Leon Trotsky

Where force is necessary, there it is not a question of convincing, but of breaking.

The creative activity of the masses is the fundamental factor of the revolution.

Only in the realm of the imagination, and not in the real world, can the working class jump over its own shadow.

The revolution is like the god Saturn, it devours its own children.

The bureaucracy, which by its very nature is conservative, is the principal obstacle to social progress.

A party is a part of a class.

The working class cannot achieve its emancipation without a revolutionary party.

The historical ascent of humanity, taken as a whole, may be summarized as a succession of victories of consciousness over blind forces — in nature, in society, in man himself.

The main task of a revolutionary party is to prepare the working class for the conquest of power.

The working class needs a party, as a lever for the conquest of power, but it needs a party that is not afraid to lead it to power.

The permanent revolution, in the Marxian sense, means the uninterrupted development of the revolution, the uninterrupted transformation of the old society.

The revolution is a struggle for ideas, but it is also a struggle for power.

The task of the working class is to conquer power and to build a socialist society.

The struggle for the liberation of the working class is a struggle for the liberation of all humanity.

The party that has an independent press has everything.

The more workers there are, the more capitalism there is.

The end result of the revolution is not merely to change the government, but to change the very nature of human society.

The permanent revolution, in the Marxian sense, means that the complete, decisive, and radical solution of the tasks of the democratic revolution is conceivable only through the dictatorship of the proletariat, which, having become the leader of the nation, also and above all of the peasant masses, puts on the order of the day the tasks of the socialist revolution.

Terror as a demonstration of the will and strength of the proletariat is historically justified, precisely because the proletariat's will and strength are the only historical factors that can save humanity from the abyss.

The old society has been torn to shreds. Now a new society must be built. This is the task of the new man.