Vladimir LeninThinkers

Capitalism is necessarily monopolistic and parasitic, militarist and expansionist, externally exploitative and internally oppressive. Imperialism has shown that it can survive only through the ruthless exploitation of its colonial empires.

Capitalism begs the question as to whether it presumes an already existing and extensive market for the goods it produces or whether it creates such a market in the course of its own development.

Capitalism is a bitter poison. When it comes time to hang the capitalists they will compete with each other to sell us the rope at a lower price.

Democracy is a form of dictatorship by a class: It is always democracy for one class and against another. Parliamentary democracy is democracy for the capitalist and must be overthrown and replaced by popular democracy.

Democracy is a form of the state, representing, on the one hand, the organized, systematic use of force against persons... but, on the other hand, signifying the formal recognition of equality of citizens, the equal right of all to determine the structure of, and to administer, the state.

Democracy is always restricted to the ruling class, while for the ruled it always appears as dictatorship.

Democracy is based upon a fundamental illusion... namely that, given goodwill and proper institutions, a common interest could be accommodated and negotiated within modern society.

Democracy is never an end in itself, a form of human and social self-realization. Rather, it can justifiably be sacrificed to 'higher', presumably historic, ends.

Democracy is a state which recognizes the subjecting of the minority to the majority.

Truth is a lie being told long enough.

Truth is entirely part of the objective world and is not dependent on any relationship of or correspondence between object and subject.

Truth is whatever helps, strengthens, and advances the party.

The Working class is if left to their own devices, incapable of developing properly socialist consciousness or of articulating a coherent ideology of its own. Thus, socialist consciousness is something introduced into the proletarian class struggle from without and not something that arose within it spontaneously.

The Working class is such that, if isolated from social-democracy, it falls prey to powerful bourgeois ideology, becomes petty and inevitably becomes bourgeois.

The Working class is such that if not trained by continual agitation, it will remain a plaything in the hands of the ruling classes.