Leon Trotsky was a Marxist revolutionist, political theorist, and politician.
He was one of the most prominent figures in the October Revolution in the early stages of Communist rule in the Soviet under Joseph Stalin. Trotsky started gaining an interest in politics during his teenage years by joining the Bolsheviks before the October Revolution.
He eventually became one of the first members of the Politburo, the topmost decision-making body of the Communist party. Although deeply influenced by Marxism, Leon Trotsky developed his own variant of Marxism, later known as Trotskyism.
From 1918 -1922, Trotsky was a leading figure who led his party to victory in the Civil War. Following Joseph Stalin's rise in the '20s and the expansion of bureaucracy, his struggle for the Bolsheviks waned. Shortly after, Trotsky was terminated from his position as the Commissar for Military and Naval Affairs.
He was then expelled from the Communist Party and was exiled to Alma–Ata. Trotsky was banished from the Soviet Union in February 1929.
Despite multiple assassination attempts, Trotsky was finally assassinated in Mexico City on August 20, 1940, by a Spanish-born agent. Listed below are some of the most inspiring and powerful quotes by Trotsky that will give you a new perspective.
Leon Trotsky's Quotes On War And Revolution
Being a Marxist, Leon Trotsky believed in revolution to topple the state and propagate Communism. He successfully led the Bolshevik revolution, which lasted for a short period. Here are a few quotes on his take on war and revolution.
"The completion of the socialist revolution within national limits is unthinkable."
-'The Permanent Revolution'.
"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."
"Terror can be very efficient against a reactionary class which does not want to leave the scene of operations. Intimidation is a powerful weapon of policy, both internationally and internally. War, like revolution, is founded upon intimidation."
-'Terrorism And Communism'.
"Workers – men and women – of all countries, place yourselves under the banner of the Fourth International. It is the banner of your approaching victory."
- 'The Transitional Program And The Struggle For Socialism'.
"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."
"Without a guiding organization, the energy of the masses would dissipate like steam not enclosed in a piston box. But nevertheless what moves things is not the piston or the box, but the steam."
- 'History Of The Russian Revolution'.
"the theory of the permanent revolution signifies that the complete and genuine solution of their tasks of achieving democracy and national emancipation is conceivable only through the dictatorship of the proletariat as the leader of the subjugated nation, above all of its peasant masses."
- 'The Permanent Revolution'.
"The objective prerequisites for the proletarian revolution have not only ‘ripened’; they have begun to get somewhat rotten. Without a socialist revolution, in the next historical period at that, a catastrophe threatens the whole culture of mankind."
- 'The Transitional Program For The Socialist Revolution.'
"In war, where both success and failure are repaid by death, hostile agents who penetrate into the rear are subject to execution. This is inhuman, but no one ever considered war a school of humanity."
- 'Terrorism And Communism'.
"It is untrue that revolutionary art can be created only by workers. Just because the revolution is a working-class revolution, it releases – to repeat what was said before – very little working-class energy for art."
- 'Communist Policy Toward Art'.
Famous Leon Trotsky's Quotes
(Check out some of the most famous Leon Trotsky quotes that can give you a new outlook on the world.)
Leon Trotsky, a prominent leader of the far-left, was a highly vocal politician and political theorist. He openly criticized the Stalin regime. Read his most famous quotes below.
"The end may justify the means as long as there is something that justifies the end."
- 'Their Morals And Ours: The Class Foundation Of Moral Practice'.
"Learning carries within itself certain dangers because out of necessity one has to learn from one's enemies."
- 'Literature And Revolution'.
"The United States is not only the strongest but also the most terrified country."
- 'My Life'.
"...capitalism does live by crises and booms, just as a human being lives by inhaling and exhaling."
-'The First Five Years Of The Communist International'.
"Technique is noticed most markedly in the case of those who have not mastered it."
-'Literature And Revolution.'
"Abusive language and swearing are a legacy of slavery, humiliation, and disrespect for human dignity, one’s own and that of other people."
-'The Struggle For Cultured Speech'.
"I shall die a proletarian revolutionist, a Marxist, a dialectical materialist, and, consequently, an irreconcilable atheist. My faith in the communist future of mankind is not less ardent, indeed it is firmer today than it was in the days of my youth."
-'Trotsky's Testament'.
"It is unquestionably true that the need for art is not created by economic conditions. But neither is the need for food created by economics. On the contrary, the need for food and warmth creates economics."
-'Literature And Revolution'.
"Fascism is nothing but capitalist reaction; from the point of view of the proletariat the difference between the types of reaction is meaningless."
-'What Next?'.
"The Soviet bureaucracy is like all ruling classes in that it is ready to shut its eyes to the crudest mistakes of its leaders in the sphere of general politics, provided in return they show an unconditional fidelity in the defense of its privileges."
