Quotes from book
Our Political Tasks

Name: Our Political Tasks
Author: Leon Trotsky

Leon Trotsky

Our Political Tasks is a pamphlet by Leon Trotsky, published in 1904 as a response to the book of Vladimir Lenin "One Step Forward, Two Steps Back". It is the first relatively large work of the author; the book was aimed against the RSDLP party split, in which Lenin was accused.

“Lenin's methods [of "hard" centralism and mistrust of the working class] lead to this: the party organization substitutes itself for the party, the central committee substitutes itself for the organization, and, finally, a "dictator" substitutes himself for the central committee. … The party must seek the guarantee of its stability in its own base, in an active and self-reliant proletariat, and not in its top caucus … which the revolution may suddenly sweep away with its wing.”

Leon Trotsky book Our Political Tasks

"Our Political Tasks" (1904), as quoted in The Prophet Armed (1963) by Isaac Deutscher