There is not, nor should there be, an irreconcilable contrast between the individual and the collective, between the interests of an individual person and the interests of the collective.
Great Britain provided time; the United States provided money and Soviet Russia provided blood.
Take some exercise, try to recover the look of a human being.
Ours is a just cause; victory will be ours!
Obviously these [white-guard] emigres enjoy the right of asylum existing also in the U.S. So far as we are concerned we would never tolerate a single terrorist in our territory regardless against whom he would contemplate his crimes. Apparently the right of asylum receives broader interpretation in the U.S.A. than in our country.
Exported revolution is nonsense.
Die, but do not retreat.
Marxists have more than once pointed out that the capitalist world economic system contains in itself the seeds of a general crisis and of warlike clashes.
Divide the world into regional groups as a transitional stage to world government. Populations will more readily abandon their national loyalty to a vague regional loyalty than they will for a world authority. Later the regions can be brought together all the way into a single world dictatorship.
I know that after my death a pile of rubbish will be heaped on my grave, but the wind of History will sooner or later sweep it away without mercy.
Gaiety is the most outstanding feature of the Soviet Union.
World dictatorship can be established only when the victory of socialism has been achieved in certain countries or groups of countries ... [and] when these federation of republics have finally grown into a world union of Soviet Socialist Republics uniting the whole of mankind under the hegemony of the international proletariat organized as a state.
In the Soviet army it takes more courage to retreat than advance.
Admittedly communism has not been achieved in Russia. State socialism has been built.
The art of leadership is a serious matter. One must not lag behind a movement, because to do so is to become isolated from the masses. But one must not rush ahead, for to rush ahead is to lose contact with the masses. He who wished to lead a movement must conduct a fight on two fronts--against those who lag behind and those who rush ahead.
The writer is the engineer of the human soul.
Remember how the first world war broke out. It broke out as a result of the desire to redivide the world.
You do not lament the loss of hair of one who has been beheaded.
How do you expect the Germans to revolt when they don't even dare walk on the grass?
Marxism is not only the theory of socialism, it is an integral world outlook, a philosophical system, from which Marx’s proletarian socialism logically follows. This philosophical system is called dialectical materialism.
We think that a powerful and vigorous movement is impossible without differences - "true conformity" is possible only in the cemetery.
When one man dies it is a tragedy, when thousands die it's statistics.
We [U.S.S.R. and U.S.A.] can exist peacefully together if we don't indulge in too much mutual fault-finding in all kinds of trifles.
If any foreign minister begins to defend to the death a 'peace conference,' you can be sure his government has already placed its orders for new battleships and airplanes.
music's a good thing, it calm the beast in the man.
Gratitude is a sickness suffered by dogs.
Writers are the engineers of human souls.
The death of one man is tragic, but the death of thousands is statistic.
The only real power comes out of a long rifle.
I believe in one thing only, the power of human will.
Our new Soviet constitution will, in my opinion, be the most democratic constitution of all those existing in the world.
In speaking of the capitalists who strive only for profit, only to get rich, I do not want to say that these are the most worthless people capable of doing nothing else. Many of them undoubtedly possess great organising talent, which I would not dream of denying. We Soviet people learn a lot from the capitalists. But if you mean people who are prepared to reconstruct the world, of course you will not be able to find them in the ranks of those who faithfully serve the cause of profit. ..The capitalist is riveted in profit and nothing can tear him away from it.
Bukharin's a swine and surely worse than a swine because he thinks it below his dignity to write a couple of lines.
Nowadays wars are not declared. They simply start.
- Oh no, The Collective Farm policy was a terrible struggle... Ten million (he said holding up his hands). It was fearful. Four years it lasted. It was absolutely necessary.
In the U.S.S.R. anti-semitism is punishable with the utmost severity of the law as a phenomenon deeply hostile to the Soviet system. Under U.S.S.R. law active anti-semites are liable to the death penalty.
To choose one's victims, to prepare one's plan minutely, to slake an implacable vengeance, and then to go to bed... There is nothing sweeter in the world.
Everybody has a right to be stupid, but some people abuse the privilege.
Under national "socialism", there is also only one party. But nothing will come out of this fascist one-party system.
Mankind is divided into rich and poor, into property owners and exploited; and to abstract oneself from this fundamental division; and from the antagonism between poor and rich means abstracting oneself from fundamental facts.
History shows that there are no invincible armies.
This war is not as in the past: whoever occupies a territory also imposes his own social system.
