– Quotes -1 -2 -3

“‘In the Romanian capital of Bucharest, at the International Meeting of Communist and Workers Parties (November 1960), Mao and Khrushchev respectively attacked the Soviet and the Chinese interpretations of Marxism-Leninism as the wrong road to world socialism in the U.S.S.R. and in China. Mao said that Khrushchev’s emphases on consumer goods and material plenty would make the Soviets ideologically soft and un-revolutionary, to which Khrushchev replied: ‘If we could promise the people nothing, except revolution, they would scratch their heads and say: ‘Isn’t it better to have good goulash?’’

‘In the context of the tri-polar Cold War, Khrushchev doubted Mao’s mental sanity, because his unrealistic policies of geopolitical confrontation might provoke nuclear war between the capitalist and the Communist blocs. To thwart Mao’s warmongering, Khrushchev cancelled foreign-aid agreements and the delivery of Soviet atomic bombs to the P.R.C.’"

“Our enemies like to depict us Leninists as advocates of violence always and everywhere. True, we recognise the need recognise the need for the revolutionary transformation of capitalist society into socialist society. It is this that distinguishes the revolutionary Marxists from the reformists, the opportunists. There is no doubt that in a number of capitalist countries the violent overthrow of the dictatorship of the bourgeoisie and the sharp aggravation of class struggle connected with this are inevitable. But the forms of social revolution vary. It is not true that we regard violence and civil war as the only way to remake society. It will be recalled that in the conditions that arose in April 1917 Lenin granted the possibility that the Russian Revolution might develop peacefully" - N.S. Khrushchev

“Liberation wars will continue to exist as long as imperialism exists, as long as colonialism exists. These are revolutionary wars. Such wars are not only admissible but inevitable since the colonialists do not grant independence voluntarily… We recognise such wars, we help and will help the people striving for their independence… These uprisings must not be identified with wars among states, with local wars, since in these uprisings the people are fighting for implementation of their right for self-determination, for independence social and national development” - N.S. Khrushchev

“The stated provisions of the Marxist-Leninist theory are they also overturn the notorious formulation of the question of ‘ex-port of the revolution’. It is Marxism, in contrast to all bourgeois ideological concepts, proved that revolutions occur do not occur by order, not because of the desires of individuals, but due to the natural course of the historical process. ‘Of course,’ Lenin pointed out, ‘there are people who think that a revolution can be born in a foreign country by order, by co-announcement. These people are either madmen or provocateurs… We know that they cannot be made either by order or by agreement that they grow when tens of millions of people come to the conclusion that it is impossible to live like this any longer” - N.S. Khrushchev

“To strengthen the cause of peace in the entire world it would be of great importance to establish strong friendly relations between the two major powers of the world, the Soviet Union and the United States of America. We believe that if the basis of relations between the U.S.S.R. and the U.S.A. was based on the known five principles of peaceful coexistence, it would be truly a remarkable value for all of humanity and it would certainly be healthy to the people of America, no less than the peoples of the Soviet Union and all other nations. The principles are mutual respect for territorial integrity and sovereignty, non-aggression, non-interference in each other’s internal affairs, equality and mutual benefit, peaceful coexistence and economic cooperation are now shared and supported by two dozen states” - N.S. Khrushchev

“In advocating peaceful coexistence, we of course have no intention of saying that there are no contradictions between socialism and capitalism, that complete ‘harmony’ can be established between them, or that it is possible to reconcile the Communist and bourgeois ideologies. Such a viewpoint would be tantamount to retreating from Marxism-Leninism. The ideological differences are irreconcilable and will continue so” - N.S. Khrushchev

“Berlin is the testicles of the West… Every time I want to make the West scream, I squeeze on Berlin” - N.S. Khrushchev

“The system under which some states sell arms to others is not for our invention. France, Britain and the United States have long since been supplying arms to very many countries, and particularly to the countries whose governments take the most hostile attitude towards the Soviet Union. Therefore we have nothing else to do but to act in the same way. We sell arms to countries which ask us to do so and want to be friendly with us. Apparently they buy arms because they fear the countries which you supply with arms. Thus we are doing only the same thing which you have been doing for a long time. If the Western powers want to come to agreement on this score, we are willing to do so. We said this as far back as 1955 in London and made a statement to this effect. The Soviet Union is prepared to reach agreement that no country should sell its arms to any other country” - N.S. Khrushchev

