100 phrases about communism and the class struggle
In this article you will find a selection of phrases about communism that will help you understand this ideological perspective linked to politics.
But first, it is important to understand some basic ideas about this movement.
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The labor movement and Marxism
The ideology of communism is one of the political theories that has survived from its birth until today. Totalitarianism, absolutism, military regimes, authoritarianism, utopias and other types of power or governance concepts have disappeared. But communism has managed to maintain its impact (passively and actively) within the political arena.
The bases of communism were developed by the German thinkers and philosophers Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels during the last years of the nineteenth century. The works of the "Communist Manifesto" or "The Capital" culminated this project.
This political, social and economic ideology promotes the formation of a society without distinction of classes, without rich or poor and, in its last instance, seeks to achieve the abolition of the State.
On the other hand, the class struggle consists of advocating to get to socialize (share) the means of production , which are the necessary tools to produce. In other words, private property would not exist, which would lead the working class to hold power without masters who control or exploit them.
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100 phrases about communism
We'll see now some of the phrases about communism and the most relevant class struggle of history. Some drink directly from Marxism, while others are inspired by similar sources such as the old socialist or collectivist tradition.
1. Communists have always played an active role in the struggle for the freedom of colonial territories (Nelson Mandela)
This referent of the struggle against apartheid was sympathetic to Marxism from his youth.
2. They send today, because you obey! (A. Camus)
A way to denounce the unconsciousness of the workers by obeying orders.
3. To the violence that comes from above, violence from below! (Helder Camara)
It legitimizes the armed struggle and start a change by violent means
4. For the society without classes, go ahead with the teaching strike (Emile Henry)
Emile Henry supported in this way the legitimacy of stopping production to claim civil rights .
5. There are no innocent bourgeois, gentlemen (Emile Henry)
It was one of the objectives of the class struggle: to eliminate the ruling class. That is, the bourgeoisie.
6. Revolutions fail when power is handed over to the "new government" (Ricardo Flores)
A change must come when the people in their community rule, not by means of representation.
7. Exercising power corrupts; to submit to the power of degradation (Mikhail Bakunin)
One of the great anarchist thinkers explained what it means to submit to the state.
8. Is it good to be good? (Oscar Wilde)
A way of wanting to legitimize the use of force in order to establish socialism.
9. Power programs life, freedom commands it and gives it meaning (Lucas)
This communist activist denounced the abuse of power by the State and institutions.
10. A little more killing and humanity will go much better (Jean Rostand)
Jean Rostand was resounding in asserting this way the need for armed struggle .
11. The utopian lights some stars in the sky of human dignity, but he sails in a sea without ports. (C. Berneri)
A way of saying that communism has no borders.
12. To be governed is to be observed, spied on, regulated, numbered, directed ... (Pierre J. Proudhon)
This renowned French author and revolutionary saw in the State an enemy
13. Neither democracy nor oligarchy (William Hamilton)
Some communists repudiated democracy, since they considered it the silent weapon of the privileged classes.
14. It is looking for the impossible that man has achieved the possible (Mikhail Bakunin)
MIkhail Bakunin is one of the most important authors in the class struggle, and with this phrase he sought to motivate his audience.
15. The big ones are great because we are on our knees (Max Stirner)
Max Stirner denounced the little commitment that there was among the working classes to rise up against the oppressor.
16. We do not belong to any party, because none can embody our purpose (Herbert Read)
Some communists of the most radical thought, they did not believe in institutions or instruments of representation .
17. Under a government that imprisons unjustly, the most just place to stay is the prison (H.D. Thoreau)
Thoreau expressed his discomfort with the institutions that "represented the people".
18. Marxism: freedom of thought (Iosif Stalin)
The Russian president was very clear about his definition with communist thinking.
19. Behind every great fortune lies a great crime (H. Balzac)
The well-known French novelist illustrated in this way what the noble classes were really to him.
20. The man who works does not have time to dream, Long live the general strike! (Chief Smohalla)
Head of an Indo-American tribe, he was against the exploitation of the worker and he called that a general strike.
21. If you do not live as you think, you will end up thinking about how you live (M. Gandhi)
Known is Mahatma Gandhi for his idealism and fight against the oppression of the intellect.
