--- title: "3 Class struggle Quotes By Leon Trotsky" description: "3 Class struggle quotes by Leon Trotsky. Plus more from Leon Trotsky and more Class struggle sayings from other authors." image: "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/8e8/leon-trotsky-2558_battle-cry_as-a-battle-cry-against-feudalism-the-de_69706.jpg" --- > [“As a battle cry against feudalism, the demand for democracy had a progressive character. As time went on, however, the metaphysics of…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/leon-trotsky/as-a-battle-cry-against-feudalism-the-demand-for-democracy-had-a/) [Leon Trotsky](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/leon-trotsky/) [Image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/8e8/leon-trotsky-2558_battle-cry_as-a-battle-cry-against-feudalism-the-de_69706.jpg) > [“Lenin refused to recognise moral norms established by slave-owners for their slaves and never observed by the slave-owners themselves; he called upon…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/leon-trotsky/lenin-refused-to-recognise-moral-norms-established-by-slave-owners/) [Leon Trotsky](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/leon-trotsky/) [Image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/3cd/leon-trotsky-2558_class-struggle_lenin-refused-to-recognise-moral-norms-e_273064.jpg) > [The party that leans upon the workers but serves the bourgeoisie, in the period of the greatest sharpening of the class struggle,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/leon-trotsky/the-party-that-leans-upon-the-workers-but-serves-the-bourgeoisie-in/) [Leon Trotsky](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/leon-trotsky/) [Image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/29b/leon-trotsky-2558_bourgeoisie_the-party-that-leans-upon-the-workers-bu_671885.jpg) ## Other authors on Class struggle - [ ![](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/wp-content/uploads/sms4s/authors/processed/b016/author-mao-zedong-63096.jpg) Mao Zedong 13 quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/class-struggle/mao-zedong/) - [ ![](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/wp-content/uploads/sms4s/authors/processed/b014/author-karl-marx-55237.jpg) Karl Marx 9 quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/class-struggle/karl-marx/) - [ ![](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/wp-content/uploads/sms4s/authors/processed/b016/author-louis-althusser-61328.jpg) Louis Althusser 6 quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/class-struggle/louis-althusser/) - [ ![](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/wp-content/uploads/sms4s/authors/processed/b010/author-friedrich-engels-36343.jpg) Friedrich Engels 5 quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/class-struggle/friedrich-engels/) ## More by Leon Trotsky > [The dialectic is neither fiction nor mysticism, but a science of the forms of our thinking insofar as it is not limited to the…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/leon-trotsky/the-dialectic-is-neither-fiction-nor-mysticism-but-a-science-of-the/) [Leon Trotsky](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/leon-trotsky/) > [ \[Joseph\] Stalin closes the exposition of these \[Leon Trotsky\] ideas with the words, "Such are in general the characteristic features of \[Vladimir\] Lenin's conception… ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/leon-trotsky/joseph-stalin-closes-the-exposition-of-these-leon-trotsky-ideas-with/) [Leon Trotsky](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/leon-trotsky/) > [The creative union of the conscious with the unconscious is what one usually calls 'inspiration.'](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/leon-trotsky/the-creative-union-of-the-conscious-with-the-unconscious-is-what-one/) [Leon Trotsky](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/leon-trotsky/) > [Religions are illogical primitive ignorance. There is nothing as ridiculous and tragic as a religious government.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/leon-trotsky/religions-are-illogical-primitive-ignorance-there-is-nothing-as/) [Leon Trotsky](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/leon-trotsky/) > [“As a battle cry against feudalism, the demand for democracy had a progressive character. As time went on, however, the metaphysics of natural law…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/leon-trotsky/as-a-battle-cry-against-feudalism-the-demand-for-democracy-had-a/) [Leon Trotsky](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/leon-trotsky/) > [All the parties of capitalist society, all its moralists and all its sycophants will perish beneath the debris of the impending catastrophe. The only…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/leon-trotsky/all-the-parties-of-capitalist-society-all-its-moralists-and-all-its/) [Leon Trotsky](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/leon-trotsky/) > [What shall we call an "immediate possibility"? In 1923 the situation in Germany was profoundly revolutionary, but what was lacking for a victorious revolution…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/leon-trotsky/what-shall-we-call-an-immediate-possibility-in-1923-the-situation-in/) [Leon Trotsky](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/leon-trotsky/) > [The history of a revolution is for us first of all a history of the forcible entrance of the masses into the realm of…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/leon-trotsky/the-history-of-a-revolution-is-for-us-first-of-all-a-history-of-the/) [Leon Trotsky](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/leon-trotsky/) > [I wrote a study about this question, The Lessons of October, which served as a pretext for my elimination from the government.