Communism needs democracy like the human body needs oxygen.
Leon TrotskyRead
From being a patriotic myth, the Russian people have become an awful reality.
Interpretation
What this quote means
The quote reflects a shift from an idealized perception of a nation's people to a harsh and brutal truth about their circumstances.
Leon Trotsky's quote suggests a transformation in how the Russian people are perceived, moving from an elevated, almost mythical status to confronting the stark and painful realities of their existence. This shift implies that the once glorified image of patriotism has been replaced by the recognition of suffering, oppression, and struggle, highlighting the complexities of human experience within political contexts.
Themes
PatriotismRealityPoliticsSufferingChange
In practice
Example use cases
During a lecture on the impacts of war on societies, one might use this quote to illustrate the disillusionment that often follows nationalistic sentiments.
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 The old principle: who does not work shall not eat, has been replaced by a new one: who does not obey shall not eat.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.
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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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Jesus Christ belonged to the true race of prophets. He saw with open eye the mystery of the soul. Drawn by its severe harmony, ravished with its beauty, he lived in it and had his being there. Alone in all history, he estimated the greatness of man.
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