“Our enemies like to depict us Leninists as advocates of violence always and everywhere. True, we recognise the need recognise the need for the revolutionary transformation of capitalist society into socialist society. It is this that distinguishes the revolutionary Marxists from the reformists, the opportunists. There is no doubt that in a number of capitalist countries the violent overthrow of the dictatorship of the bourgeoisie and the sharp aggravation of class struggle connected with this are inevitable. But the forms of social revolution vary. It is not true that we regard violence and civil war as the only way to remake society. It will be recalled that in the conditions that arose in April 1917 Lenin granted the possibility that the Russian Revolution might develop peacefully… Leninism teaches us that the ruling class will not surrender their power voluntarily. And the greater or lesser degree of intensity which the struggle may assume, the use or the non-use of violence in the transition to socialism, depends on the resistance of the exploiters, on whether the exploiting class itself resorts to violence, rather than the proletariat. In this connection the question arises of whether it is possible to go over to socialism by using parliamentary means. No such course was open to the Russian bolsheviks… Since then, however, the historical situation has undergone radical changes which make possible a new approach to the question. The forces of socialism and democracy have grown immeasurably throughout the world, and capitalism has become much weaker… In these circumstances the working class, by ralling around itself the working peasantry, the intelligentsia, all patriotic forces, and resolutely repulsing the opportunist elements who are incapable of giving up the policy of compromise with the capitalists and landlords, is in a position to defeat the reactionary forces opposed to the interests of the people, to capture a stable majority in parliament, and transform the latter from an organ of bourgeois democracy into a genuine instrument of the people’s will… In the countries where capitalism is still strong and has a huge military and police apparatus at its disposal, the reactionary forces will, of course, inevitably offer serious resistance. There the transition to socialism will be attended by a sharp class, revolutionary struggle. Whatever the form of transition to socialism, the decisive and indispensible factor is the political leadership of the working class headed by its vanguard. Without this there can be no transition to socialism” - N.S. Khrushchev

“I once said, ‘We will bury you,’ and I got into trouble with it. Of course we will not bury you with a shovel. Your own [American] working class will bury you” - N.S. Khrushchev

“Even now we feel that Stalin was devoted to Communism, he was a Marxist, this cannot and should not be denied” - N.S. Khrushchev

“When it is a question of fighting against imperialism we can state with conviction that we are all Stalinists. We can take pride that we have taken part in the fight for the advance of our great cause against our enemies. From that point of view I am proud that we are Stalinists” - N.S. Khrushchev

“Do you think when two representatives holding diametrically opposing views get together and shake hands, the contradictions between our systems will simply melt away? What kind of a daydream is that?” - N.S. Khrushchev

“We Communists have got to string along with the capitalists for a while. We need their agriculture and their technology. But we are going to continue massive military programs… (soon) we will be in a position to return to a much more aggressive foreign policy designed to gain the upper-hand…” - L.I. Brezhnev

“We stand for the dismantling of foreign military bases. We stand for a reduction of armed forces and armaments in areas where military confrontation is especially dangerous, above all in central Europe” - L.I. Brezhnev

“We are entirely for the idea that Europe shall be free from nuclear weapons, from medium-range weapons as well as tactical weapons. That would be a real zero option” - L.I. Brezhnev

“It stands to the Party’s credit that millions upon millions of Soviet men of every nation and nationality have adopted internationalism - once the ideal of a handful of Communists - as their deep conviction and standard of behaviour. This was a true revolution in social thinking, and one which it is hard to overestimate” - L.I. Brezhnev

“When external and internal forces hostile to the development of socialism try to turn the development of a given socialist country in the direction of the restoration of the capitalist system, when a threat arises to the cause of socialism in that country… this is no longer merely a problem for that country’s people, but a common problem, the concern of all socialist countries” - L.I. Brezhnev

“Our Party supports and will continue to support peoples fighting for their freedom. In so doing, the Soviet Union does not look for advantages, does not hunt for concessions, does not seek political domination and is not after military bases. We act as we are bid by our revolutionary conscience, our Communist convictions” - L.I. Brezhnev

