Tagged with quotes - Personal View Talks https://www.personal-view.com/talks/discussions/tagged/quotes/p2/feed.rss Sat, 27 Apr 24 16:43:22 +0000 Tagged with quotes - Personal View Talks en-CA Good quote: EU needs endless COVID instead of energy and goods https://www.personal-view.com/talks/discussion/25953/good-quote-eu-needs-endless-covid-instead-of-energy-and-goods Thu, 29 Jul 2021 03:58:16 +0000 Vitaliy_Kiselev 25953@/talks/discussions

The European Union remains, in fact, a political structure based on a community of interests, often technological: coal, steel and the atom 60 years ago, Airbus and Galileo then, today hydrogen, batteries and, of course, vaccines ..

Thierry Breton (European Commissioner for Internal Market)

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Good quote: Herzen on socialism https://www.personal-view.com/talks/discussion/25950/good-quote-herzen-on-socialism Tue, 27 Jul 2021 17:55:52 +0000 Vitaliy_Kiselev 25950@/talks/discussions

Socialism completely denies the entire old order of things with its law and representation, with its church and court, with its civil and criminal code - it completely denies, just as the Christians of the first centuries denied the Roman world. Such a denial is not a whim of a sick imagination, not a personal cry of a person offended by society, but a death sentence to him, a presentiment of the end, the consciousness of a disease that leads the decrepit world to death and to rebirth in other forms. The modern state structure will fall under the protest of socialism; his strength is exhausted; what it could give, it gave; now it ... is unable to develop further, nor to stop development; it has nothing to say or do, and it has reduced all activity to conservatism, to defend its place.

A. Herzen

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Good quote: On Police https://www.personal-view.com/talks/discussion/25943/good-quote-on-police Mon, 26 Jul 2021 00:32:48 +0000 Vitaliy_Kiselev 25943@/talks/discussions

Who are these policemen? - asked Selli.
Bandits! - Spike said with irritation.
Honestly, bandits! Indeed, the duty of the police is to protect the population from robbers, in reality, they only protect the rich. And the rich are the real robbers. They only rob us, hiding behind the laws that they themselves come up with. And what, tell me, the difference, according to the law, I will be robbed or not according to the law? I do not care!
It's really strange here! - said Coggy.
Why do you obey the police and these other ... as you call them, the rich?
Try not to obey, when they have everything in their hands: land, factories, money, and, in addition, weapons!
If I try to do this the police will grab me and put me in jail.

Dunno on the Moon by Nikolay Nosov

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Good quote: Bill Gates on AI power https://www.personal-view.com/talks/discussion/25876/good-quote-bill-gates-on-ai-power Tue, 13 Jul 2021 06:29:39 +0000 Vitaliy_Kiselev 25876@/talks/discussions

Today we have the opportunity, with the development of tools such as artificial intelligence and genetic technology, to develop a new generation of medical solutions that can benefit everyone, everywhere.

The computing power available to AI applications doubles every three and a half months — far exceeding the historical metric of Moore's Law. This processing capability is associated with the accumulation of new data, and we are learning to annotate this data in smarter ways. This allows us to fulfill some of the promises of AI: the ability to synthesize, analyze, see patterns, get insights, and make predictions in many, many larger dimensions than humans can understand.

(c) BG, February 2020

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Good quote: On happyness https://www.personal-view.com/talks/discussion/25799/good-quote-on-happyness Sun, 04 Jul 2021 05:50:46 +0000 Vitaliy_Kiselev 25799@/talks/discussions

Well, happy is easy.
You act happy; people see you as happy and you see yourself through their eyes: you feel happy.
It doesn't work for lonely... but happy's easy

(c) Elaine Vassal. AllyMcBeal series.

