Lenin on the Train Quotes

“As modern tyrannies are swept away (and every honest heart delights), the quick-thinking servants of the world’s great powers still proffer plans to intervene, to jostle, scheme and sponsor factions that they barely understand.”
― Catherine Merridale, Lenin on the Train

“The history of Lenin’s train is not exclusively the property of the Soviets. In part, it is a parable about great-power intrigue, and one rule there is that great powers almost always get things wrong.”
― Catherine Merridale, Lenin on the Train

“An oppressed class which does not strive to learn the use of weapons [the Russian word, oruzhiia, contains another wonderful long r], to practice the use of weapons, to own weapons, deserves to be mistreated … The demand for disarmament in the present-day world is nothing but an expression of despair.”
― Catherine Merridale, Lenin on the Train

“Like many compositions of its kind - all muscles, square jaws and sunshine - it is stronger on the socialism than the reality”
― Catherine Merridale, Lenin on the Train

“the sound of tramping feet beat out a requiem for the old world - but no one could be sure where it might lead”
― Catherine Merridale, Lenin on the Train

“Kerensky he dismissed in yet another snappy line, describing him as ‘a balalaika on which they play to deceive the workers and peasants’.”
― Catherine Merridale, Lenin on the Train

“Human dignity is something one need not look for in the world of capitalists. V. I. Lenin”
― Catherine Merridale, Lenin on the Train

“Sometimes a scoundrel is useful to our party precisely because he is a scoundrel. V. I. Lenin”
― Catherine Merridale, Lenin on the Train