

In Stalin each [Soviet bureaucrat] easily finds himself. But Stalin also finds in each one a small part of his own spirit. Stalin is the personification of the bureaucracy. That is the substance of his political personality. — Leon Trotsky

Is it possible to fulfill this task, is it possible to achieve the definite victory of Socialism in one country without the combined efforts of the proletarians of several advanced countries? No, it is impossible. — Leon Trotsky

If we close our eyes to the dark sides of the workers' State which we have helped to create, we shall never reach socialism. — Leon Trotsky

You may not be interested in strategy, but strategy is interested in you. — Leon Trotsky

No one revolution up to now has brought all that was expected of it by the masses. Hence the inevitability of a certain disillusionment, of a lowering of the activity of the vanguard, and consequently, of the growing importance of the rearguard. [Joseph] Stalin's faction has raised itself on the wave of reaction against the October revolution. — Leon Trotsky

From being a patriotic myth, the Russian people have become an awful reality. — Leon Trotsky

The fundamental flaw of vulgar thought lies in the fact that it wishes to content itself with motionless imprints of a reality which consists of eternal motion. — Leon Trotsky

Let a man find himself, in distinction from others, on top of two wheels with a chain - at least in a poor country like Russia - and his vanity begins to swell out like his tires. In America it takes an automobile to produce this effect. — Leon Trotsky

Let a man find himself, in distinction from others, on top of two wheels with a chain -- at least in a poor country like Russia -- and his vanity begins to swell out like his tires. In America it takes an automobile to produce this effect. — Leon Trotsky

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. — Leon Trotsky

England is nothing but the last ward of the European madhouse, and quite possibly it will prove to be the ward for particularly violent cases. — Leon Trotsky

The people will have the right to elect their representatives from a list of candidates [who have been approved by the Party]. — Leon Trotsky

Where the sole employer is the state, [opposition] means death by slow starvation. — Leon Trotsky

Fascism is nothing but capitalist reaction. — Leon Trotsky

City of prose and fantasy, of capitalist automation, its streets a triumph of cubism, its moral philosophy that of the dollar. New York impressed me tremendously because, more than any other city, it is the fullest expression of our modern age. — Leon Trotsky

It is therefore not true that the mere existence of the Soviet Union is capable of assuring the victory of the revolution in other countries. — Leon Trotsky

Not only in peasant homes, but also in city skyscrapers, there lives alongside the twentieth century, the thirteenth. A hundred million people use electricity and still believe in the magic powers of signs and exorcisms . . . movie stars to mediums. Aviators who pilot miraculous mechanisms created by man's genius wear amulets on their sweaters. What inexhaustible reserves they possess of darkness, ignorance and savagery! — Leon Trotsky

Man will become immeasurably stronger, wiser, and subtler; his body will become more harmonious, his movements more rhythmic, his voice more musical. The forms of life will become dynamically dramatic. The average human type will rise to the heights of an Aristotle, a Goethe, or a Marx. And above these heights, new peaks will rise. — Leon Trotsky

History has different yardsticks for the cruelty of the Northerners and the cruelty of the Southerners in the Civil War. A slave-owner who through cunning and violence shackles a slave in chains, and a slave who through cunning or violence breaks the chains – let not the contemptible eunuchs tell us that they are equals before a court of morality! — Leon Trotsky

A means can be justified only by its end. But the end in its turn needs to be justified. — Leon Trotsky

Natasha has just come up to the window from the courtyard and opened it wider so that the air may enter more freely into my room. I can see the bright green strip of grass beneath the wall, and the clear blue sky above the wall, and sunlight everywhere. Life is beautiful. Let the future generations cleanse it of all evil, oppression and violence, and enjoy it to the full. — Leon Trotsky

Our party's most outstanding mediocrity. — Leon Trotsky

The United States is not only the strongest, but also the most terrified country. — Leon Trotsky

I wrote a study about this question, The Lessons of October, which served as a pretext for my elimination from the government. — Leon Trotsky