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Good quote: Solzhenitsyn as new generation of scum https://www.personal-view.com/talks/discussion/25762/good-quote-solzhenitsyn-as-new-generation-of-scum Tue, 22 Jun 2021 01:27:16 +0000 Vitaliy_Kiselev 25762@/talks/discussions

This was also the case once in Beijing. I was resting, squatting in Chinese, and did not immediately notice the disheveled Chinese mincing in my direction. A poorly chosen resting place with a smell of common areas, traces of the recent trade in vegetables and a runoff of rotten water made me rise, I automatically answered his greeting. And suddenly a confused monologue followed:

China is a terrible place! All around lies, deception. Everyone is used. And thieves run everything, all warm places are distributed to their relatives. Mao was the main liar, he killed millions of people. I remember the corpses lying around the corner over there. When in the Cultural Revolution people driven to despair died of hunger on the streets, they were afraid to approach them, they avoided them like the plague. And Dan is a liar. Everything that is said in the West about the Chinese economic miracle is a mirage, our rulers are mediocre, unable to rule a city, let alone a country. Tibet, Xinjiang - I hope they will rise up soon. Are you recently from Taiwan? Tell the Taiwanese not to agree to unite with China, in any case. There is lies and violence everywhere.

...Stability under the leadership of the party, which is the primary goal of the leaders, is not cheap for the Chinese people. According to some reports, up to 20 million convicts of the Chinese Gulag are injected for free to ensure the Chinese Miracle. (A few years ago, a Chinese firm received a contract to build a railway in one of the African countries; the profitability of the contract it proposed was easily explainable: after finishing the work, it took its prisoner workers back to China.) Tried and tested political dissidents receive repeated fifteen-year sentences, criminals are shot in public in stadiums - in 1995, a thousand death sentences were carried out. Women who become pregnant a second time are fined, forced to have an abortion, or even sterilized. The order to shoot chest-level students in Tiananmen Square in 1989 was issued by the current authorities. “Kill the chicken to intimidate the monkeys,” explained the perpetrators of the persecution of the past decades in China. This rule stuck, and it seems that the authorities are not going to abandon it even now.

So many things I heard in China; here are some memorable phrases from this discord. Taxi driver in Harbin: "The party does not have much time to govern, they have already become across the throat for the people ." Shanghai student: “Students will not go out on the street again. But nobody else believes in either the party or the government. ” A young musician from Chongqing: "Whatever one may say, but without democracy, China will rot." An employee of the city administration of Chengdu (despite the constant tugging at his wife's sleeve): “The South is already unstable, and the poisoned gift of Hong Kongers who do not want to fall under the power of Beijing will only aggravate the centrifugal forces of this economically advanced region. And returning Taiwan will be much more difficult. ” Well-fed party members in Kaifeng: "The reforms are correct, but too fast, the foundation has not grown stronger, but they are building on, building on everything." “It’s hard to find a wife now,” the poor peasant complained.

(c) Ermolai Solzhenitsyn, new generation of same old scum

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Good quote: On Apple and monopolies https://www.personal-view.com/talks/discussion/25731/good-quote-on-apple-and-monopolies Wed, 09 Jun 2021 13:32:46 +0000 Vitaliy_Kiselev 25731@/talks/discussions

In order to accumulate some capital, producers need a quasi-monopoly. Only if they have it can they sell their products at prices significantly higher than production costs. In a system with real competition, there can be no profit. Real profit requires the restriction of the free market, that is, quasi-monopoly.

However, quasi-monopoly can be established only under two conditions:

  1. A product is an innovation for which there is (or can be induced) a sufficiently large number of buyers who are ready to purchase it.
  2. One or more powerful states are ready to use their power in order to prevent other manufacturers from entering the market (or at least restrict it).

In short, quasi-monopoly can exist only if the market is not “free” of state participation.

