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"What is this "national spirit and its attributes"? Science, through the medium of dialectical materialism, proved long ago that there is no such thing as a "national spirit" and that there cannot be. Has anyone refuted this view of dialectical materialism? History tells us that no one has refuted it. Hence, we must agree with this view of science, and, together with science, reiterate that there is no such thing as a "national spirit," nor can there be. And since this is the case, since there is no such thing as a "national spirit," it is self-evident that defense of what does not exist is a logical absurdity, which must inevitably lead to corresponding historical (undesirable) consequences."
- The Social-Democratic View on the National Question, 1904.
"Whether the proletariat rallies to the banner of bourgeois nationalism depends on the degree of development of class antagonisms, on the class consciousness and degree of organization of the proletariat. The class-conscious proletariat has its own tried banner, and has no need to rally to the banner of the bourgeoisie."
- Marxism and the National Question, 1913.
"Tsarist Russia was the home of every kind of oppression - capitalist, colonial and militarist - in its most inhuman and barbarous form."
- The Foundations of Leninism, 1924.
"Proletarian parties develop and become strong by purging themselves of opportunists and reformists, social-imperialists and social-chauvinists, social-patriots and social-pacifists."
- Ibid.
"Russian revolutionary sweep has every chance of degenerating in practice into empty "revolutionary" Manilovism if it is not combined with American efficiency in work."
- Ibid. [Manilov is a fictional character from a 19th century novel. As a typical Russian landlord, he spent his life day-dreaming about the vast improvements that could be made in his estate, but remained permanently idle and passive even as it was slowly crumbling around him.]
"In the past we had no fatherland, nor could we have had one. But now that we have overthrown capitalism and power is in our hands, in the hands of the people, we have a fatherland, and we will uphold its independence."
- The Tasks of Business Executives, 1931.
"The Russian revolution is not a private affair of the Russians; on the contrary, it is the cause of the working class of the whole world, the cause of the world proletarian revolution."
- Some Questions Concerning the History of Bolshevism, 1931.
"I am merely a pupil of Lenin, and my aim is to be a worthy pupil of his. The task to which I have devoted my life is to elevate the working class. That task is not to strengthen any national state, but to strengthen a socialist state — and that means an international state. Everything that contributes to strengthening that state helps to strengthen the international working class. If in my efforts to elevate the working class and strengthen the socialist state of that class, every step taken were not directed towards strengthening and improving the position of the working class, I should consider my life as purposeless."
- An Interview with the German Writer Emil Ludwig, 1931.
"Mr. Campbell still further stretches the truth when he puts such words in the mouth of Stalin as that "under Trotsky there had been an attempt to spread communism throughout the world; that this was the primary cause of the break between himself [i.e., Stalin] and Trotsky; that Trotsky believed in universal communism, while he [Stalin] worked to confine his efforts to his own country." Only people who have deserted to the camp of the Kautskys and the Welses can believe such stuff and nonsense, in which the facts are turned upside-down."
- Mr. Campbell Stretches the Truth, 1932.
"As we are not living on an island but "in a system of states," a considerable number of which are hostile to the land of socialism and create the danger of intervention and restoration, we say openly and honestly that the victory of Socialism in our country is not yet final. But from this it follows that the second problem is not yet solved and that it has yet to be solved. More than that : the second problem cannot be solved in the way that we solved the first problem, i.e., solely by the efforts of our country. The second problem can be solved only by combining the serious efforts of the international proletariat with the still more serious efforts of the whole of our Soviet people."
- The Reply to Comrade Ivanov, 1938.
"In point of fact the Hitlerite regime is a copy of that reactionary regime which existed in Russia under tsardom."
- Speech at the Celebratory Meeting of the Moscow Soviet of Working People's Deputies and Moscow Party and Public Organizations, 1941.
