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Marx and Engels on the Use of Terror Quotations On the Exercise of Political Power: "Political power ... is merely the organized power of one [socio-economic] class for oppressing the other." From Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels, The Communist Manifesto. Cited in E. Burns (ed.), A Handbook of Marxism (1935), p. 46. On the Need for Terror "[The working class] must act in such a manner that the revolutionary excitement does not collapse immediately after the victory. On the contrary, they must maintain it as long as possible. Far from opposing so-called excesses, such as sacrificing to popular revenge of hated individuals or public buildings to which hateful memories are attached, such deeds must not only be tolerated, but their direction must be taken in hand, for examples' sake." From Karl Marx, Address to the Communist League (1850). Cited in E. Burns (ed.), A Handbook of Marxism (1935), p. 66 or 135ff.
On the Need to Use Force "Communists disdain to conceal their views and aims. They openly declare that their ends can only be attained by the forcible overthrow of all existing social conditions (e.g. bourgeois democracy)." From Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels, The Communist Manifesto, conclusion. "The Communists support everywhere every revolutionary movement against the existing social and political order (e.g. including in established democracies)." From Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels, The Communist Manifesto, conclusion. "The immediate aim of the Communists is the ... conquest of political power by the proletariat." From Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels, The Communist Manifesto. Cited in E. Burns (ed.), A Handbook of Marxism (1935), p. 37. "From the first moment of victory, we must no longer direct our distrust against the beaten reactionary enemy, but against our former allies (i.e., democratic forces)." "The arming of the whole proletariat with rifles, guns, and ammunition should be carried out at once [and] the workers must ... organize themselves into an independent guard, with their own chiefs and general staff. ... [The aim is] that the bourgeois democratic Government not only immediately loses all backing among the workers, but from the commencement finds itself under the supervision and threats of authorities behind whom stands the entire mass of the working class. ...As soon as the new Government is established they will commence to fight the workers. In order that this party (i.e., the democrats) whose betrayal of the workers will begin with the first hour of victory, should be frustrated in its nefarious work, it is necessary to organize and arm the proletariat." From Karl Marx, Address to the Communist League (1850). Cited in E. Burns (ed.), A Handbook of Marxism (1935), p. 67. On Disdain for Democracy: "Democracy is of great importance for the working class in its struggle for freedom against the capitalists. But democracy is by no means a limit one may not overstep; it is only one of the stages in the course of development from feudalism to capitalism, and from capitalism, to communism." From Karl Marx, The State and Revolution, p. 77. Cited in E. Burns (ed.), A Handbook of Marxism (1935), p. 756. On Marxist "Democracy" and the Goal of Revolution: "The proletarian movement is the self-conscious independent movement of the immense majority, in the interest of the immense majority." From Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels, The Communist Manifesto. Cited in E. Burns (ed.), A Handbook of Marxism (1935), p. 35. On the Purpose of the State: "In reality the state is nothing more than a machine for the oppression of one class by another, and this holds for a democratic republic no less than for a monarchy." From Friedrich Engels, Introduction to Karl Marx, Civil War in France (London: Martin Lawrence, 1933), p. 19. Also see E. Burns (ed.), A Handbook of Marxism (1935), p. 45. On Moral Relativism as Linked to the Historical Evolution of the Class Struggle: "What morality is preached to us to-day? There is first Christian-feudal morality, inherited from past centuries ... alongside [this] we find the modern bourgeois morality, and with it, too, the proletarian morality of the future." From Friedrich Engels, The Communist Manifesto. Cited in E. Burns, ed., A Handbook of Marxism (1935), pp. 247f. |