"The bourgeoisie, it now appeared, was digging its own grave. That, at least, was the argument Lenin put forward, at first from exile, and then after the overthrow of Tsar Nicholas II early in 1917, from within Russia itself. Lenin differed from Marx and Engels, however, in his determination to move from theory to action: his coup d'état in November—for that is what it was—remains as striking an example as exists of the extent to which one person can change the course of history. Or, as Lenin would have put it, drawing on Marx, by which the "conscious vanguard of the proletariat" can accelerate history toward its scientifically predetermined conclusion. What the Bolshevik "revolution" meant was that one state had gone beyond trying to save capitalism: it had, in the middle of a war capitalists had started, declared war on capitalism itself. And if the expectations of Lenin and his followers were correct, the citizens of other states—themselves embittered by capitalism and battered by war—would soon seize power and do the same. The irreversible engine of history guaranteed it."
Quote Details
Added by wikiquote-import-bot
Unverified quote
0 likes
Original Language: English
Available Languages (1)
Sources
John Lewis Gaddis, The Cold War: A New History (2006), p. 87
https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Vladimir_Lenin
Revision History
No revisions have been submitted for this quote.
Categories
Vladimir Lenin
politician, writer, economist
1870 – 1924 · Russian Empire
Vladimir Ilyich Lenin (Russian: Владимир Ильич Ленин), born Vladimir Ilyich Ulyanov (Russian: Влади́мир Ильи́ч Ульянов) (22 April 1870 (10 April (O.S.)) – 21 January 1924) was a Russian revolutionary, the leader of the Bolshevik communist party, the first Premier of the Soviet Union and the main theorist of Leninism. He married the revolutionary Nadezhda Krupskaya in 1898.
405 quotes on TrueQuotesView all quotes by Vladimir Lenin →
Related Quotes
"As leader and man Lenin possessed a selfless devotion to communist ideals and to the cause of the party and of the wo…"
"Human reason has discovered many amazing things in nature and will discover still more, and will thereby increase its…"
"Revolutionary Social-Democracy has always included the struggle for reforms as part of its activities. But it utilise…"
"A newspaper is not only a collective propagandist and a collective agitator, it is also a collective organiser."
"Human thought by its nature is capable of giving, and does give, absolute truth, which is compounded of a sum-total o…"
"The reflection of nature in man's thought must be understood not lifelessly but in the eternal process of movement, t…"
"It is particularly necessary to arouse in all who participate in practical work, or are preparing to take up that wor…"
"A basic condition for the necessary expansion of political agitation is the organisation of comprehensive political e…"
"This struggle must be organised, according to “all the rules of the art”, by people who are professionally engaged in…"
"The sole "property" of matter with whose recognition philosophical materialism is bound up is the property of being a…"