"As regards the other formula by Stalin, taken from his speech at the Sixteenth Party Congress, in the part that touches on the merging of languages into one common language, it has in view another epoch, namely, the epoch after the victory of socialism on a world scale, when world imperialism no longer exists; when the exploiting classes are overthrown and national and colonial oppression is eradicated; when national isolation and mutual distrust among nations is replaced by mutual confidence and rapprochement between nations; when national equality has been put into practice; when the policy of suppressing and assimilating languages is abolished; when the co-operation of nations has been established, and it is possible for national languages freely to enrich one another through their co-operation. It is clear that in these conditions there can be no question of the suppression and defeat of some languages, and the victory of others. Here we shall have not two languages, one of which is to suffer defeat, while the other is to emerge from the struggle victorious, but hundreds of national languages, out of which, as a result of a prolonged economic, political and cultural co operation of nations, there will first appear most enriched unified zonal languages, and subsequently the zonal languages will merge into a single international language, which, of course, will be neither German, nor Russian, nor English, but a new language that has absorbed the best elements of the national and zonal languages."
- Marxism and the Problems of Linguistics, 1950.
"The object of the present-day peace movement is to rouse the masses of the people to fight for the preservation of peace and for the prevention of another world war. Consequently, the aim of this movement is not to overthrow capitalism and establish socialism - it confines itself to the democratic aim of preserving peace. In this respect, the present-day peace movement differs from the movement of the time of the First World War for the conversion of the imperialist war into civil war, since the latter movement went farther and pursued socialist aims.
It is possible that in a definite conjuncture of circumstances the fight for peace will develop here or there into a fight for socialism. But then it will no longer be the present-day peace movement; it will be a movement for the overthrow of capitalism.
...
To eliminate the inevitability of war, it is necessary to abolish imperialism."
- The Economic Problems of Socialism in the USSR, 1952.
"The interests of our Party are not only not against the interests of the peace-loving people, but on the contrary, blend with them. (Stormy applause.) Where the Soviet Union is concerned, its interest in the matter of world peace cannot be separated from the cause of peace in the whole world.
It is understood that our Party must do its duty by its fraternal parties and support them and their peoples in the struggle for liberation and in their struggle for keeping peace. This is exactly what the Party does."
- Speech of the 19th Party Congress of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union, 1952.
It seems that towards the end of his life, which coincided with the unprecedented successes of the communist construction in a backward peasant country serving as a rich soil for the many blossoms of chauvinism, the revolutionary rhetoric withers away a little bit. Yet when alone with his dim genius, Koba remained quite candid -
"Soviet David is readying to chop up the world imperialism. Let's help!!!"
- The Social-Democratic View on the National Question, 1904.
"Whether the proletariat rallies to the banner of bourgeois nationalism depends on the degree of development of class antagonisms, on the class consciousness and degree of organization of the proletariat. The class-conscious proletariat has its own tried banner, and has no need to rally to the banner of the bourgeoisie."
- Marxism and the National Question, 1913.
"Tsarist Russia was the home of every kind of oppression - capitalist, colonial and militarist - in its most inhuman and barbarous form."
- The Foundations of Leninism, 1924.
"Proletarian parties develop and become strong by purging themselves of opportunists and reformists, social-imperialists and social-chauvinists, social-patriots and social-pacifists."
- Ibid.
"Russian revolutionary sweep has every chance of degenerating in practice into empty "revolutionary" Manilovism if it is not combined with American efficiency in work."
- Ibid. [Manilov is a fictional character from a 19th century novel. As a typical Russian landlord, he spent his life day-dreaming about the vast improvements that could be made in his estate, but remained permanently idle and passive even as it was slowly crumbling around him.]
"In the past we had no fatherland, nor could we have had one. But now that we have overthrown capitalism and power is in our hands, in the hands of the people, we have a fatherland, and we will uphold its independence."
- The Tasks of Business Executives, 1931.
"The Russian revolution is not a private affair of the Russians; on the contrary, it is the cause of the working class of the whole world, the cause of the world proletarian revolution."
- Some Questions Concerning the History of Bolshevism, 1931.
"I am merely a pupil of Lenin, and my aim is to be a worthy pupil of his. The task to which I have devoted my life is to elevate the working class. That task is not to strengthen any national state, but to strengthen a socialist state — and that means an international state. Everything that contributes to strengthening that state helps to strengthen the international working class. If in my efforts to elevate the working class and strengthen the socialist state of that class, every step taken were not directed towards strengthening and improving the position of the working class, I should consider my life as purposeless."
