Ernest Mandel Quotes

We tried many times before to speed on the social revolution in Spain; attempted to stir up the feelings of the people and to raise the banner of Libertarian Communism.

Comrades, the revolution is on.

There are revolutionary committees that practice revolutionary violence, and anyone who opposes the will of the people will have to be chased. Anyone who is opposed to the will of the people becomes a foe of the people. The duty of the revolutionary committee is to practice revolutionary violence against the enemies of the revolution.

Proletarian literature and art are part of the whole proletarian revolutionary cause; they are, as Lenin said, cogs and wheels in the whole revolutionary machine.

We say primarily that the priority of this struggle is class. That Marx and Lenin and Che Guevara and Mao Tse-Tung, and anybody else who ever said or knew or practiced anything about revolution, always said that a revolution is a class struggle.

The heroic working class of Kim Il Sung and Kim Jong Il, holding aloft the banner of modelling the whole society on Kimilsungism-Kimjongilism, should become the engine propelling the masses forward on the general onward march and the example for all other members of society to follow in stepping up the building of a powerful socialist country.

You should not do this, Comrade. We are only in the introductory stage yet, here in Western Europe. And in that stage it is better to encourage the fighters than the rulers.

Without a revolutionary theory there cannot be a revolutionary movement.

The masses are the decisive element, they are the rock on which the final victory of the revolution will be built.

Social democracy must strive to retain for itself, throughout the entire (bourgeois) revolution, a position which would best afford it the opportunity of furthering the revolution, which would not bind its hands in the struggle against the inconsistent and self-seeking policies of the bourgeois parties, and which would prevent it from losing its identity in bourgeois democracy. Therefore, social democracy should not set itself the goal of seizing or sharing power in the provisional government but must remain the party of the extreme revolutionary opposition

We want revolution here in Spain, right now, not maybe after the next European war. We are giving Hitler and Mussolini far more worry with our revolution than the whole Red Army of Russia. We are setting an example to the German and Italian working class on how to deal with Fascism.

A party as such, in the course of the development of a revolution, becomes identical with the revolution.

If there is to be a revolution, there must be a revolutionary party.

The GFTUK is a powerful political instrument for training its members, including the working class, into Kimilsungists-Kimjongilists with unfailing loyalty to the Party and the leader and mobilizing them to implement the revolutionary cause of Juche.

Revolutions come in two stages: the bit where everything gets smashed and the bit where you have to build it again. The first is great fun; the second is so very hard.

Anyone who makes plans for after the revolution is a reactionary.

We have not made the Revolution, the Revolution has made us.

Look, if the Situationists achieved what they wanted, they would be very unhappy and they would have to be Situationists all over again. It's a never-ending process.

On the other hand, one factor helps us that no other liberation struggle in this region could count on - our liberation front is characterized by relatively highly developed class forces, tested in political struggles.

A revolution is impossible without a revolutionary situation; furthermore, not every revolutionary situation leads to revolution.

You cannot make a socialist revolution without really trying.

A revolution is not a dinner party, or writing an essay, or painting a picture, or doing embroidery.

You need a vanguard organization in order to overcome the dangerous potential brought about by the uneven development of class militancy and class consciousness.

The English have all the material requisites for the revolution. What they lack is the spirit of generalization and revolutionary ardour.

Revolution is born as a social entity within the oppressor society.