Keeping an inheritance does not mean at all to be limited to an inheritance.
"What Inheritance Are We Relinquishing?", IV (1897)
96
Historical merits are judged not by what Not allowed historical figures in comparison with modern requirements, but because they Dali new compared to their predecessors.
"On a Characterization of Economic Romanticism", IX (1897)
The later statement of Aldous Huxley is also known: “The reader should be interested not in what the writer did not do, but in what he did” (translated by A. Livergant in the book Vanity of Vanities, 1996).
97
Before uniting, (…) we must first strongly and definitely disengage.
"Statement of the editors of Iskra" (Sept. 1900)
98
Where to begin?
Title articles (May 1901)
99
The newspaper is not only a collective propagandist and a collective agitator, but (...) and a collective organizer.
Ibid
100
* Confusion and vacillation.
"Consolidated quotation" from a number of Lenin's works, for example: "in a period of confusion and vacillation" ("What is to be done?", IV c) (Feb. 1902); “elements of disunity, vacillation and opportunism” (speech on August 2, 1903 at the Second Congress of the RSDLP), etc.
The formula "confusion and vacillation" probably goes back to an earlier time.
101
Organization of professional revolutionaries.
"What to do?" (1902), sec. IV b
The expression "professional revolutionary" is found already in Engels ("On the History of the Union of Communists", 1885).
102
We must dream!
Ibid, V in
These words refer to the plan to create an all-Russian party newspaper.
Song arrangement: "Dream! We must dream / Children of the eagle tribe ”(“ We must dream, 1958), lyrics by S. Grebennikov and N. Dobronravov, music. A. Pakhmutova.
103
One step forward, two steps back.
Title books (1904)
This expression appears to have been used before.
104
There is no abstract truth, truth is always concrete.
Ibid, sect. "With"
Repeated in the article "The Victory of the Cadets and the Tasks of the Labor Party", Sec. IV (March 1906).
This is a paraphrase, following Chernyshevsky, of Hegel's statement: “If truth is abstract, then it is not truth. A sound human mind strives for the concrete” (“Lectures on the History of Philosophy”, “Introduction”, 1816).
Chernyshevsky: “There is no abstract truth; truth is concrete” (“Essays on the Gogol Period of Russian Literature”, ch. VI).
105
Revolutions are a celebration of the oppressed and exploited.
106
* The principle of partisanship in literature.
"Party Organization and Party Literature" (Nov. 1905)
In Lenin: "The Principle of Party Literature"; "Literature must become party." Here - the term "partisanship" in relation to the press.
In the form: "the principle of party spirit in literature" - in the report of A. A. Zhdanov on the magazines "Zvezda" and "Leningrad" on August 15 and 16. 1946
107
It is impossible to live in society and be free from society.
Ibid
108
Dependence on the money bag.
Ibid
109
democratic centralism.
Probably for the first time - in the draft resolution "Fundamentals of Party Organization" (March 1906), published as part of the "Tactical Platform" of the Bolsheviks for the Fourth (Unity) Congress of the RSDLP: "The principle of democratic centralism in the party is currently generally recognized."
The wording was included in the Charter of the RSDLP, adopted by the Unity Congress in April. 1906: "All party organizations are built on the principles of democratic centralism."
110
The future belongs to the youth.
"Crisis of Menshevism", III (1906)
"We are the party of the future, and the future belongs to the youth."
Wed also: "The youth of the nation - the trustee of its future" - from the novel by B. Disraeli "Sibyl" (1845).
111
* A principled policy is the only correct policy.
In this form, the quotation was canonized by Stalin (speech at the evening of the Kremlin cadets on January 28, 1924; also: report of the Central Committee to the XV Congress of the CPSU (b) on June 27, 1930). Lenin: “A principled policy is the best policy. A principled policy is the most practical policy” (“The Election Campaign of Social Democracy in St. Petersburg”, 1907).
112
Leo Tolstoy as a mirror of the Russian revolution.
Title articles (1908)
113
Breaking of all and all kinds of masks.
Ibid
114
Broken armies learn well.
Ibid
The source is the statement of F. Engels: “All armies show extraordinary learning abilities after major defeats” (“Can Europe Disarm?”, VIII) (1893).
115
Encyclopedia of liberal renegacy.
"On" Milestones "", I (1909)
116
Objective reality given to us in sensation.
"Materialism and Empirio-Criticism" (1909), III, 1
Definition of matter (“Matter is an objective reality…”).
117
The electron is as inexhaustible as the atom.
Ibid, V, 2
118
Judas Trotsky.
"On the paint of shame in Judas Trotsky" (1911; published in 1932)
By analogy with Iudushka Golovlev (M. Saltykov-Shchedrin, "Gentlemen Golovlevs"). In a later article, Lenin wrote about Trotsky: “After all, these are entirely the tricks of Nozdryov or Yudushka Golovlev” (“On the Violation of Unity Covered by Cries of Unity”, II) (1914).
119
The circle of these revolutionaries is narrow. They are terribly far from the people. But their work is not lost. The Decembrists woke up Herzen. Herzen launched a revolutionary agitation.
"In Memory of Herzen" (1912)
120
Great Georgian.
Letter to M. Gorky dated 13 Feb. 1913
About Stalin: "We have one wonderful Georgian sat down and writes (...) a long article."
121
Scientific sweat squeezing system.
"The 'Scientific' System of Sweat-Wringing" is the title of Lenin's paper on F.W. Taylor's production management system (1913). It goes back to the English "sweating system" ("sweating system").
122
Three sources and three components of Marxism.
Title articles (1913)
123
Marx's teaching is omnipotent because it is true.
Ibid, introduction
124
Certified lackeys of priesthood.
An expression from the article "On the twenty-fifth anniversary of the death of Joseph Dietzgen" (1913), repeated in the article "On the Significance of Militant Materialism" (1922). The source is Dietzgen's statement about "certified lackeys" who "fool the people with fake idealism" ("The Religion of Social Democracy", IV, 2) (1870-1875).
125
* The tops can't, but the bottoms don't want to.
In the article “May Day of the Revolutionary Proletariat” (1913), Lenin wrote: “... For a revolution, it is not enough that the lower classes do not want to live as before. It also requires that the top could not manage and manage, as before.
This idea was repeated in The Collapse of the Second International, sec. II (1915) and "The childhood illness of leftism in communism", sec. IX (1919). Quote from "Children's disease ...": "Only when the "lower classes" do not want the old and when the "tops" cannot continue in the old way, only then can the revolution win."
126
From living contemplation to abstract thinking and From it to practice.
Synopsis of Hegel's Science of Logic (1914; published 1929)
127
* Dialectics is the doctrine of the unity of opposites.
Ibid
"In short, dialectics can be defined as the doctrine of the unity of opposites."
128
... The language of Turgenev, Tolstoy, Dobrolyubov, Chernyshevsky is great and powerful.
“Is there a mandatory state language?” (Jan. 1914)
In I. Turgenev: "the great, mighty, truthful and free Russian language" (poem in prose "Russian language", 1882).
129
We do not want to drive into paradise with a club.
Ibid
In A. K. Tolstoy: “And you will not drive anyone into paradise with a club” (dramatic poem “Don Juan”, I) (1862).
130
Without "human emotions" there has never been, is not and cannot be human Quest truth.
Review of N. A. Rubakin's book "Among the Books" (April 1914)
131
A wicked imitation of the wicked Dostoevsky.
This refers to Vladimir Vinnichenko's novel The Testaments of the Fathers (1914).
132
On the national pride of the Great Russians.
It goes back to the title of the famous article by N. M. Karamzin “On Love for the Fatherland and National Pride” (1802). "People's" in the early nineteenth century. also meant "national".
133
* Turn the imperialist war into a civil one.