- An Interview with the German Writer Emil Ludwig, 1931.
"Mr. Campbell still further stretches the truth when he puts such words in the mouth of Stalin as that "under Trotsky there had been an attempt to spread communism throughout the world; that this was the primary cause of the break between himself [i.e., Stalin] and Trotsky; that Trotsky believed in universal communism, while he [Stalin] worked to confine his efforts to his own country." Only people who have deserted to the camp of the Kautskys and the Welses can believe such stuff and nonsense, in which the facts are turned upside-down."
- Mr. Campbell Stretches the Truth, 1932.
"As we are not living on an island but "in a system of states," a considerable number of which are hostile to the land of socialism and create the danger of intervention and restoration, we say openly and honestly that the victory of Socialism in our country is not yet final. But from this it follows that the second problem is not yet solved and that it has yet to be solved. More than that : the second problem cannot be solved in the way that we solved the first problem, i.e., solely by the efforts of our country. The second problem can be solved only by combining the serious efforts of the international proletariat with the still more serious efforts of the whole of our Soviet people."
- The Reply to Comrade Ivanov, 1938.
"In point of fact the Hitlerite regime is a copy of that reactionary regime which existed in Russia under tsardom."
- Speech at the Celebratory Meeting of the Moscow Soviet of Working People's Deputies and Moscow Party and Public Organizations, 1941.
"As regards the other formula by Stalin, taken from his speech at the Sixteenth Party Congress, in the part that touches on the merging of languages into one common language, it has in view another epoch, namely, the epoch after the victory of socialism on a world scale, when world imperialism no longer exists; when the exploiting classes are overthrown and national and colonial oppression is eradicated; when national isolation and mutual distrust among nations is replaced by mutual confidence and rapprochement between nations; when national equality has been put into practice; when the policy of suppressing and assimilating languages is abolished; when the co-operation of nations has been established, and it is possible for national languages freely to enrich one another through their co-operation. It is clear that in these conditions there can be no question of the suppression and defeat of some languages, and the victory of others. Here we shall have not two languages, one of which is to suffer defeat, while the other is to emerge from the struggle victorious, but hundreds of national languages, out of which, as a result of a prolonged economic, political and cultural co operation of nations, there will first appear most enriched unified zonal languages, and subsequently the zonal languages will merge into a single international language, which, of course, will be neither German, nor Russian, nor English, but a new language that has absorbed the best elements of the national and zonal languages."
- Marxism and the Problems of Linguistics, 1950.
"The object of the present-day peace movement is to rouse the masses of the people to fight for the preservation of peace and for the prevention of another world war. Consequently, the aim of this movement is not to overthrow capitalism and establish socialism - it confines itself to the democratic aim of preserving peace. In this respect, the present-day peace movement differs from the movement of the time of the First World War for the conversion of the imperialist war into civil war, since the latter movement went farther and pursued socialist aims.
It is possible that in a definite conjuncture of circumstances the fight for peace will develop here or there into a fight for socialism. But then it will no longer be the present-day peace movement; it will be a movement for the overthrow of capitalism.
...
To eliminate the inevitability of war, it is necessary to abolish imperialism."
- The Economic Problems of Socialism in the USSR, 1952.
"The interests of our Party are not only not against the interests of the peace-loving people, but on the contrary, blend with them. (Stormy applause.) Where the Soviet Union is concerned, its interest in the matter of world peace cannot be separated from the cause of peace in the whole world.
It is understood that our Party must do its duty by its fraternal parties and support them and their peoples in the struggle for liberation and in their struggle for keeping peace. This is exactly what the Party does."
- Speech of the 19th Party Congress of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union, 1952.
It seems that towards the end of his life, which coincided with the unprecedented successes of the communist construction in a backward peasant country serving as a rich soil for the many blossoms of chauvinism, the revolutionary rhetoric withers away a little bit. Yet when alone with his dim genius, Koba remained quite candid -
"Soviet David is readying to chop up the world imperialism. Let's help!!!"