“Our militant union with peoples which still have to carry on an armed struggle against the colonialists constitutes an important element of our line in international affairs” - L.I. Brezhnev

“Of late, attempts have been made in the U.S.A. - at a high level and in a rather cynical form - to play the ‘Chinese card’ against the U.S.S.R. This is a shortsighted and dangerous policy” - L.I. Brezhnev

“We must fight actively and persistently for peace and detente… [with] a calm and clear confirmation of our course towards detente and towards the development of good, mutually beneficial relations with the United States” - L.I. Brezhnev

“Some bourgeois leaders raise a howl over the solidarity of Soviet Communists, the Soviet people, with the struggle of other peoples for freedom and progress. This is either naivete or a deliberate befuddling of minds. Detente and peaceful coexistence have to do with interstate relations. This means above all that conflicts between countries are not to be settled by war, by the use or threat of force. Detente cannot abolish or alter the laws of class struggle. No one should expect that detente will cause Communists to reconcile themselves with capitalist exploitation or that monopolists will become revolutionists. On the other hand, strict observance of the principle of non-interference in the affairs of other states and respect for their independence and sovereignty is one of the essential conditions of detente. We make no secret of the fact that we see detente as the way to create more favorable conditions for peaceful socialist and Communist construction. This only confirms that socialism and peace are indissoluble. As for the ultra-leftist assertion that peaceful coexistence is the next thing to ‘helping capitalism’ and ‘freezing the socio-political status quo’, our reply is this: every revolution is above all a natural result of the given society’s internal development. Life itself has refuted the inventions about ‘freezing of the status quo’. Suffice it to recall the far-reaching revolutionary changes in the world in recent years - L.I. Brezhnev

“Socialist emulation spells out innovation by the people. Underlying it are the people’s high level of consciousness and initiative. It is this initiative that helps to reveal and tap the potentialities of production, and enhance efficiency and quality. But in practice - there’s no hiding it - socialist commitments are sometimes not worked out from below but handed down from above, from higher bodies. This is prejudicial to the very spirit of labour emulation. In it the emphasis should be on upwardly revised plans and other similar initiatives going from below to the top: worker-team-factory-industry. Only then should these initiatives be dovetailed with the state plan. This accords with the nature of socialist emulation and with the planned character of our economy” - L.I. Brezhnev

“In the present epoch, when the international class struggle has grown extremely acute, the danger of Right and ‘Left’ deviations and of nationalism in the Communist movement has grown more tangible than ever before. The struggle against Right- and ‘Left’-wing opportunism and nationalism cannot therefore be conducted as a campaign calculated for only some definite span of time. The denunciation of opportunism of all kinds was and remains an immutable law for all Marxist-Leninist Parties” - L.I. Brezhnev

“The most important thing in my life, its leitmotif, has been the constant and close contacts with working people, with workers and peasants” - L.I. Brezhnev

“The substance of socialist democracy lies in efficient socialist organisation of all society for the sake of every individual, and in the socialist discipline of every individual for the sake of all society” - L.I. Brezhnev

“Communists have always viewed the national question through the prism of the class struggle, believing that its solution has to be subordinated to the interests of the Revolution, to the interests of socialism. That is why Communists and all fighters for socialism believe that the main aspect of the national question is unification of the working people, regardless of their national origin, in the common struggle against every type of oppression, and for a new social system which rules out exploitation of the working people” - L.I. Brezhnev

“The defeat of Nazi Germany signified the victory of progress over reaction, humanity over barbarism and the victory of socialism over imperialist obscurantism. This victory opened the road for advancing the revolutionary struggle of the working class, a national liberation movement on an unprecedented scale and the destruction of the shameful colonial system” - L.I. Brezhnev

“We want the world socialist system to be a well-knit family of nations, building and defending the new society together, and mutually enriching each other with experience and knowledge, a family, strong and united, which the people of the world would regard as the prototype of the future world community of free nations” - L.I. Brezhnev

“What fool (durak) invented this word perestroika? Why rebuild the house? Is there anything wrong in the Soviet Union? We are fine! What is there to rebuild? It is necessary to improve, reorganise, but why, if the house is not falling apart, why does it need to be rebuilt?” - Volodymyr Shcherbytsky

