Leonid Brezhnev: Quotes about people

“Today progress is so swift in all fields that the education received by young people is only a foundation that requires the constant acquisition of knowledge.”

Leonid Brezhnev

Cited in Soviet Youth and Socialism http://leninist.biz/en/1974/SYAS228/3.1-Youth.and.Culture

People , Education , Knowledge

“December 30, 1922, is a truly historic date in the life of our state, an important milestone in the life of all the Soviet peoples, their great festival.”

Leonid Brezhnev

Cited in Fundamentals of Political Science http://leninist.biz/en/1975/FPS559/3.1-The.Dawn.of.a.New.Era-

Life , People

“Communists have always viewed the national question through the prism of the class struggle, believing that its solution has to be subordinated to the interests of the Revolution, to the interests of socialism. That is why Communists and all fighters for socialism believe that the main aspect of the national question is unification of the working people, regardless of their national origin, in the common struggle against every type of oppression, and for a new social system which rules out exploitation of the working people.”

Leonid Brezhnev

Cited in Nations and Internationalism http://leninist.biz/en/1979/NI302/0-Introduction.005

People , Question

“When external and internal forces hostile to the development of socialism try to turn the development of a given socialist country in the direction of the restoration of the capitalist system, when a threat arises to the cause of socialism in that country … this is no longer merely a problem for that country's people, but a common problem, the concern of all socialist countries.”

Leonid Brezhnev

Speech at the 5th Congress of the Polish United Workers Party (12 November 1968), quoted in The Rise and Fall of the Brezhnev Doctrine in Soviet Foreign Policy (2003) by Matthew J. Ouimet

Hostility , People , Problem , Country

“One of our primary tasks is to foster in people a desire to attain lofty social goals, to foster in them ideological conviction and a truly creative attitude to work. This is a very important area of struggle for communism, and the economic as well as the socio-political development of the country will be increasingly dependent on our successes in this area.”

Leonid Brezhnev

Cited in Triumph of Lenin's Ideas http://leninist.biz/en/1978/TOLI198/01-Opening.Remarks

People , Communication , Success , Dependency

“Our Party supports and will continue to support peoples fighting for their freedom. In so doing, the Soviet Union does not look for advantages, does not hunt for concessions, does not seek political domination and is not after military bases. We act as we are bid by our revolutionary conscience, our communist convictions.”

Leonid Brezhnev

Cited in Ussr: For Peace Against Aggression http://leninist.biz/en/1976/UFPAA243/5.1-Against.Spread.of.Fascist.Aggression

People , Support , Freedom , Fight

“Our militant union with peoples which still have to carry on an armed struggle against the colonialists constitutes an important element of our line in international affairs.”

Leonid Brezhnev

Cited in Ussr and Countries of Africa http://leninist.biz/en/1980/UCOA319/01.5.1-Struggle.of.Former.Portuguese.Colonies

People

“Soviet people are better off materially and richer spiritually.”

Leonid Brezhnev

As quoted in Our Friends Speak : Greetings to the 25th CPSU Congress (1976), p. 268

People

“We want the world socialist system to be a well-knit family of nations, building and defending the new society together, and mutually enriching each other with experience and knowledge, a family, strong and united, which the people of the world would regard as the prototype of the future world community of free nations.”

Leonid Brezhnev

Cited in the Future of Society http://leninist.biz/en/1973/FS375/5.3-Main.Historical.Stages.of.the.Communist.Formation

People , World , Family , Communication

“Every man must be made to realize that further retreat is impossible. He must realize with his mind and heart that this is a matter of life and death of the Soviet state, of the life and death of the people of our country…the Nazi troops must be stopped now, before it is too late.”

Leonid Brezhnev

Statement made in World War II, as a commissar on the southern front, as quoted in Leonid I. Brezhnev : Pages from his Life (1978) by Academy of Sciences of the USSR, p. 49; also in For the Soul of Mankind : The United States, the Soviet Union, and the Cold War (2007) by Melvyn P. Leffler, p. 237

Life , Death , People , Heart

“The most important thing in my life, its leitmotif, has been the constant and close contacts with working people, with workers and peasants.”

Leonid Brezhnev

As quoted in Sputnik : Digest (1967), p. 48

Life , People