“The basic question of every revolution is that of state power. Unless this question is understood, there can be no intelligent participation in the revolution, not to speak of guidance of the revolution. The highly remarkable feature of our revolution is that it has brought about dual power.”

—  Vladimir Lenin

This fact must be grasped first and foremost: unless it is understood, we cannot advance. We must know how to supplement and amend old "formulas".
Lenin Anthology, p. 301
1910s, "The Dual Power" (1917)

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 "The basic question of every revolution is that of state power. Unless this question is understood, there can be no inte…" by Vladimir Lenin?
Vladimir Lenin photo
Vladimir Lenin 336
Russian politician, led the October Revolution 1870–1924

Related quotes

Mao Zedong photo

“Who are our enemies and who are our friends? This is the first and foremost question of a revolution and it is also the first and foremost question of the great Cultural Revolution.”

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

1967
Directives Regarding the Cultural Revolution (1966-1972)

Karl Marx photo

“England, it is true, in causing a social revolution in Hindostan, was actuated only by the vilest interests, and was stupid in her manner of enforcing them. But that is not the question. The question is, can mankind fulfil its destiny without a fundamental revolution in the social state of Asia? If not, whatever may have been the crimes of England she was the unconscious tool of history in bringing about that revolution.”

Karl Marx (1818–1883) German philosopher, economist, sociologist, journalist and revolutionary socialist

" The British Rule in India http://www.marxists.org/archive/marx/works/1853/06/25.htm," New York Daily Tribune, 10 June 1853.

C. Wright Mills photo

“Every revolution has its counterrevolution — that is a sign the revolution is for real. And every revolution must defend itself against this counterrevolution, or the revolution will fail.”

C. Wright Mills (1916–1962) American sociologist

Listen Yankee (1960), pp. 54.
1960s

Mao Zedong photo

“Who are our enemies? Who are our friends? This is a question of the first importance for the revolution.”

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

谁是我们的敌人？谁是我们的朋友？这个问题是革命的首要问题.
Shéi shì wǒmen de dírén? Shéi shì wǒmen de péngyǒu? Zhège wèntí shì gémìng de shǒuyào wèntí.
Chapter 2 https://www.marxists.org/reference/archive/mao/works/red-book/ch02.htm, originally published in Analysis of the Classes in Chinese Society (March 1926), Selected Works, Vol. I, p. 1.
Quotations from Chairman Mao Zedong (The Little Red Book)

Muammar Gaddafi photo

“Revolution is when the masses make the revolution. A people’s revolution. But even when the revolution is made by others in the name of the masses, expressing what the masses want, it can be revolution. A people’s revolution because it has the support of the masses and interprets the will of the masses.”

Muammar Gaddafi (1942–2011) Libyan revolutionary, politician and political theorist

Interview with Oriana Fallaci (2 December 1979), Corriere della Sera
Interviews

Immortal Technique photo

“Revolution is never going to finish, because we can never stop reforming our democracy. The moment the revolution stops means the revolution has been betrayed.”

Immortal Technique (1978) American rapper and activist

(2011) ( From RT. com http://rt.com/news/immortal-technique-wall-street-revolution-747/}
Interviews

“Only a total revolution with an end to technological police powers, communications, transportation and modern comforts can save our kind now. And the revolution must come from White males.”

David Lane (white nationalist) (1938–2007) American white supremacist, convicted felon

page ?
Polygamy: Nature's Command

Fidel Castro photo

“In other words: Within the revolution, everything; against the revolution, nothing. Against the revolution, nothing, because the revolution also has its rights, and the first right of the revolution is the right to exist, and no one can oppose the revolution's right to exist. Inasmuch as the revolution embodies the interests of the people, inasmuch as the revolution symbolizes the interests of the whole naion, no one can justly claim a right to oppose it.”

Fidel Castro (1926–2016) former First Secretary of the Communist Party and President of Cuba

Words to Intellectuals (1961)

Leon Trotsky photo

“The dictatorship of the proletariat which has risen to power as the leader of the democratic revolution is inevitably and, very quickly confronted with tasks, the fulfillment of which is bound up with deep inroads into the rights of bourgeois property. The democratic revolution grows over directly into the socialist revolution and thereby becomes a permanent revolution.”

Leon Trotsky book The Permanent Revolution

Source: The Permanent Revolution (1929), Ch. 10

Paulo Freire photo

“Finally, cultural revolution develops the practice of permanent dialogue between leaders and people and consolidates the participation of the people in power.”

Paulo Freire (1921–1997) educator and philosopher

Pedagogia do oprimido (Pedagogy of the Oppressed) (1968, English trans. 1970)

Related topics