Leon Trotsky

"Actually, the decision was not only expedient but necessary. The severity of this summary justice showed the world that we would continue to fight mercilessly, stopping at nothing. The execution of the Tsar's family was needed not only in order to frighten, horrify, and dishearten the enemy but also in order to shake up our own ranks, to show them that there was no turning back, that ahead lay either complete victory or complete ruin."

8 likes

Source: Leon Trotsky (1958). “Diary in Exile, 1935”, Cambridge : Harvard University Press

About the author

Leon Trotsky

Leon Trotsky

Revolutionary, Politician

Leon Trotsky was a key figure in the Russian Revolution and a prominent Marxist theorist known for his ideas on permanent revolution and critiques of Stalinism.

All quotes by Leon Trotsky →

Same author

More quotes by Leon Trotsky

See all →
Leon Trotsky Revolutionary, Politician

"As long as I breathe I hope. As long as I breathe I shall fight for the future, that radiant future, in which man, strong and beautiful, will become master of the drifting stream of his history and will direct it towards the boundless horizons of beauty, joy and happiness!"

Read quote
Leon Trotsky Revolutionary, Politician

"All the parties of capitalist society, all its moralists and all its sycophants will perish beneath the debris of the impending catastrophe. The only party that will survive is the party of the world socialist revolution."

Read quote