In Stalin each [Soviet bureaucrat] easily finds himself. But Stalin also finds in each one a small part of his own spirit. Stalin is the personification of the bureaucracy. That is the substance of his political personality.
Leon TrotskyRevolutionary realism tries to draw the maximum advantage from every situation - that is what makes it revolutionary - but at the same time it does not permit us to set ourselves fantastic aims - that is what makes it realistic.
Leon TrotskyThat the existence of the Soviet Union has an international revolutionary significance is a commonplace equally recognized by friends and foes.
Leon Trotsky