V. I. Lenin
@livinglenin.bsky.social
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V. I. Lenin
@livinglenin.bsky.social
· Jan 22
The art of any propagandist and agitator consists in his ability to find the best means of influencing any given audience, by presenting a definite truth, in such a way as to make it most convincing, most easy to digest, most graphic, and most strongly impressive.
Theories of natural history which conflicted with the old prejudices of theology provoked, and still provoke, the most rabid opposition. No wonder, therefore, that the Marxian doctrine… has had to fight for every step forward in the course of its life.
October 30, 2026 at 3:05 PM
Theories of natural history which conflicted with the old prejudices of theology provoked, and still provoke, the most rabid opposition. No wonder, therefore, that the Marxian doctrine… has had to fight for every step forward in the course of its life.
And the more menacingly the governments rattle their sabres one against the other, the more ruthlessly do they crush the anti-militarist movement at home. The persecutions of anti-militarists are growing extensively and intensively.
October 29, 2026 at 5:31 PM
And the more menacingly the governments rattle their sabres one against the other, the more ruthlessly do they crush the anti-militarist movement at home. The persecutions of anti-militarists are growing extensively and intensively.
Nowhere in the world has the proletarian movement come into being, nor could it have come into being, “all at once”, in a pure class form, ready-made, like Minerva from the head of Jupiter.
October 28, 2026 at 11:15 PM
Nowhere in the world has the proletarian movement come into being, nor could it have come into being, “all at once”, in a pure class form, ready-made, like Minerva from the head of Jupiter.
Russia is too poor to pay a decent salary to honest workers in the field of public education, but Russia is rich enough to waste millions and tens of millions on aristocratic parasites, on military adventures and on hand-outs to owners of sugar refineries, oil kings and so on.
October 27, 2026 at 11:50 PM
Russia is too poor to pay a decent salary to honest workers in the field of public education, but Russia is rich enough to waste millions and tens of millions on aristocratic parasites, on military adventures and on hand-outs to owners of sugar refineries, oil kings and so on.
…the law does nothing to improve [the workers] status, so long as the workers’ dependence on the capitalists continues to exist, because the law will always be partial to the capitalist employers, because the latter will always succeed in devising ruses for evading the law.
October 26, 2026 at 11:45 PM
…the law does nothing to improve [the workers] status, so long as the workers’ dependence on the capitalists continues to exist, because the law will always be partial to the capitalist employers, because the latter will always succeed in devising ruses for evading the law.
No movement, including the working-class movement, is possible without debates, controversy and conflict of opinions; and no organisation is possible if resolute measures are not taken to prevent controversies from degenerating into recrimination and squabbling.
October 25, 2026 at 11:02 PM
No movement, including the working-class movement, is possible without debates, controversy and conflict of opinions; and no organisation is possible if resolute measures are not taken to prevent controversies from degenerating into recrimination and squabbling.
…under the present capitalist system, all working folk possess no property: all the machines, instruments, raw materials, land, and bread belong to the rich. The workers have to sell themselves to them so as not to starve.
October 24, 2026 at 1:03 PM
…under the present capitalist system, all working folk possess no property: all the machines, instruments, raw materials, land, and bread belong to the rich. The workers have to sell themselves to them so as not to starve.
This is material. This is important. This is the quintessence of politics. This is the reason our bourgeoisie is astoundingly impotent politically, its economic power not withstanding.
October 23, 2026 at 3:04 PM
This is material. This is important. This is the quintessence of politics. This is the reason our bourgeoisie is astoundingly impotent politically, its economic power not withstanding.
Desperate resistance always and everywhere engenders “grave forms of struggle”, engenders attempts to shift the dispute from the sphere of principles to that of squabbles. What if it does? Because of that do you want us to reject the struggle for the fundamental principles of party organisation?
October 22, 2026 at 5:31 PM
Desperate resistance always and everywhere engenders “grave forms of struggle”, engenders attempts to shift the dispute from the sphere of principles to that of squabbles. What if it does? Because of that do you want us to reject the struggle for the fundamental principles of party organisation?
The interests of the working class…require, on the contrary, the fullest equality of all the nationalities in the state without exception, and the elimination of every kind of barrier between the nations, the bringing together of children of all nations in the same schools, etc.
October 21, 2026 at 11:15 PM
The interests of the working class…require, on the contrary, the fullest equality of all the nationalities in the state without exception, and the elimination of every kind of barrier between the nations, the bringing together of children of all nations in the same schools, etc.
But the civilised nations have driven themselves into the position of barbarians. Capitalism has brought about a situation in which the bourgeoisie, in order to hoodwink the workers, is compelled to frighten the British people with idiotic tales about “invasion”.
October 20, 2026 at 11:50 PM
But the civilised nations have driven themselves into the position of barbarians. Capitalism has brought about a situation in which the bourgeoisie, in order to hoodwink the workers, is compelled to frighten the British people with idiotic tales about “invasion”.
For centuries England has enslaved Ireland, condemned the Irish peasants to unparalleled misery and gradual extinction from starvation, driven them off the land and compelled hundreds of thousands and even millions of them to leave their native country and emigrate to America.
