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@xy, member from Sept. 25, 2023

Favourite quotes (21448)

“The State is a machine in the hands of the ruling class for suppressing the resistance of its class enemies. in this respect the dictatorship of the proletariat does not differ essentially from dictatorship of any other class, for the proletarian State is a machine for the suppression of the bourgeoisie.”

Joseph Stalin (1879–1953) General secretary of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union

The Problems of Leninism

“Until the bourgeoisie is completely vanquished, until its wealth has been confiscated, the proletariat must without fail possess a military force, it must without fail have its "proletarian guard," with the aid of which it will repel the counter-revolutionary attacks of the dying bourgeoisie, exactly as the Paris proletariat did during the Commune.”

Joseph Stalin (1879–1953) General secretary of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union

Anarchism or Socialism (1906)

“If, against all expectation, Germany finds itself in a difficult situation then she can be sure that the Soviet people will come to Germany's aid and will not allow Germany to be strangled. The Soviet Union wants to see a strong Germany and we will not allow Germany to be thrown to the ground.”

Joseph Stalin (1879–1953) General secretary of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union

Statement in September 1939, as quoted in "Stalin's pact with Hitler" in WWII Behind Closed Doors at PBS http://www.pbs.org/behindcloseddoors/episode-1/ep1_stalins_pact.html Contemporary witnesses

“The idea of a concentration camp is excellent.”

Joseph Stalin (1879–1953) General secretary of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union

On ideas of eradicating 'counter-revolutionaries and traitors' in Estonia, as quoted in Stalin : A Biography (2004) by Robert Service, p. 158; also in Bol'shevistskoe rukovodstvo. Perepiska, 1912-1927, p. 36.
Contemporary witnesses

“The Party must be, first of all, the advanced detachment of the working class. The Party must absorb all the best elements of the working class, their experience, their revolutionary spirit, their selfless devotion to the cause of the proletariat. But in order that it may really be the armed detachment, the Party must be armed with revolutionary theory, with a knowledge of the laws of the movement, with a knowledge of the laws of revolution. Without this it will be incapable of directing the struggle of the proletariat, of leading the proletariat.”

Joseph Stalin (1879–1953) General secretary of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union

The Foundations of Leninism

“If the opposition disarms, all is well and good. If it refuses to disarm, we shall disarm it ourselves.”

Joseph Stalin (1879–1953) General secretary of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union

The Political Report of the Central Committee, The Fifteenth Congress of the C.P.S.U.(B.) (7 December 1927) http://marx2mao.com/Stalin/FC27.html#s5iii Stalin's speeches, writings and authorised interviews

“Ours is a just cause; victory will be ours!”

Joseph Stalin (1879–1953) General secretary of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union

In Russian: Наше дело правое — победа будет за нами! Speech at celebration meeting (6 November 1941). However, Stalin was quoting Vyacheslav Molotov's speech to the Soviet people of June 22, 1941. A facsimile of the draft of this speech is reprinted in the Russian journal _Istoricheskii Arkhiv_ No. 2, 1995, pp. 35-37. This quotation, in Molotov's handwriting, is on p. 37 of that issue. http://marx2mao.com/Stalin/GPW46.html#s2 Stalin's speeches, writings and authorised interviews

“The mortal sin of the Second International was not that it pursued at that time the tactics of utilising parliamentary forms of struggle, but that it overestimated the importance of these forms, that it considered them virtually the only forms; and that when the period of open revolutionary battles set in and the question of extra-parliamentary forms of struggle came to the fore, the parties of the Second International turned their backs on these new tasks, refused to shoulder them.”

Joseph Stalin (1879–1953) General secretary of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union

Source: The Foundations of Leninism, Ch.7

“It is impossible to finish off capitalism without having finished off social democracy in the working-class movement.”

Joseph Stalin (1879–1953) General secretary of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union

Voprosi Leninizma, Gosudarstvennoe izdatelstvo politicheskoy literaturi, (1939)
Stalin's speeches, writings and authorised interviews

“I know that the gentlemen in the enemy camp may think of me however they like. I consider it beneath me to try to change the minds of these gentlemen.”

Joseph Stalin (1879–1953) General secretary of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union

Omitted portion of an interview between Stalin and Emil Ludwig (13 December 1931) http://chss.montclair.edu/english/furr/research/stalinludwig_missing_eng.html Stalin's speeches, writings and authorised interviews

“So the bastard's dead? Too bad we didn't capture him alive!”

Joseph Stalin (1879–1953) General secretary of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union

Said in April 1945 — On hearing of Hitler's suicide, as quoted in The Memoirs of Georgy Zhukov http://militera.lib.ru/memo/russian/zhukov1/22.html Contemporary witnesses

“Social democracy is objectively the moderate wing of fascism”

Joseph Stalin (1879–1953) General secretary of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union

“Concerning the International Situation,” Works, Vol. 6, January-November, 1924, pp. 293-314.
Stalin's speeches, writings and authorised interviews
Context: Social democracy is objectively the moderate wing of fascism.... These organisations (ie Fascism and social democracy) are not antipodes, they are twins.