“The proletarian state will gradually turn, as socialist construction succeeds, capitalist relations are eradicated and the capitalists disappear, into a state of the whole people” - (Mikhail Kalinin, What the Soviet government is doing to achieve democracy, 1926)

“Unlike bourgeois constitutions, the draft of the new Constitution of the U.S.S.R. proceeds from the fact that there are no longer any antagonistic classes in society; that society consists of two friendly classes, of workers and peasants; that it is these classes, the labouring classes, that are in power; that the guidance of society by the state (the dictatorship) is in the hands of the working class, the most advanced class in society, that a constitution is needed for the purpose of consolidating a social order desired by, and beneficial to, the working people” - J.V. Stalin

“The Soviet people and Government helped us both morally and materially in the years of our struggle for independence, and. they continue to help us in every way: with credits, industrial plants and specialists” - (President Henri Boumedienne of Algeria, in New Times, June 9, 1965)

“The progress of the African peoples is unthinkable without the fraternal and sincere assistance of the Soviet Union" - (President Sekou Toure of Guinea, October 2, 1965)

“There never was and never will be an anti-Soviet Communism” - Janos Kadar

“Without the existence of the Soviet Union the socialist revolution in Cuba could not have been possible" - (Fidel Castro, speech in the Red Square, April 28, 1963)

“How could the Soviet Union be classified as imperialist? Where are its monopolist enterprises? What is its participation in multinational companies? What industries, what mines, what petroleum deposits does it own in the undeveloped world? What worker is exploited in any country of Asia, Africa or Latin America by Soviet capital? The economic cooperation which the Soviet Union is offering Cuba and many other countries did not come from the sweat and the sacrifice of exploited workers of other peoples, but from the sweat and effort of Soviet workers” - Fidel Castro

“Then the economy. After all, why have they already moved to the NEP? Because even the prodrazverstka didn’t work, couldn’t. It was impossible to provide large cities with food. Therefore, they moved to the market economy, to the NEP, then quickly turned it down. You know, what I’m saying now is my personal conclusions, my personal analysis. Planned economy has certain advantages, it makes it possible to concentrate national resources on the implementation of the most important tasks. This was how the health care issues were resolved, which was an absolute merit of the Communist Party of that time. So the issues of education were resolved-an absolute merit of the Communist Party of that time. Thus, the issues of industrialisation in the defense sector were resolved. I think that if it were not for the concentration of national resources, the Soviet Union would not have been able to prepare for war with Nazi Germany. And there would be a great chance of defeat with disastrous consequences for our statehood, for the Russian people and other peoples of the Soviet Union. Therefore, these are all absolute advantages. But in the end, insensitivity to changes, insensitivity to technological revolutions, to new technological structures led to the collapse of the economy” - V.V. Putin

“What can I say? We have been doing this for a long time: we have been saying the whole time that the working class is the leading political force in our country. It was a Soviet stamp, but in fact it is. It’s just that the essence of working professions is changing. You probably know this not worse, but even better than I do” - V.V. Putin

“I liked Communist and socialist ideas very much and I like them still. [Putin insisted he was never just a] functionary [when it came to party matters and said that the Moral Code of the Builder of Communism - a set of rules to be followed by all party members -] resembles the Bible a lot” - V.V. Putin

“Many people now fear the United States, but neither I (nor the Russian people) subscribe to this fear. My view is that the ridiculous little U.S. lapdogs make lots of noise, but they lack the ability to back it up. When U.S. leaders with no dignity or virtue are elected into office, the U.S. is sullied as a nation. This debilitating internal process weakens the U.S. on the external international stage. The U.S. would do well to study the virtuous thinking of Mao Zedong, as he gave China her dignity back. In fact, under the expert leadership of Mao Zedong, the Chinese people were able to ‘stand-up’! It is through the work of Mao Zedong that I learned to counter U.S. hegemony in the world. Just as Mao Zedong stood-up to the tyrannical West, I too have stood up to the tyrannical West. Just as Mao Zedong is vilified by the tyrannical West, I too am vilified by the tyrannical West. That is why I can state with absolute certainty that Mao Zedong is my hero and role model” - V.V. Putin