Manifesto of the RSDLP "War and Russian Social Democracy" (published on November 1, 1914, o.s.)
"The transformation of the modern imperialist war into a civil war is the only correct proletarian slogan."
Also: "The slogan of turning the imperialist war into a civil war" ("Status and Tasks of the Socialist International", publ. Nov. 1, 1914, o.s.).
134
The crisis of the "top".
"The Collapse of the Second International" (June 1915), sec. II
=> "The tops cannot, but the bottoms do not want" (L-125).
135
revolutionary situation.
Ibid
"... A revolution is impossible without a revolutionary situation, and not every revolutionary situation leads to revolution."
This expression is usually attributed to Lenin, although it is repeatedly found in the letters of F. Engels in 1882-1885. (for the first time - in a letter to E. Bernstein dated February 22, 25, 1882).
136
The defeat of his government in the imperialist war.
"On the Defeat of Your Government in the Imperialist War" (published July 26, 1915 Gregorian)
137
* The victory of socialism in one single country.
"On the Slogan of the United States of Europe" (1915)
"The victory of socialism (...) is possible in one single capitalist country."
138
* The Party is not a debating club.
In the article "The Collapse of the Second International", sec. I (published in September 1915), Lenin wrote: “Socialist parties are not debating clubs, but organizations of the fighting proletariat,” and in a report at the Tenth Congress of the RCP (b) on March 16, 1921, he repeated: “We are not a debating club". Similar formulations were probably encountered in social-democratic journalism even before Lenin.
This principle was included in the resolution of the XIII Conference of the RCP(b) "On Party Building" (January 1924): "The Party (...) cannot be regarded as a debating club for all and sundry trends."
Wed also: “As long as I lead the party, it will not be a debating club for rootless writers and salon Bolsheviks” (letter from A. Hitler to J. Goebbels, June 1930).
139
Imperialism as the highest stage of capitalism.
Title books (1916; published Sept. 1917)
Title first publication: "Imperialism as the newest stage of capitalism".
140
Brilliantly organized famine.
Thus, according to Lenin, "one observer who recently visited her" described the situation in warring Germany.
141
The fundamental question of any revolution is the question of power in the state.
It was repeated with modifications in a number of later works.
142
All power to the Soviets!
The slogan was formulated by Lenin in the spring of 1917: “All power in the state (...) should belong to the Soviets of workers, soldiers, laborers, peasants, etc. deputies” (speech at a rally in the Izmailovsky regiment on April 10); "All power to the Soviets of Workers' and Soldiers' Deputies!" (“Crisis of power”, “Pravda”, May 2); "All power to the Soviets!" (title of the article, Pravda, July 5).
143
Stick the bayonet into the ground.
"The Tasks of the Proletariat in Our Revolution", 10 (the so-called "April Theses") (April 10, 1917; published September 1917)
“War cannot be ended “at will”. (...) It cannot be ended by “sticking a bayonet into the ground”, to use the expression of one defense soldier.” Repeated many times by Lenin in later speeches and articles.
144
* State of a new type.
Same place, 11
"Soviets (...) are (...) a new type of state."
145
* There is such a party!
Remark from the seat at a meeting of the First All-Russian Congress of Soviets on June 4, 1917, during a speech by I. G. Tsereteli; the replica consisted of one word "Yes!"
Also in a speech about the attitude towards the Provisional Government on June 4, 1917: “He [Tsereteli] said that there is no political party in Russia that would express its readiness to take power entirely upon itself. I answer: “Yes!”
Wed See also: "There is such a letter!" - a constant phrase of the TV game host "Field of Miracles" (since 1992).
146
Accounting and control.
"Accounting and control is the main thing that is required for (...) the correct functioning of the first phase of communist society." The slogan "accounting and control" is repeatedly repeated in the article "How to Organize Competition" (December 1917) and in the work "The Immediate Tasks of Soviet Power" (April 1918).
Also: “Socialism is, first of all, accounting” (answer to the request of the Left Social Revolutionaries at the meeting of the All-Russian Central Executive Committee on November 4, 1917).
147
Mind, honor and conscience of our era.
Regarding the accusations against the Bolsheviks of collaborating with the Germans, Lenin wrote: “We will stand firm in branding blackmailers. Let us be adamant in examining the slightest doubts by the court of class-conscious workers, by the court of our party, we believe in it, in it we see the mind, honor and conscience of our era. (...) We must (...) protect its leaders from even spending time on dirty tricks and their dirty slanders.
148
The impending catastrophe and how to deal with it.
Title pamphlets (Sept. 1917)
149
* Catch up and overtake.
Ibid, sect. "Revolutionary Democracy and the Revolutionary Proletariat"
“Either perish, or catch up with the advanced countries and overtake them also economically,” wrote Lenin. Hence the slogan "Catch up and overtake", put forward in 1928 at the XV conference of the CPSU (b).
150
Revolution on a global scale.
In the press of the times of the revolution and the Civil War, the expression was often quoted with reference to Lenin. Quotations from Lenin: “Here are the undoubted signs (...) of the eve of revolution on a world scale” (“The Crisis Is Ripe”, I) (September 29, 1917); "... let's start the second socialist revolution already on a global scale" (report at the IV All-Russian Congress of Soviets on March 14, 1918).
151
* Every cook must learn to govern the state.
Option: "Each cook will rule the state."
The expression arose no later than 1921, on the basis of Lenin's statement in Oct. 1917: “We know that any unskilled worker and any cook is not capable of immediately entering into government. But (…) we demand an immediate break with the prejudice that only the rich or officials taken from rich families are able to govern the state (…). We demand that training in the matter of public administration (...) be started immediately (...), i.e., all working people, all the poor will immediately begin to be involved in this training ”(“ Will the Bolsheviks Retain State Power? ”).
152
Power to the Soviets, land to the peasants, peace to the peoples, bread to the hungry.
"Letter to the Central Committee, MK, PC and members of the Bolshevik Soviets of St. Petersburg and Moscow" dated 1 October. 1917 (published in 1921)
153
Outsider advice.
154
* Take mail, telephone, telegraph.
This is a paraphrased quote from "Advice from an Outsider" (see above): "...so that (...): a) telephone, b) telegraph, c) railway stations ..."
155
Procrastination is like death.
"A letter to the Bolshevik comrades participating in
At the Regional Congress of Soviets of the Northern Region"
Repeated in the "Letter to the members of the Central Committee" dated 24 Oct. 1917: "Procrastination in rebellion is like death"; "Procrastination in speaking is like death."
The saying: "The omission of the time of irretrievable death is like" - attributed to Peter I. In this or paraphrased form, it was widely used in political journalism. “Any delay is like death,” Chairman of the State Duma M. V. Rodzianko telegraphed Nicholas II on Feb. 26. 1917
Possible ancient source: "Periculum in mora" ("Delay is dangerous") - from the "History" of Titus Livius, XXXVIII, 25, 13. Lenin quoted this saying in a letter to E. A. Preobrazhensky dated 28 October. 1921
156
* First you need to take power, and then we'll see.
Contamination of Lenin's statements: “The taking of power is a matter of insurrection; his political goal will become clear after the capture” (letter to members of the Central Committee dated October 24, 1917); “I remember Napoleon wrote: “On s’engage et puis… on voit”. In a free Russian translation, this means: “First you need to get involved in a serious battle, and then you will see.” So we first got involved in a serious battle in October 1917, and there we already saw such details of development (...) as the Treaty of Brest-Litovsk or the New Economic Policy, etc.” (“On Our Revolution. II”, Jan. 1923).
157
... The revolution, the need for which the Bolsheviks have been talking all the time, has taken place.
Report on the tasks of Soviet power
158
* Socialism is the living creativity of the masses.