“You cannot make a revolution with silk gloves.”

Joseph Stalin (1879–1953) General secretary of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union

"omlets are not made without breaking eggs" first appeared in English in 1796. It is from the French, "on ne saurait faire d'omelette sans casser des œufs" (1742 and earlier), attributed to François de Charette. In the context of the Soviet Union, Time magazine http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,753448-2,00.html attributes it to Lazar Kaganovich. Walter Duranty associated with Stalin in the New York Times. "But – to put it brutally – you can't make an omelette without breaking eggs, and the Bolshevist leaders are just as indifferent to the casualties that may be involved in their drive toward socialization as any General during the World War who ordered a costly attack in order to show his superiors that he and his division possessed the proper soldierly spirit. In fact, the Bolsheviki are more indifferent because they are animated by fanatical conviction." Walter Duranty, Special Cable to The New York Times http://www.artukraine.com/old/famineart/duranty.htm, The New York Times, New York, March 31, 1933, page 13. Misattributed Variant: You can't make an omelette without breaking eggs.

“[redacted; spurious].”

Joseph Stalin (1879–1953) General secretary of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union

“Quantity has a quality all its own.”

Joseph Stalin (1879–1953) General secretary of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union

No evidence that this phrasing is due to Stalin, and it does not appear in English translations of his philosphical works. Earliest English is found in 1979 in US defense industry, presumably defense consultant Thomas A. Callaghan Jr. The connection of sufficient quantitative change leading to qualitative change is found in Marxist philosophy, by Marx and Engels, drawing from Hegelian philosophy and Ancient Greek philosophy. Marx and Engels are quoted by Stalin, but this formulation appears to be a modern American form; see quantity for details. Stalin may have said that way before World War II, there is evidence in his Russian-language books, for example here http://www.modernlib.ru/books/stalin_iosif_vissarionovich/tom_14/read_16/. Misattributed Variant: Quantity is quality. Source: Re: "Quantity has a quality all its own" source? http://h-net.msu.edu/cgi-bin/logbrowse.pl?trx=vx&list=h-russia&month=1004&week=a&msg=ljEwsM4dMrpmUGVfI7EGqg, Tim Davenport, h-russia https://networks.h-net.org/h-russia, April 5, 2010

“Gratitude is a sickness suffered by dogs.”

Joseph Stalin (1879–1953) General secretary of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union

As quoted in The Memoirs of Stalin's former secretary (1992) by Boris Bazhanov [Saint Petersburg] (in Russian) http://lib.ru/MEMUARY/BAZHANOW/stalin.txt Contemporary witnesses

“I believe in only one thing, the power of human will.”

Joseph Stalin (1879–1953) General secretary of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union

“Death solves all problems — no man, no problem.”

Joseph Stalin (1879–1953) General secretary of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union

This actually comes from the novel Children of the Arbat (1987) by Anatoly Rybakov. In his later book The Novel of Memories ( In Russian http://www.sakharov-center.ru/asfcd/auth/auth_pages.xtmpl?Key=18637&page=307) Rybakov admitted that he had no sources for such a statement. Misattributed

“History shows that there are no invincible armies and that there never have been.”

Joseph Stalin (1879–1953) General secretary of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union

Radio Address https://www.marxists.org/reference/archive/stalin/works/1941/07/03.htm (3 July 1941) Stalin's speeches, writings and authorised interviews

“Don’t expect a reply from Mr. Churchill. Mr. Churchill does not understand in what a ridiculous position he puts himself by his outcry about “totalitarianism, tyranny and police rule.”

Joseph Stalin (1879–1953) General secretary of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union

https://www.marxists.org/reference/archive/stalin/works/1946/03/x01.htmInterview to “Pravda” Correspondent Concerning Mr. Winston Churchill’s Speech at Fulton; March, 1946 Stalin's speeches, writings and authorised interviews Context: As is known, the Government of the State in Britain at the present time is in the hands of one party, the Labour Party, and the opposition parties are deprived of the right to participate in the Government of Britain. That Mr. Churchill calls true democracy. Poland, Romania, Yugoslavia, Bulgaria and Hungary are administered by blocs of several parties—from four to six parties—and the opposition, if it is more or less loyal, is secured the right of participation in the Government. That Mr. Churchill describes as totalitarianism, tyranny and police rule. Why? On what grounds? Don’t expect a reply from Mr. Churchill. Mr. Churchill does not understand in what a ridiculous position he puts himself by his outcry about “totalitarianism, tyranny and police rule.