“Surely you do not imagine that we shall be victorious without applying the most cruel revolutionary terror?”

As quoted in George Leggett, The Cheka: Lenin’s Political Police (1981), page 57.
Attributions

Adopted from Wikiquote. Last update June 3, 2021. History

Help us to complete the source, original and additional information

Do you have more details about the quote "Surely you do not imagine that we shall be victorious without applying the most cruel revolutionary terror?" by Vladimir Lenin?
Vladimir Lenin photo
Vladimir Lenin 336
Russian politician, led the October Revolution 1870–1924

Related quotes

Vladimir Lenin photo

“Russians are too kind, they lack the ability to apply determined methods of revolutionary terror.”

Vladimir Lenin (1870–1924) Russian politician, led the October Revolution

As quoted in Dmitri Volkogonov, Lenin: Life and Legacy (1994), p. 203.
Attributions

Gene Wolfe photo

“If you rob someone who would help you if you needed help you only rob yourself. […] Do you imagine you can be cruel without teaching others to be cruel to you?”

Gene Wolfe (1931–2019) American science fiction and fantasy writer

Volume 3, Ch. 17
Fiction, The Book of the Short Sun (1999–2001)

Mao Zedong photo

“We, the communists, do not want official positions; we want revolution. We must have a thoroughly revolutionary spirit and must be with the masses every hour, every minute. As long as we are with the masses, we shall always be victorious.”

Mao Zedong (1893–1976) Chairman of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China

Directives Regarding the Cultural Revolution (1966-1972)

John Ruskin photo

“We shall be remembered in history as the most cruel, and therefore the most unwise, generation of men that ever yet troubled the earth: — the most cruel in proportion to their sensibility, — the most unwise in proportion to their science.”

John Ruskin (1819–1900) English writer and art critic

Lecture II, section 35.
The Eagle's Nest (1872)
Context: We shall be remembered in history as the most cruel, and therefore the most unwise, generation of men that ever yet troubled the earth: — the most cruel in proportion to their sensibility, — the most unwise in proportion to their science. No people, understanding pain, ever inflicted so much: no people, understanding facts, ever acted on them so little.

Abraham Lincoln photo

“We shall not fail — if we stand firm, we shall not fail. Wise counsels may accelerate, or mistakes delay it, but, sooner or later, the victory is sure to come.”

Abraham Lincoln (1809–1865) 16th President of the United States

1850s, The House Divided speech (1858)
Context: Of strange, discordant, and even hostile elements, we gathered from the four winds, and formed and fought the battle through, under the constant hot fire of a disciplined, proud, and pampered enemy. Did we brave all them to falter now? — now, when that same enemy is wavering, dissevered, and belligerent? The result is not doubtful. We shall not fail — if we stand firm, we shall not fail. Wise counsels may accelerate, or mistakes delay it, but, sooner or later, the victory is sure to come.

Winston S. Churchill photo

“You ask, what is our aim? I can answer in one word. It is victory, victory at all costs, victory in spite of all terror, victory, however long and hard the road may be; for without victory, there is no survival.”

Speech in the House of Commons, after taking office as Prime Minister (13 May 1940) This has often been misquoted in the form: "I have nothing to offer but blood, sweat and tears ..."
The Official Report, House of Commons (5th Series), 13 May 1940, vol. 360, c. 1502. Audio records of the speech do spare out the "It is" before the in the beginning of the "Victory"-Part.
The Second World War (1939–1945)
Context: You ask, what is our policy? I will say: It is to wage war, by sea, land and air, with all our might and with all the strength that God can give us: to wage war against a monstrous tyranny, never surpassed in the dark, lamentable catalogue of human crime. That is our policy. You ask, what is our aim? I can answer in one word: It is victory, victory at all costs, victory in spite of all terror, victory, however long and hard the road may be; for without victory, there is no survival.
Context: I would say to the House, as I said to those who have joined this Government: 'I have nothing to offer but blood, toil, tears, and sweat.' We have before us an ordeal of the most grievous kind. We have before us many, many long months of struggle and of suffering. You ask, what is our policy? I will say: It is to wage war, by sea, land and air, with all our might and with all the strength that God can give us: to wage war against a monstrous tyranny, never surpassed in the dark, lamentable catalogue of human crime. That is our policy. You ask, what is our aim? I can answer in one word: It is victory, victory at all costs, victory in spite of all terror, victory, however long and hard the road may be; for without victory, there is no survival.

Winston S. Churchill photo
Sergei Zubatov photo

“We shall provoke you to acts of terror and then crush you.”

Sergei Zubatov (1864–1917) Russian politician

Also misnaming Zubatov: in one source his initials are TC, in the other - Z.B. (his actual initials are S.V.).
The actual origin is unknown.
Misattributed
Source: [Wolf, Paul, COINTELPRO: The Untold American Story, https://archive.org/stream/CointelproTheUntoldAmericanStory/COINTELPRO#page/n11/mode/2up, Archive.org, World Conference Against Racism, Durbin SA]
Source: Missouri Law Review, Volume 70, Issue 2, Spring 2005: Sting Operations, Undercover Agents and Entrapment: by Bruce Hay http://scholarship.law.missouri.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=3652&context=mlr

Maximilien Robespierre photo
Kim Il-sung photo

Related topics