Immanuel Wallerstein

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Good quote: The road of life https://www.personal-view.com/talks/discussion/25705/good-quote-the-road-of-life Tue, 01 Jun 2021 17:41:03 +0000 Vitaliy_Kiselev 25705@/talks/discussions image

From the memoirs of one the boys from this photo (on the left he looks out from behind Lenin's hand): “At that time it was difficult for everyone to live in Moscow, and especially for us street children. At night we hid from the cold in sewer boilers or in basements. In the mornings we got out smeared, dirty. During the day we got ourselves food in different ways and at night we climbed into our holes again. We spent the night in the center, somewhere in the area of ​​the Nikitsky Gate, visited Neglinnaya, Lubyanskaya Square and other places. Once we were attracted traffic and noise in the streets near Red Square, people with banners were walking along them. We also ran to the square. We visited it, probably everywhere. Our attention was attracted by a big black car. Several guys, including myself, ran up to this car The entire Red Square was visible from it. They wanted to drive us away from the car, but there was a man who turned out to be kind in it. He said not to touch us, after that we firmly settled down and looked at the passing columns on Red Square. This was the celebration of May 1, 1919. "

This former street boy grew up, received an excellent education and became a famous scientist, academic. Biologist Nikolai Petrovich Dubinin, whose list of positions and titles takes up an entire paragraph.

image

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Good quote: Mao on The Battle of Stalingrad https://www.personal-view.com/talks/discussion/25704/good-quote-mao-on-the-battle-of-stalingrad Tue, 01 Jun 2021 03:21:18 +0000 Vitaliy_Kiselev 25704@/talks/discussions

The Battle of Stalingrad has been compared by the British and American press to the Battle of Verdun, and the "Red Verdun" is now famous all over the world. This comparison is not altogether appropriate. The Battle of Stalingrad is different in nature from the Battle of Verdun in World War I. But they have this in common-- now, as then, many people are misled by the German offensive into thinking that Germany can still win the war. In 1916 the German forces launched several attacks on the French fortress of Verdun, two years before World War I ended in the winter of 1918. The commander-in-chief at Verdun was the German Crown Prince and the forces thrown into the battle were the cream of the German army. The battle was of decisive significance. After the ferocious German assaults failed, the entire German-Austrian-Turkish-Bulgarian bloc had no future, and from then on its difficulties mounted, it was deserted by its followers, it disintegrated, and finally collapsed. But at the time, the Anglo-American-French bloc did not grasp this situation, believing that the German army was still very powerful, and they were unaware of their own approaching victory. Historically, all reactionary forces on the verge of extinction invariably conduct a last desperate struggle against the revolutionary forces, and some revolutionaries are apt to be deluded for a time by this phenomenon of outward strength but inner weakness, failing to grasp the essential fact that the enemy is nearing extinction while they themselves are approaching victory. The rise of the forces of fascism and the war of aggression they have been conducting for some years are precisely the expression of such a last desperate struggle; and in this present war the attack on Stalingrad is the expression of the last desperate struggle of fascism itself. At this turning point in history, too, many people in the world anti-fascist front have been deluded by the ferocious appearance of fascism and have failed to discern its essence. For forty-eight days there raged an unprecedentedly bitter battle, unparalleled in the history of mankind--from August 23, when the entire German force crossed the bend of the River Don and began the all-out attack on Stalingrad, through September 15, when some German units broke into the industrial district in the northwestern section of the city, and right up to October 9, when the Soviet Information Bureau announced that the Red Army had breached the German line of encirclement in that district. Ultimately this battle was won by the Soviet forces. During those forty-eight days, the news of each setback or triumph from that city gripped the hearts of countless millions of people, now bringing them anxiety, now stirring them to elation. This battle is not only the turning point of the Soviet-German war, or even of the present anti-fascist world war, it is the turning point in the history of all mankind. Throughout these forty-eight days, the people of the world watched Stalingrad with even greater concern than they watched Moscow last October.