Answer to the request of the Left Socialist-Revolutionaries at a meeting of the All-Russian Central Executive Committee
“The living creativity of the masses is the main factor of the new sociality”; "Socialism is alive, creative, is the creation of the masses themselves."
159
Man with a gun.
“Now you don’t have to be afraid of a man with a gun” - according to Lenin, the words of a “Finnish old woman”. The phrase was recorded between 24 and 27 Dec. 1917 (“From the diary of a publicist. Topics for development”) and then repeated several times, for the first time - in a report on the activities of the Council of People's Commissars on January 11. 1918
"A Man with a Gun" - a play by N. Pogodin (1937).
160
* Rob the loot!
“We are robbing robbers” - the words of the Don Cossack Shamov at the III All-Russian Congress of Soviets (January 16, 1918). A week later, addressing the agitators sent to the front, Lenin quoted these words in the form: "We are robbing the loot" (speech on January 23, 1918).
Three months later, Lenin confirmed: in the slogan "plunder the loot" "I can't find anything wrong if history comes on the scene. If we use the words: expropriation of the expropriators, then why can't we do without Latin words here? (the final word on the report on the immediate tasks of the Soviet government at the meeting of the All-Russian Central Executive Committee on April 29, 1918).
The slogan probably goes back to Proudhon's "Property is theft", paraphrased frequently in the anarchist press of late 1917.
161
Strange and monstrous.
"Strange and monstrous" Lenin called the statement of the Moscow Regional Bureau of the RSDLP: "In the interests of the international revolution, we considered it expedient to accept the possibility of losing Soviet power."
162
* The triumphal procession of Soviet power.
About "the period of the victorious, triumphal march of the dictatorship of the proletariat and Soviet power" Lenin spoke on March 14, 1918 (report at the IV All-Russian Congress of Soviets); and a little earlier, on March 7, about the “continuous triumphal procession”, “the victorious triumphal procession of the revolution” (political report of the Central Committee at the 7th Congress of the RCP (b).
163
* Red Guard attack on capital.
"The Immediate Tasks of Soviet Power" (April 1918), sec. "A new phase of the struggle against the bourgeoisie"
Replying to the reproaches of the “lackeys of the bourgeoisie” that the Bolsheviks were conducting a “Red Guard” attack on capital, Lenin wrote: “We do not at all recognize a victorious cavalry attack as a mistake”; "The 'Red Guard' attack on capital was successful."
164
Special link in the chain.
Ibid, sect. "Development of the Soviet Organization"
“One must be able to find at every special moment that special link in the chain, which one must seize with all one’s strength in order to hold the whole chain and prepare firmly the transition to the next link.”
In the form: “the main link of the chain” - by Stalin, in a speech on March 3 at the February-March plenum of the CPSU (b) 1937
165
Socialism without post, telegraph, cars is an empty phrase.
Closing remarks on the report on the immediate tasks of the Soviet government at the meeting of the All-Russian Central Executive Committee on 29 April. 1918
The usual slogan in the post offices of the USSR.
166
Barbaric means of struggle against barbarism.
"... Peter accelerated the adoption of Westernism by barbarian Russia, not stopping at barbaric means of struggle against barbarism."
Wed See also: "Revolution is a barbaric way of progress" - the saying of the French socialist J. Jaurès, very popular at the beginning of the 20th century.
167
A revolution is not made to order.
With variations, this idea was repeated by Lenin from the end of 1917.
Included in the Program of the CPSU in 1961: "The revolution does not happen by order" (part 1, section II, 5). A likely source is the saying of the American abolitionist politician W. Phillips: “Revolutions are not made - they come” (speech in Boston on January 28, 1852). The German educator G. Lichtenberg already in the early 1790s. wrote: "The greatest events in the world are not done, but are happening."
168
Specific carriers of evil.
“We don’t (…) have a war with specific carriers of evil.”
169
Every revolution is worth something only if it knows how to defend itself.
Report at the joint meeting of the All-Russian Central Executive Committee, the Moscow Soviet, factory committees and trade unions on October 22. 1918
170
Scrub another communist and you will find a Great Russian chauvinist.
Closing remarks on the report on the party program at the VIII Congress of the RCP(b) March 19, 1919
The saying: “Scratch a Russian and you will find a Tatar” is attributed to J. de Maistre, Napoleon I and others.
171
Do not dare to command!
“... Learn from the peasants how to move to a better system and not dare to command!”
172
* The state is a machine for suppression.
"The state is a machine for the oppression of one class by another"; "a machine in the hands of the capitalists to suppress the workers."
Engels wrote about the state as an "instrument of suppression" in 1891 (introduction to Marx's "Civil War in France").
173
Great initiative.
Title pamphlets about communist subbotniks (published in July 1919)
174
Party purge.
Ibid
"The great initiative (...) should also be used (...) to purge the party."
This expression has come into general use since the "general purge" of 1921, repeated in 1929.
The expression "purge" (English "purge") entered the political language in June 1647, when O. Cromwell's army demanded the expulsion of 11 Presbyterians from Parliament. This concept was widely used in the journalism of the Great French Revolution (since 1789).
175
Labor productivity is, in the final analysis, the most important thing, the most important thing for the victory of the new social system.
Ibid
176
* The intelligentsia is not the brain of the nation, but shit.
“The intellectual forces of the workers and peasants are growing and strengthening in the struggle to overthrow the bourgeoisie and its accomplices, intellectuals, lackeys of capitalism, who imagine themselves to be the brains of the nation. In fact, this is not a brain, but shit.
177
For an internationalist, the issue of state borders is a secondary issue, if not a tenth one.
"Elections to the Constituent Assembly and the Dictatorship of the Proletariat", V (Dec. 1919)
178
Children's disease of "leftism" in communism.
Title books (1920)
It goes back to the statement of F. Engels: “We are dealing here with a childhood illness, which indicates the beginning transition of the German studio to the side of social democracy, (...) but our workers (...) will overcome it” (preface to the first edition of Anti-Dühring ", 1878).
179
* Dress rehearsal of the October Revolution.
Ibid., III
"Without the 'dress rehearsal' of 1905, the victory of the October Revolution of 1917 would have been impossible."
180
The petty bourgeois "furious" from the horrors of capitalism.
Ibid, IV
Also: “The Psychology of the Enraged Petty Bourgeois” (“On “Left” Childishness and Petty-Bourgeoisness”, II) (May 1918).
181
* To build socialism from the human material left as a legacy of capitalism.
Ibid., VI
“We can (and must) begin to build socialism not from fantastic and not from specially created human material, but from that which is left to us as a legacy of capitalism.” Similar formulations were found in Lenin before.
Included in the resolution of the Tenth Congress of the RCP(b) "On the Role and Tasks of the Trade Unions" (March 1921): "Communism is built from the human material that capitalism left us as a legacy."
Wed also in J. B. Shaw: "Democracy cannot rise above the level of the human material of which its constituents are composed" (Rules of the Revolutionary, V) (1903).
182
* Marxism is not a dogma, but a guide to action.
Ibid., VIII
"Our theory is not a dogma, but a guide to action." Even earlier - in the final speech at a meeting of party workers in Moscow on November 27. 1918: "Our teaching is not a dogma, but a guide to action."
Lenin paraphrased Engels, who in a letter to F. Sorge dated 29 November. 1886 wrote, referring to the German socialist émigrés in America: “The Germans never succeeded in turning their theory into a lever that would set the American masses in motion. In most cases, they do not understand this theory themselves. (…) For them, this is a dogma, not a guide to action.”
In the form: "Marxism is not a dogma ..." - canonized by Stalin ("On the Social Democratic Deviation in Our Party", report at the XV Party Conference on November 1, 1926, section II, 1).
183
Newspaper without paper and without distances.