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/leon-trotsky/i-wrote-a-study-about-this-question-the-lessons-of-october-which/) [Leon Trotsky](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/leon-trotsky/) > [A program of "disarmament," while imperialist antagonisms survive, is the most pernicious of fictions. Even if it were realized by way of general agreement…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/leon-trotsky/a-program-of-disarmament-while-imperialist-antagonisms-survive-is-the/) [Leon Trotsky](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/leon-trotsky/) > [ In Stalin each \[Soviet bureaucrat\] easily finds himself. But Stalin also finds in each one a small part of his own spirit. Stalin is… ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/leon-trotsky/in-stalin-each-soviet-bureaucrat-easily-finds-himself-but-stalin-also/) [Leon Trotsky](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/leon-trotsky/) > [As long as I breathe I hope. As long as I breathe I shall fight for the future, that radiant future, in which man,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/leon-trotsky/as-long-as-i-breathe-i-hope-as-long-as-i-breathe-i-shall-fight-for/) [Leon Trotsky](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/leon-trotsky/) > [If we had had more time for discussion we should probably have made a great many more mistakes.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/leon-trotsky/if-we-had-had-more-time-for-discussion-we-should-probably-have-made-a/) [Leon Trotsky](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/leon-trotsky/) > [Is it possible to fulfill this task, is it possible to achieve the definite victory of Socialism in one country without the combined efforts…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/leon-trotsky/is-it-possible-to-fulfill-this-task-is-it-possible-to-achieve-the/) [Leon Trotsky](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/leon-trotsky/) > [The motive force of history is truth and not lies.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/leon-trotsky/the-motive-force-of-history-is-truth-and-not-lies/) [Leon Trotsky](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/leon-trotsky/) ```json { "@context": "https://schema.org", "@graph": [ { "@type": "ItemList", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/class-struggle/leon-trotsky/#itemlist", "name": "3 Class struggle Quotes By Leon Trotsky", "numberOfItems": 3, "itemListElement": [ { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 1, "item": { "@type": "Quotation", "text": "“As a battle cry against feudalism, the demand for democracy had a progressive character. As time went on, however, the metaphysics of natural law (the theory of formal democracy) began to show its reactionary side – the establishment of an ideal standard to control the real demands of the laboring masses and the revolutionary parties. If we look back to the historical sequence of world concepts, the theory of natural law will prove to be a paraphrase of Christian spiritualism freed from its crude mysticism. The Gospels proclaimed to the slave that he had just the same soul as the slave-owner, and in this way established the equality of all men before the heavenly tribunal. In reality, the slave remained a slave, and obedience became for him a religious duty. In the teaching of Christianity, the slave found an expression for his own ignorant protest against his degraded condition. Side by side with the protest was also the consolation. Christianity told him, ”You have an immortal soul, although you resemble a pack-horse.\" Here sounded the note of indignation. But the same Christianity said, \"Although you are like a pack-horse, yet your immortal soul has in store for it an eternal reward.\" Here is the voice of consolation. These two notes were found in historical Christianity in different proportions at different periods and amongst different classes. But as a whole, Christianity, like all other religions, became a method of deadening the consciousness of the oppressed masses. Natural law, which developed into the theory of democracy, said to the worker: \"all men are equal before the law, independently of their origin, their property, and their position; every man has an equal right in determining the fate of the people.