Bolsheviks Quote by Mikhail Gorbachev

“When the Bolsheviks came to power they were soft and easy with their enemies... we had begun by making a mistake. Leniency towards such…

— Joseph Stalin

“...you must remember that the political development of the masses proceeds not in a direct line, but in a complicated curve. And is not…

— Leon Trotsky

“For the information of these “friends” who consider themselves called to defend against us the role of the Bolsheviks in the October Revolution, we…

— Leon Trotsky

“It may well be that the Bolsheviks' greatest strength in 1917 was not strict party organization and discipline (which scarcely existed at this time)…

— Sheila Fitzpatrick

In effect, according to Lenin, socialism and democracy are indivisible. By gaining democratic freedoms the working masses come to power.

— Mikhail Gorbachev

“The Bolsheviks argued that only socialism could resolve the contradiction between work and family. Under socialism, household labor would be transferred to the public…

— Wendy Z. Goldman

The Bolsheviks could not have retained power for two and a half months, let alone two and a half years, without the most rigorous…

— Vladimir Lenin

In 1917 there was not a single Bolshevik who considered possible the realization of a socialist society in a single country, and least of…

— Leon Trotsky

“The most important one was the belief, which went back to Lenin, that capitalists would never be able to cooperate with one another for…

— John Lewis Gaddis

“The Bolsheviks placed a premium on the “creative intelligentsia,” as it was termed—writers, artists, and, especially, filmmakers—as well as scholars and scientists. Military officers…

— Masha Gessen

“Everyone starved. Starvation is a potent weapon, and the Bolsheviks are happy to wield it. The cheapest way to get rid of the opposition…

— Jane Smiley

The Bolsheviks did not seize power; they picked it up.

— Adam Ulam