-'Revolution Betrayed'.
-"Eclectics live by means of episodic thoughts and improvisations that originate under the impact of events. Marxist cadres capable of leading the proletarian revolution are trained only by the continual and successive working out of problems and disputes."
-'What Next For The German Revolution?'.
"A sledgehammer breaks glass but forges steel."
-'We Do Not Change Our Course'.
"In comparison with monarchy and other heirlooms from the cannibals and cave-dwellers, democracy is of course a great conquest, but it leaves the blind forces men untouched. It was against this deeper sphere of the unconscious that the October Revolution was the first to raise its hand.
-'The History Of The Russian Revolution'.
"We must give a scientific explanation of society, and clearly explain it to the masses. That is the difference between Marxism and reformism. "
-'Discussions On The Transitional Program'.
"Events can neither be regarded as a series of adventures nor strung on the thread of a preconceived moral. They must obey their own laws."
'The History Of The Russian Revolution'.
"Fascism is a caricature of Jacobinism."
-'Fascism: What It Is And How To Fight It?'.
"The concrete is a combination of abstractions — not an arbitrary or subjective combination but one that corresponds to the laws of the movement of a given phenomenon."
-'In Defense Of Marxism'.
"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."
Best Leon Trotsky Quotes
If you like reading philosophical and political thoughts, have a look at this collection of the best, thought-provoking Leon Trotsky quotes.
"A means can be justified only by its end. But the end in its turn needs to be justified."
-'Their Morals And Ours: The Class Foundation Of Moral Practice'.
"But whatever may be the circumstances of my death I shall die with unshaken faith in the communist future. This faith in man and in his future gives me even now such power of resistance as cannot be given by any religion."
-'Trotsky's Testament'.
"If the leaders seek only to preserve themselves, that is what they become; preserves, dried preserves."
-'Some Questions On American Problems'.
"No, the Soviet woman is not yet free."
-'The Revolution Betrayed'.
"Everything is relative in this world, where change alone endures."
-'Dairy In Exile'.
"I know well enough, from my own experience, the historical ebb and flow. They are governed by their own laws. Mere impatience will not expedite their change."
-'My Life', Foreword.
"No one yet has learned to drive a locomotive sitting in his study.
-'Terrorism And Communism', Chp.1.
"Tell me anyway--Maybe I can find the truth by comparing the lies."
"Communist life will not be formed blindly, like coral islands, but will be built consciously, will be tested by thought, will be directed and corrected. Life will cease to be elemental, and for this reason stagnant."
-'Literature and Revolution'.
"Old age is the most unexpected of all things that can happen to a man."
-'Dairy In Exile'.
"Our planet is being turned into a filthy and evil-smelling imperialist barrack."
"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?"
-'Literature And Revolution'.
"Dialectical thinking 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. "
-'In Defense Of Marxism'.
"I do not measure the historical process by the yardstick of one's personal fate."
-'My Life'.
"The owl of wisdom flies, as is well known, after sunset. Thus the theory of a "socialist" system of money and prices was developed only after twilight of inflationist illusions."
-'The Revolution Betrayed'.
"Nothing is more dangerous in politics, especially in a critical period, than to repeat general formulas without examining their social content."
-'Whither France?'.
"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."
-'What Next?' Part III.
"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."
-'The History Of The Russian Revolution'.
Leon Trotsky Quotes About Equality And Labor
Like the other famous left thinkers, Leon Trotsky also dreamt about the utopian egalitarian world. He openly criticized bureaucracy, capitalism, and the bourgeoisie, believing they were the roadblocks to equality. Read his insights on equality and labor below.
"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."
-'Terrrorism And Communism'.
"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!"
-'Their Morals And Ours: The Class Foundation Of Moral Practice'.
"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."
-'On Optimism And Pessimism, On The Twentieth Century, And On Many Other Things'.
Leon Trotsky Quotes About Life And Struggle
Leon Trotsky's quotes about life and struggle can be relevant even in modern times. Read some of his profound sayings about life that can help you better understand the inevitable trajectory called life.
"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."
-'Dairy In Exile'.
"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."
-February 27, 1940, Mexico.
"There are two big facts which have set a new stamp on working class life. The one is the advent of the eight-hour working day; the other, the prohibition of the sale of vodka."
-'Vodka, The Church, And The Cinema'.
"He who thinks of renouncing "physical" struggle must renounce all struggle, for the spirit does not live without the flesh."
-'Fascism: What It Is And How To Fight It?'.
"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."
-'Dairy In Exile'.
"The life of a revolutionary would be quite impossible without a certain amount of "fatalism."
-'My Life', Foreword.
"In a serious struggle, there is no worse cruelty than to be magnanimous at an inopportune time."
-The Russian Revolution'.
"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."
-'Resolution On The Antiwar Congress Of The London Bureau'.