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. — Leon Trotsky

Terror, as the demonstration of the will and strength of the working class, is historically justified, precisely because the proletariat was able thereby to break the political will of the intelligentsia, pacify the professional man of various categories and work, and gradually subordinate them to its own aims within the field of their specialties. — Leon Trotsky

If the Revolution has the right to destroy bridges and art monuments whenever necessary, it will stop still less from laying its hand on any tendency in art which, no matter how great its achievement in form, threatens to disintegrate the revolutionary environment or to arouse the internal forces of the Revolution, that is, the proletariat, the peasantry and the intelligentsia, to a hostile opposition to one another. Our standard is, clearly, political, imperative and intolerant. — Leon Trotsky

I feel here that this time they have succeeded. — Leon Trotsky

Our differences with [Joseph] Stalin are entirely of a strategical character. — Leon Trotsky

The history of a revolution is for us first of all a history of the forcible entrance of the masses into the realm of rulership over their own destiny. — Leon Trotsky

...capitalism does live by crises and booms, just as a human being lives by inhaling and exhaling. — Leon Trotsky

To overthrow the power of the bourgeoisie and to establish the power of the proletariat in one country still does not signify the full victory of Socialism. — Leon Trotsky

The Soviet State does not need either illusions or camouflage. It can claim only that world authority which is confirmed by the facts. — Leon Trotsky

Fascism is a caricature of Jacobinism. — Leon Trotsky

A program of "disarmament," while imperialist antagonisms survive, is the most pernicious of fictions. Even if it were realized by way of general agreement - an obviously fantastic assumption!- that would by no means prevent a new war. The imperialists do not make war because there are armaments; on the contrary, they forge arms when they need to fight. — Leon Trotsky

The boycott of parliamentary institutions on the part of anarchists and semianarchists is dictated by a desire not to submit their weakness to a test on the part of the masses, thus preserving their right to an inactive hauteur which makes no difference to anybody. A revolutionary party can turn its back to a parliament only if it has set itself the immediate task of overthrowing the existing regime. — Leon Trotsky

Similar (of course, far from identical) irritations in similar conditions call out similar reflexes; the more powerful the irritation, the sooner it overcomes personal peculiarities. To a tickle, people react differently, but to a red-hot iron, alike. As a steam-hammer converts a sphere and a cube alike into sheet metal, so under the blow of too great and inexorable events resistances are smashed and the boundaries of "individuality" lost. — Leon Trotsky

In 1917 there was not a single Bolshevik who considered possible the realization of a socialist society in a single country, and least of all in Russia. — Leon Trotsky

Yet the proletariat has not only a vanguard, but also a rearguard, and besides the proletariat there are the peasantry and the bureaucracy. — Leon Trotsky

Simultaneously the Left Opposition in the course of several years carried on a struggle against the Stalinists in favor of collectivization. — Leon Trotsky

Without a correct strategy the victory is impossible. But even the most correct strategy cannot give the victory under unfavorable objective conditions. — Leon Trotsky

The Soviet Union needs thinking and critical friends, such as are capable not only of singing hymns in the hours of success, but of not shrinking in the hour of defeat and danger. — Leon Trotsky

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. — Leon Trotsky

Everything is relative in this world, where change alone endures. — Leon Trotsky

As for us, we were never concerned with the Kantian-priestly and vegetarian-Quaker prattle about the "sacredness of human life." We were revolutionaries in opposition, and have remained revolutionaries in power. To make the individual sacred we must destroy the social order which crucifies him. And this problem can only be solved by blood and iron. — Leon Trotsky

Life Lessons by Leon Trotsky

1. Leon Trotsky taught that people should stand up for their rights and fight for a better future. He believed that through collective action and solidarity, people could create a more just and equitable society.
2. Trotsky also advocated for internationalism, believing that the working class should unite across borders to oppose imperialism and capitalism.
3. Finally, he showed that it is possible to challenge oppressive systems and strive for a more equitable world, even in the face of tremendous adversity.