22. Every human being with an identity card is an object (Morin)
Thus Morin criticized his disagreement with the way governments have to control citizens and thus be able to subdue them.
23. If hunger is law, looting is justice (Piotr Trotsky)
Piotr Trotsky was also known for his communist radicalism, and defended the right to theft.
24. A moment of true life is worth more than an entire life in silence (Mikhail Bakunin)
With this emotional phrase Mikhail Bakunin encouraged the revolution against the ruling class .
25. We have no possibility other than the impossible (George Bataille)
This is how this French thinker described the capacity of man to establish a true socialist change.
26. The anarchists are liberal, but more liberal than the liberals. We are also socialists, but more socialist than the socialists (Nicolas Walter)
Nicolas Walter was a fervent defender of the abolition of the State and Capitalism.
27. Living with dignity is love and freedom (Loelander Tribe)
Not everything was economic and thought freedom in the mind of Loelander Tribe
28. Your supervisor or foreman gives you more orders for a week than a police officer for a decade (Bob Black)
In this way Bob Black tried to awaken the consciousness of the worker in front of his masters.
29. Capitalism is not freedom. It robs you and makes you a slave to salary (Alexander Berkman)
Alexander Berkman was a Lithuanian anarchist who explained the deception that hid capitalism by means of salary
30. Since I was born, everything was from someone or someone! (Facundo Cabral)
This Argentine poet and singer-songwriter, reflected on the prevailing political-economic system .
31. Blessed be the chaos, it is a symptom of freedom (Enrique Galvan)
Politician and Spanish sociologist, defended the anarchist theories.
32. Freedom does not make men happy, it makes men simply (Manuel Azaña)
President of the Second Spanish Republic, Manuel Azaña described what socialism meant to him.
33. Your heart is free, have the courage to listen to it (William Wallace)
The great Scottish warrior recited this phrase before the confrontation in the open field against the English army.
34. Nothing is freer than the human imagination itself (Hume)
The philosopher David Hume gave free rein to freedom of thought.
35. Even if I do not agree with you, I will defend to the death that can say it (Voltaire)
Françoise-Marie was a pioneer in defending at all costs the right to freedom of expression and thought .
36. The rulers are nothing other than the watchdogs of capitalism (Ricardo Flores Magón)
This Mexican politician and communist described what the government was like for him.
37. Search and find the truth is the most beautiful of the companies (Herberto Castillo)
Another well-known Mexican politician, thinker and socialist who fought for the goodwill of democratic institutions.
38. When the poor believe in the poor, we can sing freedom and fraternity (Hugo Chávez)
The Venezuelan president spurred the working classes to believe in his cause.
39. You can not practice justice in a place where human dignity is ignored (José M. Arrizmendiarreta)
This Spanish thinker and philosopher criticized with this phrase the little legitimacy that governments had for him.
40. Give education to children and it will not be necessary to punish men (Pythagoras)
The most successful mathematician of all time he defended the need to educate society .
41. We are soldiers so that one day nobody else has to be a soldier (Subcomandante Marcos)
Rafael Sebastián is his real name, a Mexican guerrilla who defended in this way the armed struggle to end the class distinction.
42. Be able to feel in the deepest any injustice committed against any human being (Ché Guevara)
The most famous communist revolutionary of the twentieth century believed in the collective sentiment to raise the consciousness of the masses.
43. An eye for an eye, and the world will end blind (M. Gandhi)
We return to the Indian activist who rose peacefully against the English empire. He did not believe in violence and his struggle was based on this pillar.
44. The dreamer can be killed, but sleep can not be killed (D. Abernathy)
People die, ideas do not. That was how resounding it was Black rights activist Ralph D. Abernathy .
45. Brute force is the full right of fools (Cicero)
Marco Julio Cicerón was a politician, thinker and speaker of the Roman Republic, and denounced in this way the use of force to impose ideologies.
46. All men are brothers (M. Gandhi)
Mahatma Gandhi had this fraternal and altruistic way of seeing society.
47. The world is fucked up, fucked up, but full of compatriots (Eduardo Galeano)
Eduardo Galeano had high hopes for a better future to end capitalism.
48. That the rich pay for the crisis, not the poor (Karl Marx)
A phrase that is repeated even today and in times of crisis.
