Trotskyist Development

"No educational book can eradicate religion from the minds of masses who are crushed by capitalist..."

Tue, 05 Mar 2013 21:45:00 -0500

“No educational book can eradicate religion from the minds of masses who are crushed by capitalist hard labour, and who are at the mercy of the blind destructive forces of capitalism, until those masses themselves learn to fight this root of religion, fight the rule of capital in all its forms, in a united, organised, planned and conscious way.”

- Lenin, 1909

"The culture of the future will not have a class character. This seems to lead to the conclusions..."

Mon, 03 Dec 2012 14:57:56 -0500

“The culture of the future will not have a class character. This seems to lead to the conclusions that there is no proletarian culture and that there never will be any and in fact there is no reason to regret this. The proletariat acquires power for the purpose of doing away forever with class culture and to make way for human culture. We frequently seem to forget this.”

- Leon Trotsky, Literature and Revolution

"What can or cannot be achieved, in any given situation, is determined in struggle. Those not..."

Thu, 22 Nov 2012 22:27:04 -0500

“What can or cannot be achieved, in any given situation, is determined in struggle. Those not prepared to fight will never win anything.”

- Program of the Socialist Equality Party (United States) 2010

"It is particularly important to note Marx’s view on the relation between freedom and necessity:..."

Mon, 12 Nov 2012 21:27:06 -0500

“It is particularly important to note Marx’s view on the relation between freedom and necessity: “Freedom is the appreciation of necessity. ‘Necessity is blind only insofar as it is not understood.’””

- Vladimir Ilyich Lenin, Karl Marx (1914)

Photo

Tue, 06 Nov 2012 17:03:00 -0500

"The art of working with concepts is not inborn and also is not given with ordinary everyday..."

Fri, 02 Nov 2012 14:08:28 -0400

“The art of working with concepts is not inborn and also is not given with ordinary everyday consciousness, but requires real thought, and that this thought similarly has a long empirical history””

- Engels (Anti-Duhring)

"Those who are seeking only superficial answers to the problems of this world will choose a party..."

Thu, 18 Oct 2012 09:28:41 -0400

“Those who are seeking only superficial answers to the problems of this world will choose a party that makes few demands upon their intellect, that offers easy and reassuring answers to complex problems, that adapts to the prevailing prejudices of public opinion and so-called common sense, and that denies the depth of commitment, intensity of struggle, and theoretical labor required for the revolutionary transformation of society. Superficial organizations attract superficial people.”

- David North, SEP US National Chairman
“Tom Henehan: A revolutionary life”

"If our International be still weak in numbers, it is strong in doctrine, program, tradition, in the..."

Fri, 12 Oct 2012 15:45:53 -0400

“If our International be still weak in numbers, it is strong in doctrine, program, tradition, in the incomparable tempering of its cadres. Who does not perceive this still today, let him in the meantime stand aside. Tomorrow it will become more evident.”

- Leon Trotsky The Transitional Program (1938)

At 5 Eastern tomorrow, SEP Presidential Candidate Jerry White...

Mon, 01 Oct 2012 22:07:57 -0400

At 5 Eastern tomorrow, SEP Presidential Candidate Jerry White will be answering questions on the social news site reddit.com. Take a look, participate in the discussion, and spread the word!

Trotsky’s assassination remembered by his grandson

Tue, 18 Sep 2012 09:22:01 -0400

Trotsky’s assassination remembered by his grandson

"The state is a fortress which the oppressed can and must capture and reorganize for their own..."

Mon, 17 Sep 2012 22:04:09 -0400

“The state is a fortress which the oppressed can and must capture and reorganize for their own defense”

- Plekhanov

"The basis of society is economic. That basis is ripe for socialism in a double sense: modern..."

Sun, 02 Sep 2012 01:02:00 -0400

“The basis of society is economic. That basis is ripe for socialism in a double sense: modern technology has advanced to a point where it can assure a high standard of living to the nation and to all mankind; but the capitalist system, which has outlived itself, dooms the masses to ever-increasing poverty and suffering.”

- Leon Trotsky (1935)

"In direct contrast to German philosophy which descends from heaven to earth, here we ascend from..."

Fri, 31 Aug 2012 09:44:11 -0400

“In direct contrast to German philosophy which descends from heaven to earth, here we ascend from earth to heaven. That is to say, we do not set out from what men say, imagine, conceive, nor from men as narrated, thought of, imagined, conceived, in order to arrive at men in the flesh. We set out from real, active men, and on the basis of their real life-process we demonstrate the development of the ideological reflexes and echoes of this life-process.”

- Karl Marx

The German Ideology (1845)

"Can it be believed that democracy, after having overthrown aristocracy and the kings, will stop..."

Mon, 27 Aug 2012 16:59:00 -0400

“Can it be believed that democracy, after having overthrown aristocracy and the kings, will stop short before the bourgeoisie and the rich?”

- Alexis de Tocqueville

Democracy in America (1835)

"In the 1930s, politically-literate and class-conscious people understood that the rise of European..."

Mon, 13 Aug 2012 17:02:36 -0400

“In the 1930s, politically-literate and class-conscious people understood that the rise of European fascism after World War I was a direct response by capitalist society to the revolutionary dangers posed by mass socialist workers movements. The examples of Mussolini’s Italy, Hitler’s Germany and Franco’s Spain had shown all too clearly that fascism was, in essence, the counterrevolutionary political mobilization, in the interests of capitalism, of the enraged middle classes, the petty bourgeoisie, against the socialist labor movement. Where fascism came to power, the working class ceased to exist as an organized political and social force.”

- David North

"That which can be grasped without any difficulties is generally useless, regardless of the subject."

Mon, 25 Jun 2012 20:11:40 -0400

“That which can be grasped without any difficulties is generally useless, regardless of the subject.”

- Leon Trotsky

Photo

Fri, 22 Jun 2012 19:52:04 -0400

"Without jobs, cut off from the deep-rooted social relations that sustained class consciousness over..."

Wed, 20 Jun 2012 22:01:45 -0400

“Without jobs, cut off from the deep-rooted social relations that sustained class consciousness over generations of struggle, alienated from a union that had deserted them, the militant workers of yesterday became susceptible to well-practiced pitchmen of the Evangelical Industry, always on the look-out for new customers. For the children of such workers, who have grown up entirely outside the milieu of an organized labor movement and with little or no awareness of the traditions of class struggle, the obstacles to the development of class consciousness are considerable. From what source will they acquire the information and insights that facilitate the development of a critical attitude toward contemporary society, let alone a sense that a better and more humane society—in this world and in their lifetime—is possible? Certainly not from the existing political parties or from the cesspool of the mass media.”

- David North, Marxism, History & Socialist Consciousness (2007)

Jerry White, the Socialist Equality Party presidential candidate...

Fri, 01 Jun 2012 08:31:47 -0400

Jerry White, the Socialist Equality Party presidential candidate for US president, speaks at the site of the former Republic Steel plant on the south side of Chicago. On May 30, 1937, 10 striking steel workers were gunned down by police in what became know as the Memorial Day massacre.

"The reformists see only the ups of the capitalist road. The formal “revolutionaries” see..."

Tue, 29 May 2012 15:15:14 -0400

“The reformists see only the ups of the capitalist road. The formal “revolutionaries” see only its downs. But a Marxist sees the road as a whole, all of its conjunctural ups and downs, without for a moment losing sight of the main direction—the catastrophe of wars, the explosion of revolutions.”

- Leon Trotsky (1929)