It is impossible to predict the time and progress of revolution. It is governed by its own more or less mysterious laws.
The war is relentless: it puts the alternative in a ruthless relief: either to perish, or to catch up with the advanced countries and outdistance them, too, in economic matters.
Interpretation
What this quote means
The quote emphasizes the harsh realities of economic competition and the necessity of advancement or extinction.
Lenin's quote illustrates the intense pressures and challenges represented by economic competition among nations. It suggests that in a relentless global landscape, countries must either evolve and progress to keep pace with those more advanced or risk falling behind and facing dire consequences. The use of terms like 'relentless' and 'ruthless relief' underscores the urgency and severity of this economic struggle, indicating that survival in the modern world may depend on a nation's ability to innovate and advance economically.
Themes
In practice
Example use cases
In a debate about global economics, this quote could underscore the need for progressive policies.
More from Vladimir Lenin
All quotes βFor the complete extinction of the state, complete Communism is necessary.
Medicine is the keystone of the arch of socialism.
A democracy is a state which recognizes the subjection of the minority to the majority, that is, an organization for the systematic use of violence by one class against the other, by one part of the population against another.
We are not utopians, we do not βdreamβ of dispensing at once with all administration, with all subordination. These anarchist dreams, based upon incomprehension of the tasks of the proletarian dictatorship, are totally alien to Marxism, and, as a matter of fact, serve only to postpone the socialist revolution until people are different. No, we want the socialist revolution with people as they are now, with people who cannot dispense with subordination, control, and "foremen and accountants".
The way to crush the bourgeoisie is to grind them between the millstones of taxation and inflation.
Similar quotes
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It is good to have an intellectual awareness of our dependence upon God - to understand how great He is and how very small we are in His sight.
This is the humbling truth that lies at the heart of Christianity. We love to be our own saviors. Our hearts love to manufacture glory for themselves. So we find messages of self-salvation extremely attractive, whether they are religious (Keep these rules and you earn eternal blessing) or secular (Grab hold of these things and youβll experience blessing now).
The problem of freedom in America is that of maintaining a competition of ideas, and you do not achieve that by silencing one brand of idea.
Perhaps, after all, America never has been discovered. I myself would say that it had merely been detected.
The older I get, the more clearly I remember things that never happened.