\" This ideal criterion revolutionized the consciousness of the masses in so far as it was a condemnation of absolutism, aristocratic privileges, and the property qualification. But the longer it went on, the more if sent the consciousness to sleep, legalizing poverty, slavery and degradation: for how could one revolt against slavery when every man has an equal right in determining the fate of the nation? Rothschild, who has coined the blood and tears of the world into the gold napoleons of his income, has one vote at the parliamentary elections. The ignorant tiller of the soil who cannot sign his name, sleeps all his life without taking his clothes off, and wanders through society like an underground mole, plays his part, however, as a trustee of the nation’s sovereignty, and is equal to Rothschild in the courts and at the elections. In the real conditions of life, in the economic process, in social relations, in their way of life, people became more and more unequal; dazzling luxury was accumulated at one pole, poverty and hopelessness at the other. But in the sphere of the legal edifice of the State, these glaring contradictions disappeared, and there penetrated thither only unsubstantial legal shadows. The landlord, the laborer, the capitalist, the proletarian, the minister, the bootblack – all are equal as \"citizens\" and as \"legislators.\" The mystic equality of Christianity has taken one step down from the heavens in the shape of the \"natural,\" \"legal\" equality of democracy. But it has not yet reached earth, where lie the economic foundations of society. For the ignorant day-laborer, who all his life remains a beast of burden in the service of the bourgeoisie, the ideal right to influence the fate of the nations by means of the parliamentary elections remained little more real than the palace which he was promised in the kingdom of heaven.”", "creator": { "@type": "Person", "name": "Leon Trotsky" }, "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/leon-trotsky/as-a-battle-cry-against-feudalism-the-demand-for-democracy-had-a/", "image": { "@type": "ImageObject", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/8e8/leon-trotsky-2558_battle-cry_as-a-battle-cry-against-feudalism-the-de_69706.jpg", "contentUrl": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/8e8/leon-trotsky-2558_battle-cry_as-a-battle-cry-against-feudalism-the-de_69706.jpg", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/8e8/leon-trotsky-2558_battle-cry_as-a-battle-cry-against-feudalism-the-de_69706.jpg", "width": 1080, "height": 1080, "caption": "“As a battle cry against feudalism, the demand for democracy had a progressive character. 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Who fawns before the precepts established by the enemy will never vanquish that enemy!”", "creator": { "@type": "Person", "name": "Leon Trotsky" }, "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/leon-trotsky/lenin-refused-to-recognise-moral-norms-established-by-slave-owners/", "image": { "@type": "ImageObject", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/3cd/leon-trotsky-2558_class-struggle_lenin-refused-to-recognise-moral-norms-e_273064.jpg", "contentUrl": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/3cd/leon-trotsky-2558_class-struggle_lenin-refused-to-recognise-moral-norms-e_273064.jpg", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/3cd/leon-trotsky-2558_class-struggle_lenin-refused-to-recognise-moral-norms-e_273064.jpg", "width": 1080, "height": 1080, "caption": "“Lenin refused to recognise moral norms established by slave-owners for their slaves and never observed by…” — Leon Trotsky", "creditText": "SMS4Smile Quotes", "creator": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#organization" } } } }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 3, "item": { "@type": "Quotation", "text": "The party that leans upon the workers but serves the bourgeoisie, in the period of the greatest sharpening of the class struggle, cannot but sense the smells wafted from the waiting grave.", "creator": { "@type": "Person", "name": "Leon Trotsky" }, "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/leon-trotsky/the-party-that-leans-upon-the-workers-but-serves-the-bourgeoisie-in/", "image": { "@type": "ImageObject", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/29b/leon-trotsky-2558_bourgeoisie_the-party-that-leans-upon-the-workers-bu_671885.jpg", "contentUrl": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/29b/leon-trotsky-2558_bourgeoisie_the-party-that-leans-upon-the-workers-bu_671885.jpg", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/29b/leon-trotsky-2558_bourgeoisie_the-party-that-leans-upon-the-workers-bu_671885.jpg", "width": 1080, "height": 1080, "caption": "“The party that leans upon the workers but serves the bourgeoisie, in the period of the greatest sharpening…” — Leon Trotsky", "creditText": "SMS4Smile Quotes", "creator": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#organization" } } } } ] }, { "@type": "CollectionPage", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/class-struggle/leon-trotsky/#webpage", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/class-struggle/leon-trotsky/", "name": "Class struggle Quotes by Leon Trotsky", "isPartOf": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#website" }, "mainEntity": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/class-struggle/leon-trotsky/#itemlist" }, "primaryImageOfPage": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/8e8/leon-trotsky-2558_battle-cry_as-a-battle-cry-against-feudalism-the-de_69706.jpg" }, "description": "3 Class struggle quotes by Leon Trotsky. 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