Letter to M.A. Bonch-Bruevich dated 5 Feb. 1920 (on broadcasting)
184
* Every communist must be a Chekist.
“Lenin once taught us that every member of the party should be an agent of the Cheka, that is, watch and report,” said S. I. Gusev on December 26. 1925 at the XIV Congress of the CPSU (b). Probably, Lenin's speech on April 3 was meant. 1920 at the IX Congress of the RCP (b), where it was said: "A good communist is at the same time a good Chekist."
185
We will come to the victory of communist labor!
"From the first Subbotnik on the Moscow-Kazan Railway to the All-Russian May Day Subbotnik" (May 2, 1920)
186
...The very essence, (...) the living soul of Marxism: a concrete analysis of a concrete situation.
Also: “To seize the regime that oppresses the proletariat by the contradictions of this regime – this is the living soul of Marxism, and not in rigid formulas” (“Conversation of a Legalist with an Opponent of Liquidationism”, 1911).
187
You can become a communist only when you enrich your memory with the knowledge of all the riches that humanity has developed.
188
* Morality is that which serves the victory of socialism.
Paraphrasing Lenin's statements at the Third Congress of the Komsomol (see above): "For us, morality is subordinated to the interests of the class struggle of the proletariat"; “Morality is what serves to destroy the old exploiting society and to unite all working people around the proletariat, which is creating a new communist society.”
Similar thoughts appeared much earlier, for example: “It is moral (...) everything that contributes to the triumph of the revolution” (S. G. Nechaev, Catechism of a Revolutionary, § 4) (1869); “Everything that is necessary for the revolution, everything that is useful to it, is just” (the words of N. Chamfort in 1789; cited in J. Marmontel’s Memoirs, book 14).
189
Communism is Soviet power plus the electrification of the whole country.
“Our External and Internal Position and the Tasks of the Party,” speech at the Moscow Provincial Conference of the RCP(b), 21 November. 1920
With changes (“Communism is…”) repeated at the VIII All-Russian Congress of Soviets (report on foreign and domestic policy, December 22, 1920).
190
Bureaucratic perversions.
Dec 30 In 1920, Lenin declared: “Our state is a workers’ state with a bureaucratic perversion” (“On Trade Unions, on the Current Situation, and on the Mistakes of Comrade Trotsky,” speech at a joint meeting of delegates to the VIII Congress of Soviets). And a little later: “The bureaucracy is our enemy and bureaucratic perversions” (the closing remarks on the report on concessions at the meeting of the communist faction of the All-Union Central Council of Trade Unions on April 11, 1921).
191
Party leadership.
“... They are negotiating to abdicate (...) from any “appointment”, that is, in the end, from the leading role of the party in relation to the mass of non-party people.”
Two days later, Lenin repeated: "... This undermines the leading role of the party" (report at a meeting of the communist faction of the II All-Russian Congress of Miners on January 23, 1921).
=> "Guiding and guiding force" (С-258).
192
* Formally correct, but essentially a mockery.
Closing remarks on the report on the food tax at the X All-Russian Conference of the RCP(b) on May 27, 1921
"...Something formally correct, but in fact a mockery."
193
* The economy is the most interesting policy for us.
Ibid
“... Our business is our common business. This is the most interesting policy for us.”
194
* Question: "who - whom."
Report 17 Oct. 1921 at the II All-Russian Congress of Political Enlightenment (“New Economic Policy and the Tasks of Political Enlightenment”), sec. "Who will win - the capitalist or the Soviet government?"
“The whole question is who will get ahead of whom? (...) We need to look at these things soberly: who wins?
From the end of the 1920s. under the slogan "Who - whom?" launched a campaign for mass collectivization.
195
* Learn to trade!
A slogan rephrasing of instructions from the same report (see above), for example: "The state must learn to trade."
196
Communist swagger.
Ibid, sect. "Three main enemies"
Also: "Communist swagger - swagger, to express it in the great Russian language" (political report to the XI Congress of the CPSU (b) on March 27, 1922).
197
Talent should be encouraged.
"A talented book", a review of the collection of short stories by A. Averchenko "A dozen knives in the back of the revolution" ("Pravda", November 22, 1921)
198
* The bond between the working class and the peasantry.
In Lenin's report "On the domestic and foreign policy of the republic" at the IX All-Russian Congress of Soviets on December 23. 1921 it was said: “The essence is in the bond between the avant-garde, the proletariat, and the broad peasant field”; "Trade is now (...) the only possible bond between the vanguard of the proletariat and the peasantry."
=> "The bond between the city and the countryside" (T-137).
199
Departments are shit; decrees are shit.
Note by A. D. Tsuryupe dated February 21. 1922
200
Only those who do nothing do not make mistakes.
"On the Significance of Militant Materialism" (March 1922)
This saying was repeated with variations by Lenin from 1917 and was usually attributed to him in Soviet times, although it appeared no later than the middle of the 19th century.
201
The state is us.
“... When we say “state”, then the state is we, it is the proletariat, it is the vanguard of the working class”; "The state is the workers, it is the advanced part of the workers, it is the vanguard, it is we." This idea is repeated in Lenin's concluding speech on the report of the Central Committee on March 28.
The expression was also encountered earlier, for example: “Before (…) the “sun king” [Louis XIV] could say the classic words:“ The state is me! ”, On the contrary, now people’s representatives with no less right proclaim:“ The state is - we!” (B. Syromyatnikov, “Neo-Slavophilism and the Russian people”) (“Russian Vedomosti”, November 8, 1905).
Also in A.F. Kerensky: “We are not a collection of tired people, we are a state” (speech to delegates from the front on April 9, 1917).
202
Selection of people and verification of performance.
Ibid
"The nail for all the work is in the selection of people and in checking the performance."
Also: "Checking people and checking the actual execution of the case - (...) this is now the crux of all work" ("On the international and internal situation of the Soviet Republic", speech on March 6, 1922).
203
Legitimacy cannot be Kaluga and Kazan.
"On "double" subordination and legality", a note to Stalin for the Politburo of May 20, 1922.
204
Vladivostok is far away, but it is a city of ours.
205
From NEP Russia there will be socialist Russia.
Ibid
206
Tov. Stalin, having become General Secretary, concentrated immense power in his hands.
207
Russified foreigners always overdo it in terms of a truly Russian mood.
"Truly Russian" in the then political language meant: "Black Hundred."
208
* Necessary and sufficient for building socialism.
"This is not yet the building of a socialist society, but this is everything necessary and sufficient for this building."
An earlier quote: "The implementation of these slogans (...) is necessary and sufficient for the final victory of socialism" ("The Immediate Tasks of Soviet Power", section "The General Slogan of the Moment") (April 1918).
209
Better less is better.
210
* Learn, learn and learn.
Ibid
“We must by all means set ourselves the task of renewing our state apparatus: firstly, to study, secondly, to study, and thirdly, to study.”
An earlier quote: “The most important task for us now is: to study and study” (“Five Years of the Russian Revolution ...”, report at the IV Congress of the Comintern on November 13, 1922).
Also from Stalin: "Learn, study, study ..." (speech at the VIII Congress of the Komsomol on May 16, 1928). This turnover, however, already existed in the 19th century, for example: “But you need to study, study, study ...” (from M. Saltykov-Shchedrin’s review of I. Samarin’s comedy “If it grinds, there will be flour”) (1868).
211
** We will go the other way.
Words spoken at the news of the execution of his brother, Alexander Ulyanov (1887). In the program of M. I. Ulyanova: “No, we will not go that way. This is not the way to go” (speech at the mourning meeting of the Moscow Soviet on Feb. 7, 1924).
“We will go the other way” is a painting by Pyotr Petrovich Belousov (b. 1912), widely known in Soviet times, written in 1951.