October 19, 2026 at 11:45 PM
For centuries England has enslaved Ireland, condemned the Irish peasants to unparalleled misery and gradual extinction from starvation, driven them off the land and compelled hundreds of thousands and even millions of them to leave their native country and emigrate to America.
victory over the bourgeoisie is impossible without a long, stubborn and desperate life-and-death struggle which calls for tenacity, discipline, and a single and inflexible will
October 18, 2026 at 11:01 PM
victory over the bourgeoisie is impossible without a long, stubborn and desperate life-and-death struggle which calls for tenacity, discipline, and a single and inflexible will
“History will,” of course, “show how the padlocks will be opened”; that is an incontestable and fruitless truism. It is an excuse deriving from senile decay. A politician must be able to say which class owns the padlocks and which classes must open them and by what means.
October 17, 2026 at 1:02 PM
“History will,” of course, “show how the padlocks will be opened”; that is an incontestable and fruitless truism. It is an excuse deriving from senile decay. A politician must be able to say which class owns the padlocks and which classes must open them and by what means.
That a landlord should entertain such views is not surprising, neither is his indignation at the growth of atheism surprising, or his pious speeches.
October 16, 2026 at 3:04 PM
That a landlord should entertain such views is not surprising, neither is his indignation at the growth of atheism surprising, or his pious speeches.
Imperialism has the tendency to create privileged sections also among the workers, and to detach them from the broad masses of the proletariat.
October 15, 2026 at 5:31 PM
Imperialism has the tendency to create privileged sections also among the workers, and to detach them from the broad masses of the proletariat.
An electric lamp was attached to a worker’s arm, the worker’s movements were photographed and the movements of the lamp studied. Certain movements were found to be to “superfluous” and the worker was made to avoid them, i.e., to work more intensively, without losing a second for rest.
October 14, 2026 at 11:15 PM
An electric lamp was attached to a worker’s arm, the worker’s movements were photographed and the movements of the lamp studied. Certain movements were found to be to “superfluous” and the worker was made to avoid them, i.e., to work more intensively, without losing a second for rest.
In order to make a genuinely Marxist assessment of the revolution…it has to be assessed as the struggle of live social forces, placed in particular objective conditions, acting in a particular way and applying with greater or less success particular forms of struggle.
October 13, 2026 at 11:50 PM
In order to make a genuinely Marxist assessment of the revolution…it has to be assessed as the struggle of live social forces, placed in particular objective conditions, acting in a particular way and applying with greater or less success particular forms of struggle.
the economic possibility arises of deliberately [slowing] technical progress. For instance, in America a certain Owens invented a machine which revolutionised the manufacture of bottles. The German bottle-manufacturing cartel purchased Owens’s patent, but pigeon-holed it, refrained from utilising it
October 12, 2026 at 11:45 PM
the economic possibility arises of deliberately [slowing] technical progress. For instance, in America a certain Owens invented a machine which revolutionised the manufacture of bottles. The German bottle-manufacturing cartel purchased Owens’s patent, but pigeon-holed it, refrained from utilising it
Sacred private property has been forced to sacrifice a bit of its sacredness; laws have had to be made compelling joint-stock companies to keep proper books... This, of course, has not prevented the public being swindled; the swindling has merely taken new forms and become more subtle than before.
October 11, 2026 at 11:01 PM
Sacred private property has been forced to sacrifice a bit of its sacredness; laws have had to be made compelling joint-stock companies to keep proper books... This, of course, has not prevented the public being swindled; the swindling has merely taken new forms and become more subtle than before.
But the movement is growing, it is spreading to ever wider regions, it is penetrating more and more deeply into the working class and is attracting public attention to an ever-increasing degree.
October 10, 2026 at 1:03 PM
But the movement is growing, it is spreading to ever wider regions, it is penetrating more and more deeply into the working class and is attracting public attention to an ever-increasing degree.
Competition, which is keenest in a period of crisis like the present, calls for the invention of an increasing number of new devices to reduce the cost of production. But the domination of capital converts all these devices into instruments for the further exploitation of the workers.
October 9, 2026 at 3:03 PM
Competition, which is keenest in a period of crisis like the present, calls for the invention of an increasing number of new devices to reduce the cost of production. But the domination of capital converts all these devices into instruments for the further exploitation of the workers.
Less illusions about the liberalism of the counter-revolutionary bourgeoisie. More attention to the growth of the international revolutionary proletariat!
October 8, 2026 at 5:30 PM
Less illusions about the liberalism of the counter-revolutionary bourgeoisie. More attention to the growth of the international revolutionary proletariat!
The oppressed are allowed once every few years to decide which particular representatives of the oppressing class shall represent and repress them in parliament
October 7, 2026 at 11:15 PM
The oppressed are allowed once every few years to decide which particular representatives of the oppressing class shall represent and repress them in parliament
But according to Bernstein it would appear as though Marx in these words warned the working class against excessive revolutionary zeal when seizing power. A cruder more hideous distortion of Marx’s idea cannot be imagined.
October 6, 2026 at 11:50 PM
But according to Bernstein it would appear as though Marx in these words warned the working class against excessive revolutionary zeal when seizing power. A cruder more hideous distortion of Marx’s idea cannot be imagined.