Until his victory on the western front, Hitler seems to have been cautious. When he attacked Poland, when he attacked Norway, when he attacked Holland, Belgium, and France, and when he attacked the Balkans, he concentrated all his strength on one objective at a time, not daring to disperse his attention. After his victory on the western front, he became dizzy with success and attempted to defeat the Soviet Union in three months. He launched an offensive against this huge and powerful socialist country along the whole front stretching from Murmansk in the north to the Crimea in the south, and in so doing dispersed his forces. The failure of his Moscow campaign last October marked the end of the first stage of the Soviet-German war, and Hitler's first strategic plan failed. The Red Army halted the German offensive last year and launched a counteroffensive on all fronts in the winter, which constituted the second stage of the Soviet-German war, with Hitler turning to retreat and the defensive. In this period, after dismissing Brauchitsch, his commander-in-chief, and taking over the command himself, he decided to abandon the plan for an all-out offensive, combed Europe for all available forces and prepared a final offensive which, though limited to the southern front, would, he imagined, strike at the vitals of the Soviet Union. Because it was in the nature of a final offensive on which the fate of fascism hung, Hitler concentrated the greatest possible forces and even moved in part of his aircraft and tanks from the North African battle front. With the German attack on Kerch and Sevastopol in May this year, the war entered its third stage. Massing an army of over 1,500,000, which was supported by the bulk of his air and tank forces, Hitler launched an offensive of unprecedented fury on Stalingrad and the Caucasus. He endeavoured to capture these two objectives at great speed for the twofold purpose of cutting the Volga and seizing Baku, intending subsequently to drive against Moscow to the north and break through to the Persian Gulf in the south; at the same time he directed the Japanese fascists to mass their troops in Manchuria in preparation for an attack on Siberia after the fall of Stalingrad. Hitler vainly hoped to weaken the Soviet Union to such an extent that he would be able to release the main forces of the German army from the Soviet theatre of war for dealing with an Anglo-American attack on the western front, and for seizing the resources of the Near East and effecting a junction with the Japanese; at the same time this would allow the main forces of the Japanese to be released from the north and, with their rear secure, to move west against China and south against Britain and the United States. That was how Hitler reckoned on winning victory for the fascist camp. But how did things turn out in this stage? Hitler came up against the Soviet tactics which sealed his fate. The Soviet Union adopted the policy of first luring the enemy in deep and then putting up a stubborn resistance. In five months of fighting the German army has failed either to penetrate to the Caucasian oil-fields or to seize Stalingrad, so that Hitler has been forced to halt his troops before high mountains and outside an impregnable city, unable to advance and unable to retreat, suffering immense losses and getting into an impasse. October is already here and winter is approaching; soon the third stage of the war will end and the fourth stage will begin. Not one of Hitler's strategic plans of attack against the Soviet Union has succeeded. In this period, bearing in mind his failure in the summer of last year when his forces were divided, Hitler concentrated his strength on the southern front. But as he still wanted to achieve the twofold purpose of cutting the Volga in the east and seizing the Caucasus in the south at a single stroke, he again divided his forces. He did not recognize that his strength did not match his ambitions, and he is now doomed--"when the carrying pole is not secured at both ends, the loads slip off". As for the Soviet Union, the more she fights the stronger she grows. Stalin's brilliant strategic direction has completely gained the initiative and is everywhere drawing Hitler towards destruction. The fourth stage of the war, beginning this winter, will mark the approach of Hitler's doom.

Comparing Hitler's position in the first and third stages of the war, we can see that he is on the threshold of final defeat. Both at Stalingrad and in the Caucasus the Red Army has now in fact stopped the German offensive; Hitler is now nearing exhaustion, having failed in his attacks on Stalingrad and the Caucasus. The forces which he managed to assemble throughout the winter, from last December to May of this year, have already been used up. In less than a month winter will set in on the Soviet-German front, and Hitler will have to turn hastily to the defensive. The whole belt west and south of the Don is his most vulnerable area, and the Red Army will go over to the counter-offensive there. This winter, goaded on by the fear of his impending doom, Hitler will once again reorganize his forces. To meet the dangers on both the eastern and western fronts, he may perhaps be able to scrape together the remnants of his forces, equip them and form them into a few new divisions and, in addition, he will turn for help to his three fascist partners, Italy, Rumania and Hungary, and extort some more cannon-fodder from them. However, he will have to face the enormous losses of a winter campaign in the east and be ready to deal with the second front in the west, while Italy, Rumania and Hungary, becoming pessimistic as they see that it is all up with Hitler, will increasingly fall away from him. In short, after October 9 there is only one road open to Hitler, the road to extinction.