212
** He plowed me deep.
About N. Chernyshevsky and his novel “What is to be done?”, in a conversation with N. V. Valentinov (1904). The phrase is given in Valentinov's memoirs "Meetings with Lenin" (1953).
213
** A very timely book.
Review of the novel "Mother", in a conversation with M. Gorky (1907); cited in Gorky's essay "V. I. Lenin "(1924, 1930).
214
** Start early today, the day after tomorrow - late.
Words allegedly spoken by Lenin at a meeting of the Central Committee of the RSDLP (b) on October 21. 1917, but known only from the book Ten Days That Shook the World by J. Reid (1919): “October 24 will be too early to act. (…) October 26 will be too late to act. (…) We must act on 25 October.”
Read referred to V. Volodarsky, a participant in the October 21 meeting; however, in the genuine statements of Lenin in October 1917, the thought “too early” never occurs.
215
** All the best for children.
The words allegedly spoken by Lenin to the head of the preschool department of the People's Commissariat for Education D. A. Lazurkina in November. 1917. They were absent from the first publications of Lazurkina’s memoirs about her meetings with Lenin and appeared only in a very late version of these memoirs (in the book “Signed by Lenin”, 1968): “Remember, all the best that we have is for children! »
However, the slogan appeared much earlier than 1968, for example: “The slogan of our country is “All the best for children!” strictly enforced” (Speech by S. Mikhalkov at the First Congress of Writers of the Russian Federation on December 8, 1958).
Also: “... Humanity is obliged to give the child the best that it has” (preamble to the “Declaration of the Rights of the Child”, adopted at the XIV session of the UN General Assembly on November 20, 1959).
216
** The book is a huge force.
A phrase from a conversation with A. V. Lunacharsky (end of 1917?); cited in Lunacharsky's article "From October Memoirs" (1928).
217
** The sword is not our emblem.
On the draft coat of arms of the RSFSR (spring 1918). The phrase is cited in the memoirs of V. D. Bonch-Bruevich “Coat of arms of the USSR” (1956).
218
** Monumental propaganda.
“The Commissariat of Enlightenment, on the initiative (...) of Comrade Lenin, will soon begin a new type of agitation, monumental agitation and propaganda,” Lunacharsky wrote in July 1918 in the article “Monumental Agitation” (“Flame”, No. 11).
According to the memoirs of Lunacharsky (“Lenin and Art”, 1924; “Lenin on monumental propaganda”, 1933), Lenin used the expression “monumental propaganda” in a conversation with him in the spring of 1918.
219
** Art belongs to the people. (…) It must be understood (…) by the masses and loved by them.
From a conversation with K. Zetkin (autumn 1920). The statement is quoted in the memoirs of K. Zetkin "On Lenin" (published in 1924 in a translation from German). In the first publication, a different, more accurate translation was given: “It must be understood (…) by the masses…”
The slogan: "All art for all the people!" - put forward in 1918 by the futurists in the "Decree No. 1 on the democratization of the arts" signed by V. Mayakovsky, V. Kamensky, D. Burliuk.
220
** What a lump, huh? What a hardened human being.
About Leo Tolstoy in a conversation with M. Gorky (1920?). Quoted in Gorky's essay "V. I. Lenin "(1924, 1930).
Wed also A. Chekhov's statement about Tolstoy: "Not a man, but a human being, Jupiter" (letter to A.S. Suvorin dated December 11, 1891).
221
** Amazing, inhuman music.
Ibid
About L. Beethoven's Appassionata.
222
** Follows the reader, but you have to be a little ahead.
Ibid
About Demyan Bedny.
223
** Of all the arts, cinema is the most important for us.
From a conversation with Lunacharsky at the beginning of March 1922. In this form, the phrase is given in Lunacharsky's comparatively late memoirs A Conversation with V. I. Lenin about Cinema (1925); earlier Lunacharsky brought it in other versions.
224
** The capitalists are ready to sell us a rope with which we will hang them.
Perhaps this phrase goes back to Yu. Annenkov’s memoir essay “Vladimir Lenin” (published in 1961), which cites (from memory) Lenin’s notes allegedly seen by the memoirist at the Lenin Institute in 1924: “The capitalists of the whole world and their governments, in pursuit of conquering the Soviet market (...) will open credits that will serve us to support the communist party in their countries and, by supplying us with materials and techniques that we lack, will restore our military industry, necessary for our future victorious attacks against our suppliers. In other words, they will be working to prepare their own suicide!”
225
** Useful idiots.
So Lenin allegedly called pacifists in the countries of the West.
Perhaps the expression goes back to Y. Annenkov’s memoir “Vladimir Lenin” (see above), where the following thought is attributed to Lenin: “... The so-called cultural layers of Western Europe and America are not able to understand the current state of affairs (...); these layers should be considered as deaf and dumb and act towards them, based on this position.
It was not in vain that Vladimir Lenin became a well-known publicist, which allowed him to start a political career in the Bolshevik Party. A native of Simbirsk was well-read and rich in language. This allowed him to use a variety of catch phrases in his public speeches, which, thanks to Soviet propaganda, went to the people. Lenin's quotes are often used in everyday speech, and sometimes people do not even realize that some phrases belong to the leader of the proletariat.
"There is such a party!"
One of Lenin's most famous phrases is the exclamation "There is such a party!". In the summer of 1917, the All-Russian Congress of Soviets was held in Petrograd. It was attended by representatives of various parties, including the Bolsheviks.
Chairman Irakli Tsereteli asked those present in the hall whether there is a party that is ready to take power into its own hands at a difficult moment for the country and be responsible for all its decisions in such a difficult situation. The question was asked for a reason, because for several months the most diverse sections of Russian society were dissatisfied with the Provisional Government and its decisions. But no one saw an obvious alternative to the existing government.
In response to Tsereteli's question, Lenin, who was also present at the congress, stood up. He declared: "There is such a party!", referring to his own Bolshevik party. The hall responded with applause and laughter. No one could imagine that the Bolsheviks would come to power, and Lenin's quotes would come true.
"Who does not work shall not eat"
Many of Lenin's quotations ended up in his critical articles. Most of Ulyanov's journalistic activity fell on the years of emigration, however, even during the existence of the USSR, he continued to be published, this time in millions of copies.
For example, his phrase "Who does not work, he does not eat" has become widespread. With this passage, Lenin criticized the parasites who did not help the young Soviet economy develop against the backdrop of the consequences of the Civil War. It is interesting that a similar phrase is found in the Bible, but in a slightly different form. Lenin himself considered the call to work the main commandment of socialism, on which the ideology of the Soviet state should be based. The phrase became widespread in May 1918, when it appeared in a letter from a revolutionary to the Petrograd workers. A little later, the slogan "Who does not work, he does not eat" was directly used in the first Constitution of the RSFSR.
"Study, study, study!"
The call "Learn, study, study!" was also used by Soviet propaganda to motivate the masses. Most likely, Lenin used this phrase in one of his articles after reading Chekhov. In the story “My Life”, the classic of literature was marked by a similar appeal.
Ilyich did not like the education system under the tsarist government. This explains what Lenin said about the Russians. The leader's quotes about education were often used in the interiors of schools and universities in the Soviet Union.
"We'll go the other way"
One of Lenin's most mythologized phrases is rightfully considered the replica "We will go the other way." According to the point of view of the official Soviet ideology, young Volodya uttered it after he learned about the death of his older brother and was executed for his intention to deal with Emperor Alexander III. Lenin, by his phrase, meant that his future struggle against the tsarist regime would be based not on individual terror, but on propaganda among the masses. In Soviet and Russian life, this phrase is already used without reference to the revolutionary events of the 20th century, but refers directly to the topic of conversation.
