“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… — Leon Trotsky Copy Share
The dialectic is neither fiction nor mysticism, but a science of the forms of our thinking insofar as it is not limited to the… — Leon Trotsky Copy Share Image
[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… — Leon Trotsky Copy Share Image
The creative union of the conscious with the unconscious is what one usually calls 'inspiration.' — Leon Trotsky Copy Share Image
Religions are illogical primitive ignorance. There is nothing as ridiculous and tragic as a religious government. — Leon Trotsky Copy Share Image
“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… — Leon Trotsky Copy Share
All the parties of capitalist society, all its moralists and all its sycophants will perish beneath the debris of the impending catastrophe. The only… — Leon Trotsky Copy Share Image
What shall we call an "immediate possibility"? In 1923 the situation in Germany was profoundly revolutionary, but what was lacking for a victorious revolution… — Leon Trotsky Copy Share Image
The history of a revolution is for us first of all a history of the forcible entrance of the masses into the realm of… — Leon Trotsky Copy Share Image
I wrote a study about this question, The Lessons of October, which served as a pretext for my elimination from the government. — Leon Trotsky Copy Share Image
A program of "disarmament," while imperialist antagonisms survive, is the most pernicious of fictions. Even if it were realized by way of general agreement - an obviously fantastic assumption!- that would by no means prevent a new war. The imperialists do not make war because there are armaments; on the contrary, they forge arms when they need to fight. — Leon Trotsky Copy Share
In Stalin each [Soviet bureaucrat] easily finds himself. But Stalin also finds in each one a small part of his own spirit. Stalin is… — Leon Trotsky Copy Share Image
As long as I breathe I hope. As long as I breathe I shall fight for the future, that radiant future, in which man, strong and beautiful, will become master of the drifting stream of his history and will direct it towards the boundless horizons of beauty, joy and happiness! Life is beautiful. Let the future generations cleanse it of… — Leon Trotsky Copy Share