“In not more than a month's time terror will assume very violent forms, after the example of the great French Revolution; the guillotine… will be ready for our enemies… that remarkable invention of the French Revolution which makes man shorter by a head.”

—  Leon Trotsky

As quoted in The Cheka : Lenin's Political Police (1981) by George Leggett, p. 54

Adopted from Wikiquote. Last update Sept. 27, 2023. History

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Leon Trotsky photo
Leon Trotsky 106
Marxist revolutionary from Russia 1879–1940

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Variant: The proletariat should not ignore peaceful methods of struggle — they serve its ordinary, day-to-day interests, they are necessary in periods of preparation for revolution — but it must never forget that in certain conditions the class struggle assumes the form of armed conflict and civil war; there are times when the interests of the proletariat call for ruthless extermination of its enemies in open armed clashes. This was first demonstrated by the French proletariat in the Commune and brilliantly confirmed by the Russian proletariat in the December uprising.

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