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The Soviet Union bureaucracy not only has not disappeared, yielding its place to the masses, but has turned into an uncontrolled force dominating the masses.
Leon Trotsky -
Simultaneously the Left Opposition in the course of several years carried on a struggle against the Stalinists in favor of collectivization.
Leon Trotsky -
The task of the proletariat is to create a still more powerful fatherland with a far greater power of resistance, the Republican United States of Europe, as the foundation of the United States of the World.
Leon Trotsky -
You may not be interested in strategy, but strategy is interested in you.
Leon Trotsky -
Independent character is like independent thought, it cannot be developed without criticism.
Leon Trotsky -
Old age is the most unexpected of all things that happen to a man.
Leon Trotsky
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Without a correct strategy the victory is impossible. But even the most correct strategy cannot give the victory under unfavorable objective conditions.
Leon Trotsky -
The initiative of the Five Year Plan and of the accelerated collectivization belongs entirely to the Left Opposition, in uninterrupted and sharp struggles with the Stalinists. Not having the possibility of occupying myself here with long historical researches, I will limit myself to a single illustration. The Dnieprostroy is considered with right as the highest achievement of Soviet industrialization. Yet [Joseph] Stalin and his followers ([Clim] Voroshilov and others) a few months before the beginning of the work were decided opponents of the Dnieprostroy plan.
Leon Trotsky -
The motive force of history is truth and not lies.
Leon Trotsky -
In Russia itself the proletariat conquered in spite of the fact that there was no Soviet State in existence at the time elsewhere. For the victory are necessary, not only certain objective conditions, internal as well as external, but also certain subjective factors - the Party, the leadership, the strategy.
Leon Trotsky -
One of the most surprising things in life is the sudden realization that one has become old.
Leon Trotsky -
Tell me anyway--Maybe I can find the truth by comparing the lies.
Leon Trotsky
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Natasha has just come up to the window from the courtyard and opened it wider so that the air may enter more freely into my room. 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.
Leon Trotsky -
To renounce the conquest of power is voluntarily to leave the power with those who wield it, the exploiters. The essence of every revolution consisted and consists in putting a new class in power, thus enabling it to realize its own program in life. It is impossible to wage war and to reject victory.
Leon Trotsky -
...capitalism does live by crises and booms, just as a human being lives by inhaling and exhaling.
Leon Trotsky -
He who slanders the victim aids the executioner.
Leon Trotsky -
Insurrection is an art, and like all arts has its own laws.
Leon Trotsky -
Having rationalized his economic syste, that is, having saturated it with consciousness and planfulness, man will not leave a trace of the present stagnant and worm-eaten domestic life.
Leon Trotsky
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Abusive language and swearing are a legacy of slavery, humiliation, and disrespect for human dignity, one’s own and that of other people.
Leon Trotsky -
To overthrow the power of the bourgeoisie and to establish the power of the proletariat in one country still does not signify the full victory of Socialism.
Leon Trotsky -
I emphasized the significance of revolutionary strategy.
Leon Trotsky -
If we close our eyes to the dark sides of the workers' State which we have helped to create, we shall never reach socialism.
Leon Trotsky