It is impossible to predict the time and progress of revolution. It is governed by its own more or less mysterious laws.
Vladimir LeninRead
Pacifism, the preaching of peace in the abstract, is one of the means of duping the working class.
Interpretation
What this quote means
Pacifism may deceive the working class by offering an abstract notion of peace without addressing their real struggles.
In this quote, Lenin critiques pacifism as a political stance that prioritizes theoretical peace over the tangible struggles and injustices faced by the working class. He suggests that promoting peace in an abstract sense can serve as a distraction or manipulation that undermines the necessity of confronting social and economic inequalities directly, thus keeping the working class complacent and unaware of their true position in society.
Themes
PacifismPeaceWorking ClassStruggleSocial Justice
In practice
Example use cases
During a debate on social justice, one could use this quote to argue against complacency in activism.
More from Vladimir Lenin
All quotes βFor the complete extinction of the state, complete Communism is necessary.
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Medicine is the keystone of the arch of socialism.
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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.
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We are not utopians, we do not βdreamβ 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
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