Given the significant role of their author in the history and culture of the USSR, many of them have become popular expressions. At the same time, a number of quotations in their well-known formulation do not belong to Lenin, but first appeared in literary works and cinema. These statements became widespread in the political and everyday languages of the USSR and post-Soviet Russia.
"We'll go the other way"
After the execution of his elder brother Alexander in 1887 as a member of the Narodnaya Volya conspiracy to attempt on the life of Emperor Alexander III, Vladimir Ulyanov allegedly said: “We will go the other way,” which meant his rejection of the methods of individual terror. In fact, this phrase is taken and paraphrased from the poem "Vladimir Ilyich Lenin" by Vladimir Mayakovsky.
And then
said
Ilyich seventeen-year-old -
this word
stronger than oaths
a soldier with a raised hand:
- Brother,
we are here
ready to change you
we will win
but we will go the other way
According to the memoirs of the elder sister Anna Ilyinichna, Vladimir Ulyanov said the phrase in a different wording: “No, we will not go that way. This is not the way to go.". The expression became widespread thanks to the painting of the same name by P. P. Belousov.
"Every cook must learn to run the state"
In the article “Will the Bolsheviks Retain State Power?” (originally published in October 1917 in No. 1-2 of the Enlightenment magazine) Lenin wrote:
"We are not utopians. We know that any unskilled worker and any cook is not capable of immediately entering into government. In this we agree with the Cadets, and with Breshkovskaya, and with Tsereteli. But we differ from these citizens in that we demand immediate a break with the prejudice that only the rich or from wealthy families should be able to govern the state, to carry out the day-to-day work of administration, we demand that public administration be taught by conscious workers and This immediately began to attract all the working people, all the poor."
The option “Any cook can run the state”, attributed to V.I. Lenin, does not belong to him, but is often used in criticizing socialism and Soviet power. The option "Any cook should rule the state" is also used. Lenin had in mind, first of all, that even a cook, as a representative of the broad masses of working people, must learn to govern the state, must be involved in state administration.
The expression was used by V. V. Mayakovsky in the poem "Vladimir Ilyich Lenin":
Walkway with a tablecloth!
We and the cook
every
learn
run the state!
“Of all the arts, cinema is the most important for us”
Lenin's famous phrase "You must firmly remember that of all the arts cinema is the most important for us" is based on Lunacharsky's memoirs about a conversation with Lenin in February 1922, set out in a letter to Boltyansky dated January 29, 1925 (ref. No. 190) which was published:
in the book by G. M. Boltyansky "Lenin and Cinema". - M.: L., 1925 - S.19; published excerpts from the letter, this is the first known publication;
in the magazine "Soviet Cinema" No. 1-2 for 1933 - P.10; the letter is published in full;
in the edition of V. I. Lenin. Complete Works, ed. 5th. M .: Publishing house of political literature, 1970 - T. 44 - P. 579; An excerpt from the letter was published with a link to the magazine "Soviet Cinema".
In the context of the conversation, Lenin spoke about the tasks of the development of communist cinema, noted the need for "a certain proportion between fascinating films and scientific films", emphasized the role of the chronicle, from which it is necessary to begin "the production of new films imbued with communist ideas and reflecting Soviet reality", stressed the need censorship (“Of course, censorship is still needed. Counter-revolutionary and immoral tapes should not have a place”) and at the end of the conversation he added: “you are known among us as the patron of art, so you must firmly remember that of all the arts, cinema is the most important for us » . In this form, the phrase can be understood as a call to Lunacharsky to pay special attention to cinema in comparison with the "traditional" art forms that are closer to him.
Many mistakenly believe that the phrase sounded different, and such distortions fall into seemingly authoritative sources, for example, "While the people are illiterate, of all the arts, cinema and the circus are the most important for us."
"Study, study and study"
The well-known words of Lenin "study, study and study" were written by him in the work "The Reverse Direction of Russian Social Democracy", written at the end of 1899 and published in 1924 in the journal "Proletarian Revolution" No. 8-9:
"While educated society is losing interest in honest, illegal literature, a passionate desire for knowledge and socialism is growing among the workers, real heroes stand out among the workers who - despite the ugly conditions of their lives, despite the stupefying hard labor in the factory, - find in themselves so much character and willpower to study, study and study and develop out of themselves conscious Social Democrats, "working intelligentsia".
Perhaps Lenin used the phrase of A.P. Chekhov from the work “My Life (A Provincial’s Story)”, ch. VI, the first publication of which was in the supplement to the "Niva" in 1896:
We need to study, study and study, but with deep
let's wait for social trends: we have not yet grown up to them and, in conscience, do not understand anything in them.
A similar repetition was made in the article “Better less, but better” (Pravda, No. 49, March 4, 1923):
We must at all costs set ourselves the task of renewing our state apparatus: firstly, to study, secondly, to study, and thirdly, to study and then check that science does not remain a dead letter or a fashionable phrase ( and this, there is nothing to hide a sin, happens especially often with us), so that science really enters into flesh and blood, turns into an integral element of everyday life in a completely and real way.
In the report at the IV Congress of the Comintern “Five Years of the Russian Revolution and the Prospects of the World Revolution” (“Pravda”, No. 258, November 15, 1922; Bulletin of the IV Congress of the Communist International, No. 8 of November 16, 1922), the word was repeated twice :
"Soviet schools, workers' faculties have been founded, several hundred thousand young people are studying, studying, perhaps too quickly, but, in any case, the work has begun, and I think that this work will bear fruit."
“The whole party and all sections of Russia prove this with their thirst for knowledge. This desire for learning shows that the most important task for us now is: to study and study.”
In the “Plans of the Report “Five Years of the Russian Revolution and the Prospects of the World Revolution” at the IV Congress of the Comintern” (“Pravda”, No. 17. January 21, 1926; the journal “Questions of the History of the CPSU.” - 1959. - No. 2.) says:
It will be even better if we continue to study (I guarantee you this)
It is a common misconception that Lenin first uttered this phrase at the III All-Russian Congress of the RKSM on October 2, 1920. In fact, in this speech, the words “study” and “study communism” were repeatedly heard, but the word “study” was not repeated by him three times.
“In fact, this is not a brain, but shit” (about bourgeois intellectuals)
Lenin's phrase about bourgeois intellectuals is well-known: "In fact, this is not the brain [of the nation], but shit."
It is found in his letter to A. M. Gorky, sent on September 15, 1919 to Petrograd, which the author begins with a message about the meeting of the Politburo of the Central Committee of the RCP (b) on September 11, 1919: “we decided to appoint Kamenev and Bukharin to the Central Committee to verify the arrest of bourgeois intellectuals near-Cadet type and for the release of whom it is possible. For it is clear to us that here, too, there were mistakes.")
And he explains:
“It is wrong to confuse the ‘intellectual forces’ of the people with the ‘forces’ of bourgeois intellectuals. I will take Korolenko as their model: I recently read his pamphlet War, Fatherland and Humanity, written in August 1917. Korolenko is, after all, the best of the "near-Cadet" ones, almost a Menshevik. And what a vile, vile, vile defense of the imperialist war, covered up with sugary phrases! Pitiful tradesman, captivated by bourgeois prejudices! For such gentlemen, the 10,000,000 killed in the imperialist war is a cause worthy of support (by deeds, with sugary phrases "against" the war), while the death of hundreds of thousands in a just civil war against the landowners and capitalists causes ahs, oohs, sighs, hysterics.
No. It is not a sin for such “talents” to spend weeks in prison if this is to be done to prevent conspiracies (like Krasnaya Gorka) and the death of tens of thousands. And we have uncovered these conspiracies of the Cadets and "near-Cadets". And we know that professors close to the Cadets give help to the conspirators all the time. It is a fact.
