Communism needs democracy like the human body needs oxygen.
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.
Interpretation
What this quote means
Revolutions are driven by widespread discontent rather than detailed plans.
Trotsky's quote highlights the spontaneous nature of revolutions, suggesting that the masses are often fueled by a profound dissatisfaction with the current state of affairs rather than by well-crafted political agendas. He emphasizes the role of the guiding class, which may have theoretical plans, yet ultimately must earn the support and validation of the general populace through real-life events.
Themes
RevolutionChangeDiscontentPoliticsMasses
In practice
Example use cases
In a discussion on social movements, one might quote Trotsky to illustrate the organic nature of popular uprisings.
More from Leon Trotsky
All quotes →Abusive language and swearing are a legacy of slavery, humiliation, and disrespect for human dignity, one’s own and that of other people.
Leon TrotskyRead
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 The old principle: who does not work shall not eat, has been replaced by a new one: who does not obey shall not eat.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 TrotskyRead
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
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 TrotskyRead
The end may justify the means as long as there is something that justifies the end.
Leon TrotskyRead
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