Communism needs democracy like the human body needs oxygen.
Leon TrotskyRead
Abusive language and swearing are a legacy of slavery, humiliation, and disrespect for human dignity, one’s own and that of other people.
Interpretation
What this quote means
The quote highlights that abusive language stems from historical oppression and undermines human dignity.
Leon Trotsky's quote asserts that the use of abusive language and swearing is not merely a matter of bad manners but rather a profound reflection of the legacy of slavery and the systematic humiliation it entailed. It emphasizes that such language devalues both the speaker and the target, indicating a disregard for individual dignity, which is rooted in societal and historical contexts of oppression.
Themes
Abusive LanguageHumiliationDignitySlaveryRespect
In practice
Example use cases
In a speech about social justice, one might use this quote to emphasize the importance of language in fostering respect.
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All quotes →In a country where the sole employer is the State, opposition means death by slow starvation. The old principle: who does not work shall not eat, has been replaced by a new one: who does not obey shall not eat.
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Man will become immeasurably stronger, wiser, and subtler; his body will become more harmonious, his movements more rhythmic, his voice more musical. The forms of life will become dynamically dramatic. The average human type will rise to the heights of an Aristotle, a Goethe, or a Marx. And above these heights, new peaks will rise.
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The masses go into a revolution not with a prepared plan of social reconstruction, but with a sharp feeling that they cannot endure the old regime. Only the guiding layers of a class have a political program, and even this still requires the test of events and the approval of the masses.
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History has different yardsticks for the cruelty of the Northerners and the cruelty of the Southerners in the Civil War. A slave-owner who through cunning and violence shackles a slave in chains, and a slave who through cunning or violence breaks the chains – let not the contemptible eunuchs tell us that they are equals before a court of morality!
Leon TrotskyRead
The end may justify the means as long as there is something that justifies the end.
Leon TrotskyRead
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