49. Everyone wants freedom, but few know why (Lenin)
Vladimir Lenin was another Bolshevik revolutionary who started his steps with communist thoughts and theories. Thus he denounced the lack of collective consciousness.
50. Although it sounds ridiculous, the true revolutionary is guided by great feelings of love (Ché Guevara)
Ché Guevara was not only a warrior, he also had passion to his credit.
51. Exposing the oppressed to the truth is exposing them to start a revolution (Leon Trotsky)
Another character of the radical wing in the class struggle. Trotsky thus reflected the fear that the ruling classes have with the workers' struggle.
52. Not even the dead can rest in an oppressed country (Fidel Castro)
The Cuban leader and revolutionary expressed his feelings in the struggle for the independence of the oppressed peoples.
53. You can not start a revolution with silk gloves on your hands (Iosif Stalin)
Iosif Stalin was known for his military mind and use of force to implement the communist revolution.
54. First you have to put your head together, then your hands (Máximo Gorki)
Writer and revolutionary communist politician, he gave great importance to education and culture for independent thinking.
55. The worker needs respect rather than bread (Karl Marx)
For Marx, human dignity is above .
56. If we were able to unite, how beautiful and close the future would be (Ché Guevara)
In some moments the feeling of union among the communist movements wavered.
57. Before a camel will go through the eye of a needle, a rich man in the Kingdom of Heaven (Jesus of Nazareth)
Some interpret in the divinity, the legitimacy with which he had to enjoy socialism.
58. Communism is not love, it is a club that we use to crush the enemy (Mao Tse Tung)
Maximum leader of the Communist Party in China, Mao also believed in armed struggle.
59. I have always been an admirer of Jesus Christ because he was the first communist: he multiplied the loaves and fishes, and that is what we intend to do (Fidel Castro)
Returning to the celestial reference, Fidel Castro expressed his admiration for the maximum representative of Christianity.
60. If you wait near the river enough, you will see how the current drags the bodies of all your enemies (Ho Chi Minh)
Ho Chi Min was the Vietnamese communist revolutionary , and endured the American onslaught in the Vietnam War.
61. I see a little light of hope that had long since disappeared (Rafael Martínez)
Chilean thinker and writer, expressed his illusion with the end of the dictatorship of Augusto Pinochet.
62. I do not intend to hold office for 100 years (Fidel Castro)
This is how Fidel Castro expressed his long-term political intentions.
63. Under Capitalism, man exploits man. Under communism, quite the opposite (John Galbraith)
Canadian economist, he was a staunch supporter of socialism as an economic model.
64. Only under Communism will the individual lead his own destiny (Johann Most)
Thus defended the German thinker the establishment of a system contrary to capitalism.
65. Communism does not work because people like to buy things (Frank Zappa)
American film director, Frank Zappa made this criticism to the thinking of the masses and referred to the reasons why he understood that communism had failed.
66. Communism should mean only one thing: ending private property (Karl Marx)
For Karl Marx to abolish private property was an irreducible condition.
67. Communism is the exploitation of the weak towards the strong (Proudhon)
Proudhon talked like that about what communism was after.
68. Learn from the masses, and then show them the way (Mao Tse Tung)
Mao also pointed the importance to education and culture .
69. Our voice is independent and represents our dignity in the face of imperialism (Hugo Chávez)
Hugo Chávez Frías was another leader opposed to the capitalist system.
70. People pay for their own subordination (Noam Chomsky)
This researcher talks about the paradox of obedience: to maintain a model of relations that oppresses the citizen with sacrifice.
71. If you teach the same thing as 5 years ago, it is that your theories are dead. Or you are (Noam Chomsky)
Thus Noam Chomsky denounced the need for regeneration of ideas.
72There is only one way to eliminate the grave evils: the establishment of a socialist economy (Albert Einstein)
Einstein came to write in favor of socialism , and proposed the creation of a political model based on the planned economy.
73. War is peace. Freedom is slavery (George Orwell)
The Writer George Orwell surprised with these statements, seeing in the freedom of the Western world an intentional deception.
74. Anarchy is not disorder, but order, not of power, but of freedom, equality and fraternity (Piotr Kropotkin)
Piotr Kropotkin was another anarchist revolutionary, and defended his ideologies in this way.
