Communism needs democracy like the human body needs oxygen.
Leon TrotskyRead
The dynamic of revolutionary events is directly determined by swift, intense, and passionate changes in the psychology of classes which have already formed themselves before the revolution.
Interpretation
What this quote means
Revolutionary events are shaped by the rapid and intense shifts in the collective mindset of established social classes.
In this quote, Trotsky emphasizes that the course and outcome of revolutionary movements are fundamentally influenced by the psychological transformations experienced by social classes that exist prior to the revolution. These changes in mentality can spark or intensify revolutionary actions, suggesting that it's not just the actions themselves, but the underlying sentiments and consciousness of the people that drive significant social upheaval.
Themes
RevolutionPsychologyChangeSocietyClass
In practice
Example use cases
During a speech on social movements, one might use this quote to illustrate the importance of societal change in revolutionary contexts.
More from Leon Trotsky
All quotes βAbusive language and swearing are a legacy of slavery, humiliation, and disrespect for human dignity, oneβs own and that of other people.
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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 The old principle: who does not work shall not eat, has been replaced by a new one: who does not obey shall not eat.
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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 TrotskyRead
The masses go into a revolution not with a prepared plan of social reconstruction, but with a sharp feeling that they cannot endure the old regime. Only the guiding layers of a class have a political program, and even this still requires the test of events and the approval of the masses.
Leon TrotskyRead
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 β let not the contemptible eunuchs tell us that they are equals before a court of morality!
Leon TrotskyRead
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