It is impossible to predict the time and progress of revolution. It is governed by its own more or less mysterious laws.
Vladimir LeninRead
To decide once every few years which members of the ruling class is to repress and crush the people through parliament-this is the real essence of bourgeois parliamentarism, not only in parliamentary- constitutional monarchies, but also in the most democratic republics.
Interpretation
What this quote means
This quote criticizes the nature of bourgeois parliamentary systems and their role in maintaining oppression.
Vladimir Lenin highlights that the essence of bourgeois parliamentarism lies in its function as a mechanism for the ruling class to exert control over the populace, regardless of the system's democratic claims. By suggesting that even in the most democratic republics, the ruling class still decides how to oppress the citizens, Lenin reveals the inherent contradictions in political systems that purport to represent the people while serving elite interests.
Themes
BourgeoisParliamentarismOppressionDemocracyRuling Class
In practice
Example use cases
In a debate on political reform, one might quote Lenin to emphasize the need for genuine representation.
More from Vladimir Lenin
All quotes →For the complete extinction of the state, complete Communism is necessary.
Vladimir LeninRead
Medicine is the keystone of the arch of socialism.
Vladimir LeninRead
A democracy is a state which recognizes the subjection of the minority to the majority, that is, an organization for the systematic use of violence by one class against the other, by one part of the population against another.
Vladimir LeninRead
We are not utopians, we do not “dream” of dispensing at once with all administration, with all subordination. These anarchist dreams, based upon incomprehension of the tasks of the proletarian dictatorship, are totally alien to Marxism, and, as a matter of fact, serve only to postpone the socialist revolution until people are different. No, we want the socialist revolution with people as they are now, with people who cannot dispense with subordination, control, and "foremen and accountants".
Vladimir LeninRead
The way to crush the bourgeoisie is to grind them between the millstones of taxation and inflation.
Vladimir LeninRead
Similar quotes
In fact, the best thing we could do on taxes for all Americans is to simplify the individual tax code. This will be a tough job, but members of both parties have expressed an interest in doing this, and I am prepared to join them.
Barack ObamaRead
If we don't have an informed electorate we don't have a democracy. So I don't care how people get the information, as long as they get it. I'm just doing it my particular way and I feel lucky I can do it the way I want to do it.
Jim LehrerRead
There are lots of countries that are having these kinds of internal civil wars in other parts of the world and nobody is talking about intervening.
Colin PowellRead
Thomas Jefferson once said: 'Of course the people don't want war. But the people can be brought to the bidding of their leader. All you have to do is tell them they're being attacked and denounce the pacifists for somehow a lack of patriotism and exposing the country to danger. It works the same in any country.' I think that was Jefferson. Oh wait. That was Hermann Goering. Shoot." [Hosting the Peabody Awards for broadcasting excellence at the New York Waldorf-Astoria, June 6, 2006]
Jon StewartRead
Where I think historians can help preserve and actually restore democracy is to remind us of how we got it.
Stacey AbramsRead
Regret what? That secret operation was an excellent idea. It had the effect of drawing the Russians into the Afghan trap and you want me to regret it? The day that the Soviets officially crossed the border, I wrote to President Carter. We now have the opportunity of giving to the USSR its Vietnam war. Indeed, for almost 10 years, Moscow had to carry on a war unsupportable by the government, a conflict that brought about the demoralization and finally the breakup of the Soviet empire.
Zbigniew BrzezinskiRead