World War II was fought for the abolition of racial exclusiveness, equality of nations and the integrity of their territories, liberation of enslaved nations and restoration of their sovereign rights, the right of every nation to arrange its affairs as it wishes, economic aid to nations that have suffered and assistance to them in attaining their material welfare, restoration of democratic liberties, and destruction of the Hitlerite regime.
Revolution, the substitution of one social system for another, has always been a struggle, a painful and a cruel struggle, a life and death struggle.
A man's eyes should be torn out if he can only see the past
Personel selection is decisive. People are our most valuable capital.
Words are one thing - deeds something entirely different. Fine words are a mask to cover shady deeds. A sincere diplomat is like dry water or wooden iron.
Artillery is the god of war.
A certain inequality in regard to property still exists in a socialist society. But in a socialist society there is no unemployment, no exploitation, no oppression of nationalities.
Undoubtedly, our path is not of the easiest; but, just as undoubtedly, we are not to be frightened by difficulties. Paraphrasing from the well-known words of Luther, Russia might say: ‘Here I stand on the frontier between the old, capitalist world and the new, socialist world. Here on this frontier I unite the efforts of the proletarians of the West and of the peasantry of the East in order to shatter the old world. May the god of history be my aid!
Hitlers come and go, but Germany and the German people remain.
We do not want a single foot of foreign territory; but of our territory we shall not surrender a single inch to anyone.
This war is not an ordinary war. It is the war of the entire Russian people. Not only to eliminate the danger hanging over our heads, but to aid all people groaning under the yoke of Fascism
I consider it completely unimportant who in the party will vote, or how; but what is extraordinarily important is this - who will count the votes, and how.
The reason why there is now no communist government in Paris is because in the circumstances of 1945 the Soviet army was not able to reach French soil.
A sincere diplomat is like dry water or wooden iron.
As you can see, even when [Adolf] Hitler desires to speak for peace, he cannot dispense with threats. This is symptomatic.
When there's a person, there's a problem. When there's no person, there's no problem. Josef Stalin
It's not the people who vote that count. It's the people who count the votes.
Those who vote decide nothing. Those who count the vote decide everything.
The press must grow day in and day out - it is our Party's sharpest and most powerful weapon.
Each position, each metre of the Soviet territory must be stubbornly defended, to the last drop of blood. We must cling to every inch of Soviet soil and defend it to the end!
The people who cast the votes decide nothing; the people who count the votes decide everything.
It doesn't matter who they vote for, they always vote for us.
The Jews are not a nation!
Anti-Semitism is dangerous for the toilers, for it is a false track which diverts them from the proper road and leads them into the jungle. Hence, Communists, as consistent internationalists, cannot but be irreconcilable and bitter enemies of anti-Semitism. In the U.S.S.R., anti-Semitism is strictly prosecuted as a phenomenon hostile to the Soviet system. According to the laws of the U.S.S.R. active anti-Semites are punished with death.
The Pope? How many divisions has he got?
We are fifty or a hundred years behind the advanced countries. We must make good this distance in ten years. Either we do it, or they will crush us.
By May, 1st, 1937, there should not be one single church left within the borders of Soviet Russia, and the idea of God will have been banished from the Soviet Union as a remnant of the Middle Ages, which has been used for the purpose of oppressing the working classes.
Education is a weapon the effect of which is determined by the hands which wield it, by who is to be struck down.
As we know, the goal of every struggle is victory. But if the proletariat is to achieve victory, all the workers, irrespective of nationality, must be united. Clearly, the demolition of national barriers and close unity between the Russian, Georgian, Armenian, Polish, Jewish and other proletarians is a necessary condition for the victory of the proletariat of all Russia.
American Communists have the opportunity to preach freely their ideas. It would be absolutely wrong to hold the Soviet government responsible for activities of the American Communists.
In war I would deal with the Devil and his grandmother
You know, they are fooling us, there is no God.
The leaders come and go, but the people remain. Only the people are immortal.
We built [socialistic society] for the sake of real personal liberty, liberty without quotation marks.
Quanity has it's own quality.
It is difficult for me to imagine what “personal liberty” is enjoyed by an unemployed hungry person. True freedom can only be where there is no exploitation and oppression of one person by another; where there is not unemployment, and where a person is not living in fear of losing his job, his home and his bread. Only in such a society personal and any other freedom can exist for real and not on paper.
History shows that when a state is intent upon making war against another state, even though not adjacent, it begins to seek frontiers across which it could reach the frontiers of the state which it desires to attack. Usually, the aggressive state finds that frontier.
Mr. Churchill, Mr. Prime Minister, how many divisions did you say that the pope had?
It is not heroes that make history, but history that makes heroes.
This is impossible to predict. War may break out unexpectedly.