The intellectual forces of the workers and peasants are growing and strengthening in the struggle to overthrow the bourgeoisie and its accomplices, the intellectuals, lackeys of capital, who imagine themselves to be the brains of the nation. In fact, this is not a brain, but a g ...
We pay higher than average salaries to the "intellectual forces" who want to bring science to the people (and not to serve capital). It is a fact. We protect them."
"There is such a party!"
"There is such a party!" - a catchphrase uttered by V. I. Lenin at the First All-Russian Congress of Soviets in response to the thesis of the Menshevik I. G. Tsereteli.
"Political prostitute"
Not a single document has been preserved where Lenin directly uses this term. But there is plenty of evidence that he used the word "prostitutes" in relation to his political opponents (bund). In particular, a letter from Lenin to the Central Committee of the RSDLP dated September 7, 1905 has been preserved where he wrote:
“For God's sake, don't hurry with an official resolution and don't yield one iota to this Bundist-new Iskra conference. Really without protocols will be?? Is it possible to conference with these prostitutes without protocols?
« Better less is better »
The title of an article from 1923 on measures to be taken to strengthen and improve the Soviet state apparatus. Published in Pravda, No. 49, March 4, 1923.
"Who does not work shall not eat"
A phrase that occurs in many of Lenin's works ("State and Revolution", "Will the Bolsheviks retain state power?", "How to organize a competition?", "On the famine (letter to St. Petersburg workers)", etc.), where it is called the "commandment socialism" or "the root principle of socialism". The expression was included in the text of the 12th article of the Constitution of the USSR in 1936.
It is noteworthy that the original phrase is taken from the New Testament: "... When we were with you, we commanded you this: if anyone does not want to work, then do not eat" (2 Thess. 3:10).
“Trade unions are the school of communism”
The slogan put forward in relation to the trade unions of the Soviet era. One of Ilyich's testaments. For the first time, the expression appeared in April 1920 in Lenin's work "The childhood illness of" leftism "in communism" even before the start of a broad discussion about trade unions. There is this characteristic in his article “Once again about the trade unions, about the current situation and about the mistakes of vols. Trotsky and Bukharin", written in January 1921. Subsequently, Lenin repeats the thesis about trade unions as a school of management, a school of management, a school of communism in the “Draft Theses on the Role and Tasks of Trade Unions in the Conditions of the New Economic Policy” in January 1922.
It is well known that all quotations and statements of this or that historical figure should be considered not only in the context of the entire speech, article or book, but in relation to a specific historical situation. In other words, before you quote anything, you need to know where, when, under what circumstances these words were spoken (written). Then their true meaning will be understood. But it often happens that the layman who does not bother himself with such work falls into the networks cleverly placed by falsifiers of history and himself becomes the object of manipulation by consciousness.
Here are a few quotes taken offhand by V.I. Lenin, which have long been the object of attacks by anti-communists of all stripes and subject them to historical analysis.
"Any cook is capable of running the state."
The phrase "Any cook is capable of governing the state", attributed to V. I. Lenin, is often used in criticizing socialism and the Soviet regime, as well as its version "Any cook should rule the state."
But the fact is that the quote attributed to V. I. Lenin (and sometimes L. Trotsky) “any cook is capable of governing the state” does not belong to him!
In the article “Will the Bolsheviks Retain State Power” (Poln. Sobr. Works, vol. 34, p. 315), Lenin wrote: “We are not utopians. We know that any unskilled laborer and any cook are not able to immediately enter into government of the state ... But we ... demand an immediate break with the prejudice that only the rich or taken from rich families can govern the state, carry out the everyday, daily work of government. We demand that public administration be taught by conscious workers and soldiers and that it be started immediately, that is, all working people, all the poor, should be immediately involved in this training.
Feel the difference!
“In fact, this is not a brain, but shit” (about the intelligentsia)
Lenin’s well-known phrase about the intelligentsia: “In fact, it’s not a brain, but shit,” anti-Soviet intellectuals each time put forward as an indicator of the attitude of the Soviet leader to this stratum of society and his supposedly low intellectual level. Let's see how it really was.
Lenin, in a letter to A. M. Gorky, sent on September 15, 1919 to Petrograd, spoke quite sharply about the intelligentsia (in particular, about V. G. Korolenko), who uncompromisingly opposes the “fair”, according to Lenin, Civil War, but does not sufficiently condemn what happened in the First World War; about the inadmissibility of mixing the “intellectual forces” of the people ... with the “forces” of bourgeois intellectuals who refuse to cooperate constructively with the new government and participate in various conspiracies and subversive actions. In the letter, Lenin also acknowledges the facts of erroneous arrests of the intelligentsia, the facts of assistance to the "intellectual forces" who want to bring science to the people (and not to serve the capital)", and mentions the meeting of the Politburo of the Central Committee of the RCP (b) on September 11, 1919, where the issue of arrests of bourgeois intellectuals (the Politburo invited F. E. Dzerzhinsky, N. I. Bukharin and L. B. Kamenev to reconsider the cases of those arrested).
It is difficult not to agree with Ilyich.
"Political prostitute"
Not a single document has been preserved where Lenin directly uses this term. But there is plenty of evidence that he used the word "prostitutes" in relation to his political opponents. In particular, a letter from Lenin to the Central Committee of the RSDLP dated September 7, 1905 has been preserved, where he wrote: “Is it really possible to conference with these prostitutes without protocols?”
Oh, if only Lenin had lived to this day… I would have seen enough of these representatives of the ancient profession, who have settled in government offices.
"We'll go the other way"
And here is the real legend. But positive. After the execution of his elder brother Alexander in 1887 as a member of the Narodnaya Volya conspiracy to attempt on the life of Emperor Alexander III, Vladimir Ulyanov allegedly uttered the phrase: “We will go the other way,” which meant his rejection of the methods of individual terror. In fact, this phrase is taken and paraphrased from the poem "Vladimir Ilyich Lenin" by Vladimir Mayakovsky.
And then he said
Ilyich seventeen-year-old -
this word is stronger than oaths
a soldier with a raised hand:
Brother, we are ready to change you here,
we will win, but we will go the other way.
According to the memoirs of Anna Ilyinichna's elder sister, Vladimir Ulyanov expressed a different phrase: “No, we will not go this way. This is not the way to go."
Well, in the end, Alexander Nevsky utters his famous words “Whoever comes to us with a sword will die by the sword” only in Eisenstein's film. But after all, with these words, he only confirms the activities of the historical Nevsky, who nevertheless defeated the enemy who came with a sword to Rus'. And Lenin, all the more, went to another path, previously not passed by anyone. Maybe he didn't say it, but he did it!
"Violence is necessary and useful"
Lenin's opponents like to take this quote out of context with a distortion of meaning. And they do it because in context it looks completely different.
"There are conditions under which violence is both necessary and useful, and there are conditions under which violence cannot produce any results." PSS, 5th ed., vol. 38, p.43, "Successes and difficulties of the Soviet government", 1919.
"Let 90% of the Russian people perish, if only 10% survived until the world revolution."
A lie, which, unfortunately, was widely spread with the light hand of the writer Soloukhin. Let's see how this lie is refuted by the Russian historian and philosopher Vadim Kozhinov in his two-volume Russia. Vek XX”: “Vladimir Soloukhin claims that in 1918 Lenin “threw a catchphrase: let 90% of the Russian people perish, if only 10% survived until the world revolution. It was then that Dzerzhinsky's deputy Latsis (in fact, the chairman of the Cheka of the 5th Army. - V.K.) ... published in the Red Terror newspaper on November 1, 1918, a kind of instruction to all his subordinates: "... We exterminate the bourgeoisie as a class ... Do not look for material and evidence during the investigation that the accused acted in deed or word against the Soviet regime ... But, firstly, this “catch phrase” does not belong to Lenin, but to G.E. Zinoviev, who, moreover, spoke nevertheless about the death of 10, and not 90%, and, secondly, having familiarized himself with the same magazine (and not the newspaper) Red Terror, Lenin immediately stated, not without harshness: “. ..it’s not at all necessary to agree on such absurdities, which Comrade Latsis wrote in his Kazan magazine “Red Terror” ... on page 2 in N 1: “do not look (!!?) in the case for accusatory evidence about whether he is against the Council with weapons or words ... ”(V.I. Lenin. Poln. sobr. soch., vol. 37, p. 310).
