Communism needs democracy like the human body needs oxygen.
Leon TrotskyRead
As long as human labor power, and, consequently, life itself, remain articles of sale and purchase, of exploitation and robbery, the principle of the “sacredness of human life” remains a shameful lie, uttered with the object of keeping the oppressed slaves in their chains.
Interpretation
What this quote means
Human life is undervalued when it is treated as a commodity, leading to exploitation.
In this quote, Trotsky asserts that the commodification of human labor reduces the intrinsic value and dignity of human life. He argues that while society claims to uphold the sacredness of life, the reality of exploitation reveals a hypocrisy that keeps oppressed individuals subjugated, suggesting that real respect for human life cannot exist alongside systemic labor exploitation.
Themes
ExploitationHuman LifeLaborValueOppressionDignity
In practice
Example use cases
During a lecture on labor rights, one might cite this quote to highlight the importance of valuing human life over profit.
More from Leon Trotsky
All quotes →Abusive language and swearing are a legacy of slavery, humiliation, and disrespect for human dignity, one’s own and that of other people.
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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 The old principle: who does not work shall not eat, has been replaced by a new one: who does not obey shall not eat.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.
Leon TrotskyRead
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
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