Voters decide nothing. Vote counters decide everything!
Have not fascism in Italy and National Socialism in Germany claimed that they have attained similar results [as in U.S.S.R.]? Have not both been achieved at the price of privation and personal liberty sacrificed for the good of the state?
He who votes does not have power. He who counts the votes has power.
At this point the question of Ukraine is the most important. The situation in Ukraine is very bad. If we don't take steps now to improve the situation, we may lose Ukraine. The objective should be to transform Ukraine , in the shortest period of time, into a real fortress of the U.S.S.R.
Our Soviet society is socialist because private ownership of factories, plants, land, banks and means of transportation has been abolished in our country, and replaced by public ownership.
Political power does not rest with those who cast votes; political power rests with those who count votes.
In the future, there will be fewer but better Russians.
Everyone imposes his own system as far as his army can reach.
This creature softened my heart of stone. She died and with her died my last warm feelings for humanity.
Ah, these diplomats! What chatterboxes! There's only one way to shut them up - cut them down with machine guns. Bulganin, go and get me one!
Only when we succeed in creating such an order under which people receive for their labor from the society not according to the quantity and quality of labor, but according to their needs, will it be possible to say that we have built up a communist society.
Nobody respects a country with a poor army, but everybody respects a country with a good army. I raise my toast to the Finnish army
There is talk ... of our constructing Dnieprostroy through our own means. The means needed are great, several hundred millions. Let us not get into the position of the peasant who, after accumulating a nest-egg, instead of repairing his plough and renewing his equipment, buys a gramophone and goes bankrupt.
We Marxists believe that revolution will occur in other countries, as well. But it will occur at a time when it will be considered possible or necessary by revolutionaries of those countries.
The production of souls is more important than the production of tanks.... And therefore I raise my glass to you, writers, the engineers of the human soul.
You cannot make a revolution with silk gloves.
There are on occasions, as we know, when resources are abundant, but they are expended so incompetently that the advantage is nullified.
Print is the sharpest and the strongest weapon of our party.
We believe that the Anarchists are real enemies of Marxism.
The rich experience of history teaches that up to now not a single class has voluntarily made way for another class.
American democracy and the Soviet system can exist simultaneously and compete peacefully. But one cannot develop into the other.
Do you remember the tsar? Well, I‘m like a tsar.
Ideas are more powerful than guns. We would not let our enemies have guns, why should we let them have ideas.
[After Communism succeeds] ...then, there will come a peace across the earth.
There are no fortresses that Bolsheviks cannot storm.
The United States should get rid of its militias.
I trust no one, not even myself.
It takes a brave man to be a coward in the Red Army.
When we hang the capitalists they will sell us the rope we use.
Is it possible, then, to doubt that we can and must gain victory over the German invaders? The enemy is not as strong as some terror-stricken pseudo-intellectuals picture him. The devil is not as terrible as he is painted.
So far, the Far Eastern focal point of danger is the most active.It is possible, however, that the center of the menace may shift to Europe. Evidence of this is provided, for instance, by [Adolf] Hitler's recent interview given to a French paper. In this interview, Hitler seems to attempt to say peaceful things. But this "peacefulness" of his is so thickly interspersed with threats against France and the Soviet Union that nothing remains of the "peacefulness".
It doesnt matter how many people vote, only who counts them.
[American Communist Party] legally exists in the U.S.A., it nominates its candidates in the elections, including Presidential elections.
Quantity has a quality all its own.
Of course, in order to build something new, one has to economize, accumulate means, temporarily limit one's requirements, borrow from others. If you want to build a new house, you save money temporarily and limit your requirements, otherwise you might not build your house.
We desire to give the Soviet people absolute liberty of voting for those they desire to elect, those whom they trust to ensure their interests.
Of all the treasures a state can possess, the human lives of its citizens are for us the most precious.
Our Red Army now needs IL-2 aircraft like the air it breathes, like the bread it eats.
Real liberty exists only there where exploitation has been annihilated, where no oppression of some peoples by others exists, where there is no unemployment and pauperism, where a person does not tremble because tomorrow he may lose his job, home and bread.
The Red Army and Navy and the whole Soviet people must fight for every inch of Soviet soil, fight to the last drop of blood for our towns and villages...onward, to victory!
If the opposition disarms, well and good. If it refuses to disarm, we shall disarm it ourselves.
When you chop wood, splinters fly
The term "state socialism" is not precise. Under this term many understand an order under which a certain part of the wealth, sometimes a quite considerable part, passes into state ownership or under its control while in the great majority of cases the ownership of plants, factories, and land, remains in private hands.