75. Peace for men, war for institutions (Lenin)
Thus Lenin justified the war against governments, understood as a source of oppression.
76. Behind every crime there is always some institution (H. Balzac)
Balzac criticized the existence of institutions and the existence of the State.
77. They are worth more than 10 armed men of justice that 1000 soldiers in the pay of a King (William Wallace)
Thus the Scottish warrior emboldened his small army to fight against the English.
78. Our communism is not that of German authoritarian theorists. Our communism is anarchist, without government, that of the free man (Piotr Kropotkin)
Piotr Kropotkin differentiated between Marxist communism and anarchism .
79. In a revolution, it triumphs or dies, if it is true (Ché Guevara)
One of the slogans of Che Guevara.
80. The value of a community represents its accumulated work (Karl Marx)
Karl Marx had a deep-rooted collective feeling.
81. Communism must be free like love, that is, it must be an anarchist or not exist (Librado Rivera)
Another communist politician who fought during the Mexican Revolution of the 20th century .
82. Socialism has been made for the integral man (Ché Guevara)
This is how the Cuban warrior defended the socialist ideology.
83. Capitalism is indefensible; Socialism, with all its mistakes, is the most noble thing that man could do (Fidel Castro)
Fidel Castro explained in this way the differences between both systems.
84. Either we take the path of socialism or the world ends (Hugo Chávez)
The Venezuelan leader was so forceful to raise awareness among his people.
85. We will now proceed to the building of the socialist order (Lenin)
Lenin showed conviction and courage from exile with the communist cause.
86. Socialism means justice and equality, but equality of rights and opportunities, not of income (Raúl Castro)
Brother of the former president of Cuba Fidel, he followed the same steps and explained his inclination for communism.
87. The organization is fine, but the control is even better (Lenin)
Lenin advocated the assault on power, not just protesting against him.
88. One of the fundamental objectives of communism is to eliminate individual interest (Ché Guevara)
In the same vein as Karl Marx, Che explained why it was so important for communism to triumph.
89. Socialism is the only way for the peoples to achieve a profound change in their living conditions (Carlos Fonseca)
Spanish writer, Carlos Fonseca is an activist and socialist of the contemporary era .
90. The class struggle and the struggle for the means of production are the pillars to build a powerful socialist country (Mao Tse Tung)
In this way, the Chinese leader laid out the bases for the construction of a socialist country.
91. If we lose sight of the class struggle, it shows the incomprehension of Marxism (Lenin)
Vladimir Lenin was very clear that the class struggle was indispensable to consolidate the communist revolution.
92. The social process will not disappear because a leader disappears (Salvador Allende)
This was how the former Chilean president expressed his hope shortly before being assassinated for his ideas after Pinochet's coup d'état.
93. Socialism means a leap from the realm of necessity to that of freedom (Leon Trotsky)
Leon Trotsky offered this reflection, superimposing freedom on material needs.
94. The distinction between North and South is just another weapon to enslave peoples (Hugo Chávez)
Hugo Chávez reflected in this way the great problem of geographically distinguishing countries and political maps.
95. We call it justice but it's really love! (León Felipe)
It is not only a political movement, it is also a feeling.
96. Socialists do not die: socialists are sown (Pablo Iglesias)
Founder of the Spanish Socialist Workers Party (PSOE), Pablo Iglesias defended the socialist ideology.
97. Political freedom without economic equality is a pretense, a fraud, a lie. The worker does not want more lies (Mikhail Bakunin)
Mikhail Bakunin insisted on control by the means of production, it was not enough to achieve political freedom.
98. Socialism can not succeed in only one country (Russia). It has to triumph throughout Europe and the US (Leon Trotsky)
The Russian thinker saw the need to expand the struggle to all continents.
99. Socialism or barbarism (Rosa Luxemburg)
Rosa Luxemburg was so blunt in front of the microphones during a press conference. He was theoretician and militant of the German social democratic party during the 19th century.
100. What a socialist pursues is that nobody is so rich as to put another on his knees or that anyone is so poor as to have to kneel before another (Alfonso Guerra)
Spanish politician during the transition, and eventually president of Spain, defended the need to establish a socialist model after 40 years of military dictatorship.
