Here's brain dead to the rescue. I don't use brave.
From Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels (The Communist Manifesto, 1848)The Communist Manifesto is the seminal text of communism, co-authored by Marx and Engels. It openly calls for the violent dismantling of the existing legal and social order:"The Communists disdain to conceal their views and aims. They openly declare that their ends can be attained only by the forcible overthrow of all existing social conditions. Let the ruling classes tremble at a Communistic revolution. The proletarians have nothing to lose but their chains. They have a world to win. Working Men of All Countries, Unite!"
This passage directly advocates for "forcible overthrow," which under bourgeois law would constitute illegal rebellion, treason, and violent disruption of the state apparatus. Marx and Engels argue that legal reform is insufficient; only revolutionary violence can shatter the "bourgeois state machine."On bourgeois law specifically: "Your very ideas are but the outgrowth of the conditions of your bourgeois production and bourgeois property... The selfish misconception that induces you to transform into eternal laws of nature and of reason, the social forms springing from your present mode of production and form of property."
Here, they dismiss capitalist laws as temporary illusions of the ruling class, justifying their violation as a necessary step toward proletarian dictatorship.From Mao Zedong (Selected Works, 1927–1957)Mao, founder of the People's Republic of China, emphasized revolutionary violence as essential, portraying it as a chaotic but justified break from legal and moral constraints of the old order. His writings during the Chinese Revolution and later the Cultural Revolution encouraged mass insurrections that often led to widespread lawlessness."A revolution is not a dinner party, or writing an essay, or painting a picture, or doing embroidery; it cannot be so refined, so leisurely and gentle, so temperate, kind, courteous, restrained and magnanimous. A revolution is an insurrection, an act of violence by which one class overthrows another."
From Report on an Investigation of the Peasant Movement in Hunan (1927). This quote glorifies violence as the core of revolution, explicitly rejecting "gentle" (i.e., legal) methods and promoting insurrectionary lawbreaking by peasants against landlords and authorities."Every Communist must grasp the truth: 'Political power grows out of the barrel of a gun.'"
From a 1938 speech, later included in Quotations from Chairman Mao Tse-tung. This underscores that seizing power—often illegally under existing regimes—requires armed force, not adherence to law.During the Cultural Revolution (1966–1976), Mao's slogan "To rebel is justified" (Zaofan youli) further promoted youth-led chaos, attacks on officials, and disregard for legal norms, leading to documented lawlessness across China.
(Note: While not a direct quote, this was Mao's endorsed policy, as per his writings and directives.)From Vladimir Lenin (Selected Works, 1902–1917)Lenin, leader of the Bolshevik Revolution, viewed bourgeois legality as a temporary tactic, not an absolute. He justified illegal underground work and revolutionary violence when necessary."The replacement of the bourgeois state by the proletarian state is impossible without a violent revolution. The abolition of the proletarian state, i.e., of the state in general, is impossible except through the process of 'withering away.'"
From The State and Revolution (1917). Lenin echoes Marx but stresses that the initial phase requires smashing the old state through illegal means, as legal paths are blocked by the ruling class.On tactical illegality: "We must not wait for the 'legal' seizure of power but must prepare for the seizure of power by force when the revolutionary crisis ripens."
From The Tasks of the Proletariat in the Present Revolution (April Theses, 1917). This called for immediate armed uprising against the Provisional Government, promoting desertion, strikes, and sabotage—acts of lawlessness.(Note on a commonly cited but disputed quote: A statement attributed to Lenin—"We must be ready to employ trickery, deceit, law-breaking, withholding and concealing truth"—appears in secondary sources like Max Eastman's 1955 book but lacks primary verification from Lenin's writings and is considered likely fabricated or paraphrased by critics of communism.
It contradicts Lenin's emphasis on truthful agitation in works like What Is to Be Done? (1902).)These quotes illustrate how communist theory frames lawlessness not as random chaos but as a strategic necessity for class struggle. In practice, this ideology justified events like the October Revolution (1917), where Bolsheviks seized power illegally, or the Chinese land reforms, involving extralegal executions. For full context, consult primary sources like the Marxists Internet Archive.
Here's brain dead to the rescue. I don't use brave.
From Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels (The Communist Manifesto, 1848)The Communist Manifesto is the seminal text of communism, co-authored by Marx and Engels. It openly calls for the violent dismantling of the existing legal and social order:"The Communists disdain to conceal their views and aims. They openly declare that their ends can be attained only by the forcible overthrow of all existing social conditions. Let the ruling classes tremble at a Communistic revolution. The proletarians have nothing to lose but their chains. They have a world to win. Working Men of All Countries, Unite!"
This passage directly advocates for "forcible overthrow," which under bourgeois law would constitute illegal rebellion, treason, and violent disruption of the state apparatus. Marx and Engels argue that legal reform is insufficient; only revolutionary violence can shatter the "bourgeois state machine."On bourgeois law specifically: "Your very ideas are but the outgrowth of the conditions of your bourgeois production and bourgeois property... The selfish misconception that induces you to transform into eternal laws of nature and of reason, the social forms springing from your present mode of production and form of property."
Here, they dismiss capitalist laws as temporary illusions of the ruling class, justifying their violation as a necessary step toward proletarian dictatorship.From Mao Zedong (Selected Works, 1927–1957)Mao, founder of the People's Republic of China, emphasized revolutionary violence as essential, portraying it as a chaotic but justified break from legal and moral constraints of the old order. His writings during the Chinese Revolution and later the Cultural Revolution encouraged mass insurrections that often led to widespread lawlessness."A revolution is not a dinner party, or writing an essay, or painting a picture, or doing embroidery; it cannot be so refined, so leisurely and gentle, so temperate, kind, courteous, restrained and magnanimous. A revolution is an insurrection, an act of violence by which one class overthrows another."
From Report on an Investigation of the Peasant Movement in Hunan (1927). This quote glorifies violence as the core of revolution, explicitly rejecting "gentle" (i.e., legal) methods and promoting insurrectionary lawbreaking by peasants against landlords and authorities."Every Communist must grasp the truth: 'Political power grows out of the barrel of a gun.'"
From a 1938 speech, later included in Quotations from Chairman Mao Tse-tung. This underscores that seizing power—often illegally under existing regimes—requires armed force, not adherence to law.During the Cultural Revolution (1966–1976), Mao's slogan "To rebel is justified" (Zaofan youli) further promoted youth-led chaos, attacks on officials, and disregard for legal norms, leading to documented lawlessness across China.
(Note: While not a direct quote, this was Mao's endorsed policy, as per his writings and directives.)From Vladimir Lenin (Selected Works, 1902–1917)Lenin, leader of the Bolshevik Revolution, viewed bourgeois legality as a temporary tactic, not an absolute. He justified illegal underground work and revolutionary violence when necessary."The replacement of the bourgeois state by the proletarian state is impossible without a violent revolution. The abolition of the proletarian state, i.e., of the state in general, is impossible except through the process of 'withering away.'"
From The State and Revolution (1917). Lenin echoes Marx but stresses that the initial phase requires smashing the old state through illegal means, as legal paths are blocked by the ruling class.On tactical illegality: "We must not wait for the 'legal' seizure of power but must prepare for the seizure of power by force when the revolutionary crisis ripens."
From The Tasks of the Proletariat in the Present Revolution (April Theses, 1917). This called for immediate armed uprising against the Provisional Government, promoting desertion, strikes, and sabotage—acts of lawlessness.(Note on a commonly cited but disputed quote: A statement attributed to Lenin—"We must be ready to employ trickery, deceit, law-breaking, withholding and concealing truth"—appears in secondary sources like Max Eastman's 1955 book but lacks primary verification from Lenin's writings and is considered likely fabricated or paraphrased by critics of communism.
It contradicts Lenin's emphasis on truthful agitation in works like What Is to Be Done? (1902).)These quotes illustrate how communist theory frames lawlessness not as random chaos but as a strategic necessity for class struggle. In practice, this ideology justified events like the October Revolution (1917), where Bolsheviks seized power illegally, or the Chinese land reforms, involving extralegal executions. For full context, consult primary sources like the Marxists Internet Archive.
These are the very type of quotes I was looking for. Thanks brain_dead.
They do tell us what they are doing, don't they? We just need to believe them when they tell us who they are,
They always tell you. They are hubris.