“History moves in contradictions. The skeleton of historic existence, the economic structure of society, also develops in contradictions. Forms eternally follow forms. Everything has only a passing being. The dynamic force of life creates the new over and over again — such is the law inherent in reality.”
Imperialism and World Economy (1917), Ch. 15 http://www.marxists.org/archive/bukharin/works/1917/imperial/index.htm
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Nikolai Bukharin 18
Soviet politician 1888–1938Related quotes
Art History And Class Struggle (1978)

“The inherent contradiction of human life has now reached an extreme degree of tension”
Source: A Letter to a Hindu (1908), VI
Context: The inherent contradiction of human life has now reached an extreme degree of tension: on the one side there is the consciousness of the beneficence of the law of love, and on the other the existing order of life which has for centuries occasioned an empty, anxious, restless, and troubled mode of life, conflicting as it does with the law of love and built on the use of violence. This contradiction must be faced, and the solution will evidently not be favourable to the outlived law of violence, but to the truth which has dwelt in the hearts of men from remote antiquity: the truth that the law of love is in accord with the nature of man. But men can only recognize this truth to its full extent when they have completely freed themselves from all religious and scientific superstitions and from all the consequent misrepresentations and sophistical distortions by which its recognition has been hindered for centuries.

On Contradiction (1937)
Original: (zh-CN) 共产党内正确思想和错误思想的矛盾,如前所说,在阶级存在的时候,这是阶级矛盾对于党内的反映。这种矛盾,在开始的时候,或在个别的问题上,并不一定马上表现为对抗性的。但随着阶级斗争的发展,这种矛盾也就可能发展为对抗性的。苏联共产党的历史告诉我们:列宁、斯大林的正确思想和托洛茨基、布哈林等人的错误思想的矛盾,在开始的时候还没有表现为对抗的形式,但随后就发展为对抗的了。中国共产党的历史也有过这样的情形。我们党内许多同志的正确思想和陈独秀、张国焘等人的错误思想的矛盾,在开始的时候也没有表现为对抗的形式,但随后就发展为对抗的了。目前我们党内的正确思想和错误思想的矛盾,没有表现为对抗的形式,如果犯错误的同志能够改正自己的错误,那就不会发展为对抗性的东西。因此,党一方面必须对于错误思想进行严肃的斗争,另方面又必须充分地给犯错误的同志留有自己觉悟的机会。在这样的情况下,过火的斗争,显然是不适当的。但如果犯错误的人坚持错误,并扩大下去,这种矛盾也就存在着发展为对抗性的东西的可能性

Source: The Mass Psychology of Fascism (1933), Ch. 1 : Ideology As Material Power, Section 1 : The Divergence Of Ideology And Economic Situation
Context: Revolutionary practice in any field of human existence develops by itself if one comprehends the contradictions in every new process; it consists in siding with those forces which act in the direction of progressive development. To be radical, according to Marx, means "going to the root of things." If one goes to the root of things, if one understands their contradictory character, the means of mastering the reaction become plain.

Introduction to Capital. Introduction to volume 1 (1976)
Source: The Next Development in Man (1948), p. 167
On Eagle's Wings, 1977, p. 118
As of a Trumpet, On Eagle's Wings