Agree, if we turn to a reliable source, then the picture of historical reality appears completely different than all sorts of intellectual inconsistencies impose on us. However, wasn't it about them that Lenin wrote in his letter to Gorky?
And in conclusion, we will give a few quotes from Lenin that do not cause such fierce disputes and do not lose their relevance to this day.
A WORD TO COMRADE LENIN
"The universal faith in the revolution is already the beginning of the revolution." - "The Fall of Port Arthur" (January 14 (1), 1905). - PSS, 5th ed., vol. 9, p. 159.
“One device of the bourgeois press always and in all countries turns out to be the most popular and “unmistakably” valid. Lie, make noise, shout, repeat the lie - "something will remain." PSS, 5th ed., vol. 31, p. 217, Union of Lies, April 13 (26), 1917.
"Honesty in politics is the result of strength; hypocrisy is the result of weakness." PSS, 5th ed., vol. 20, p. 210, "Polemical Notes", March 1911.
“We are spoiling the Russian language. We use foreign words unnecessarily. We use them incorrectly. Why say "defects" when you can say shortcomings, or shortcomings, or gaps? .. Isn't it time for us to declare war on the use of foreign words without need? - "On the Purification of the Russian Language" (written in 1919 or 1920; first published December 3, 1924). - PSS, 5th ed., vol. 40, p. 49.
“People have always been and always will be stupid victims of deception and self-deception in politics until they learn to look for the interests of certain classes behind any moral, religious, political, social phrases, statements, promises.” - "Three sources and three components of Marxism" (March 1913). - PSS, 5th ed., Vol. 23, p. 47.
“If I know that I know little, I will succeed in knowing more, but if a person says that he is a communist and that he does not need to know anything solid, then nothing like a communist will come of him.” - "The tasks of youth unions." Speech at the III All-Russian Congress of the Russian Communist Youth Union on October 2, 1920. - PSS, 5th ed., Vol. 41, ss. 305-306.
"Indifference is the silent support of the one who is strong, the one who dominates." - "The Socialist Party and Non-Party Revolutionism", II (December 2, 1905). - PSS, 5th ed., vol. 12, p. 137.
"Patriotism is one of the deepest feelings, fixed for centuries and millennia of isolated fatherlands." - Valuable confessions of Pitirim Sorokin (November 20, 1918). - PSS, 5th ed., Vol. 37, p. 190.
“... Only then will we learn to win when we are not afraid to admit our defeats and shortcomings, when we will look the truth, even the saddest one, straight in the face.” - Report of the All-Russian Central Executive Committee and the Council of People's Commissars on December 23, 1921 "On the domestic and foreign policy of the republic" at the IX All-Russian Congress of Soviets. - PSS, 5th ed., Vol. 44, p. 309.
“Less political chatter. Less intelligent reasoning. Closer to life. - “On the nature of our newspapers” (September 20, 1918). - PSS, 5th ed., Vol. 37, p. 91.
Prepared by Dmitry Pisarev
The great leader of the revolution, the man who raised huge proletarian masses to a nationwide uprising, the man who made a revolution in the Russian Empire and changed the course of history, marked the beginning of a new era, is Vladimir Ilyich Ulyanov, known to history as Lenin. In this article, you will see selected quotes from Lenin that reveal his worldview. We will consider the politician's attitude to various aspects of life and our history.
Lenin Quotes: A Few Preliminary Remarks
Some of the leader's words were documented in the newspapers of that time, verbatim extracts from party congresses, confirmed by eyewitnesses of the revolution and its events. Vladimir Ilyich spoke out a lot on a variety of issues, he undoubtedly possessed oratorical skills, skillfully used his talent to convince a huge number of people of the correctness of his judgments.
Lenin's quotes are popular and to some extent relevant to this day. Already in May 1904, Vladimir Ilyich expressed a philosophical thought, he declared that there is no abstract truth, on the contrary, truth is always concrete. Lenin's quotes about the revolution are drawn by us from primary sources, it was the words about ideology, truth, social guidelines and tasks of the revolutionary movement that were expressed by the leader in reports like "One step forward, two steps back."
Lenin on religion
Not everyone can take the responsibility to interpret the words of the great red leader, but in his quote "The unity in the real struggle of the oppressed class for the creation of paradise on earth is more important ... than the unanimity of the proletarians about paradise in heaven ..." Vladimir Ilyich obviously said about the need to leave the intimate question of faith to the independent resolution of each member of society. However, as you know, it was during the revolutionary era that churches were actively destroyed, and the people serving in them were subjected to persecution and physical destruction.
Lenin's quotes about religion are quite controversial. Vladimir Ilyich said that the party is obliged to oppose religion, but at the same time one can see statements of this kind: "Every person can freely confess<любую>religion or not to profess any of the existing ones..." A rather liberal idea, the reflection of which can be found in the constitution of modern Russia.
Lenin on the national question
It is known for certain that Lenin supported the Irish National Resistance and the uprising in 1916. The very idea of imperialism disgusted Lenin, so the oppressed Irish minority could not be assessed otherwise than positively. However, the revolutionary era was crowned with the oppression of national minorities in the USSR.
Lenin on art
Lenin's famous quote about cinema is: "Of all the arts, cinema is the most important for us." It was films, according to Lenin, that were the most powerful tool of political and ideological agitation and propaganda. The unknown author somewhat distorted the quote in his own way, to some extent revealing the interlinear meaning of what the revolutionary said, the author added at the beginning the words "As long as the people remain illiterate ...". In a corrected form, Lenin's quotation explains the leader's desire to use public opinion "for the benefit of the revolution."
However, not all of Lenin's quotes are reliably confirmed, for example, the leader also claimed that art belongs to the people, but this quote is not confirmed.
Lenin about Russian people
The worldview of a Russian person is a unique, almost inexplicable phenomenon that was described by the classics of Russian literature, political scientists and even the leaders of the revolution themselves. There is an opinion that Lenin was a real Russophobe, but since there could be no public statements of hatred for the Russian people and Russian culture, all this is still just a rumor.
The Ulyanov family included Germans, Swedes, Kalmyks and Chuvashs. The very discipline of the leader, his habit of going to bed and waking up at the same exact time is a reliable confirmation of this. It is known that Lenin's mother contributed to his upbringing in German traditions, blaming the laziness of the "Russian Ivanushka the Fool." Dealing with the revolution, Lenin often had to give cruel orders to destroy the Russian people, for example, a whole stage of the revolution was the destruction of the Cossacks on the Don.
Other leader quotes
Vladimir Ilyich spoke of the revolution in the following way: "The revolution is not made with white gloves," hinting that the White Guards had no idea about the needs of the socialist and democratic revolution.
"Study, study and study" - this is another popular phrase of the leader among the people, which he uttered in one of his printed works. Sharply V. I. Lenin condemned such a human quality as hypocrisy: "Honesty in politics is the result of strength, and hypocrisy is the result of weakness."
Lenin recognized objective truths: " It is impossible to live in society and be free from society. " Lenin spoke of the victory as follows: " Only then will we learn to win when we are not afraid to admit our defeats and shortcomings.” Thanks to Lenin, modern politicians often resort to the catchphrase “political prostitute”.