The Red Army's defence of Stalingrad in these forty-eight days has a certain similarity to the defence of Moscow last year. That is to say, Hitler's plan for this year has been foiled just as was his plan for last year. The difference, however, is that, although the Soviet people followed up their defence of Moscow with a winter counter-offensive, they had yet to face the summer offensive of the German army this year, partly because Germany and her European accomplices still had some fight left in them and partly because Britain and the United States delayed the opening of the second front. But now, following the battle for the defence of Stalingrad, the situation will be totally different from that of last year. On the one hand, the Soviet Union will launch a second winter counteroffensive on a vast scale, Britain and the United States will no longer be able to delay the opening of the second front (though the exact date cannot yet be foretold), and the people of Europe will be ready to rise up in response. On the other hand, Germany and her European accomplices no longer have the strength to mount large-scale offensives, and Hitler will have no alternative but to change his whole line of policy to the strategic defensive. Once Hitler is compelled to go over to the strategic defensive, the fate of fascism is as good as sealed. From its birth, a fascist state like Hitler's builds its political and military life on taking the offensive, and once its offensive stops its very life stops too. The Battle of Stalingrad will stop the offensive of fascism and is therefore a decisive battle. It is decisive for the whole world war.

There are three powerful foes confronting Hitler, the Soviet Union, Britain and the United States, and the people in the German-occupied territories. On the eastern front stands the Red Army, firm as a rock, whose counter-offensives will continue through the whole of the second winter and beyond; it is this force which will decide the outcome of the whole war and the destiny of mankind. On the western front, even if Britain and the United States continue their policy of looking on and stalling, the second front will eventually be opened, when the time comes to belabour the slain tiger. Then there is the internal front against Hitler, the great uprising of the people which is brewing in Germany, in France and in other parts of Europe; they will respond with a third front the moment the Soviet Union launches an all-out counter-offensive and the guns roar on the second front. Thus, an attack from three fronts will converge on Hitler--such is the great historical process that will follow the Battle of Stalingrad.

Napoleon's political life ended at Waterloo, but the decisive turning point was his defeat at Moscow. Hitler today is treading Napoleon's road, and it is the Battle of Stalingrad that has sealed his doom.

These developments will have a direct impact on the Far East. The coming year will not be propitious for Japanese fascism either. As time goes on its headaches will grow, until it descends into its grave.

All those who take a pessimistic view of the world situation should change their point of view.

Mao Tse-tung

(c) October 12, 1942

Date of writing is important here.

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Good quote: Barack Obama as Nazist supremacist https://www.personal-view.com/talks/discussion/25701/good-quote-barack-obama-as-nazist-supremacist Sat, 29 May 2021 22:53:02 +0000 Vitaliy_Kiselev 25701@/talks/discussions

America is not just advocating for stability and the absence of conflict at any cost. We stand for a stronger world that can only be achieved by giving peace and freedom to people around the world ... I believe in American exceptionalism ... What makes us exceptional is not only our ability to circumvent international norms and laws, but our desire to assert it through action.

(c) Barak Obama, 2014

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Good quote: Steinbeck on present moment and near future https://www.personal-view.com/talks/discussion/25675/good-quote-steinbeck-on-present-moment-and-near-future Sat, 22 May 2021 18:53:24 +0000 Vitaliy_Kiselev 25675@/talks/discussions

I remember the 29th well. Everything worked out (not for me, but for the majority). I remember the drugged and happy faces of people who made fortunes in stocks they would never have made. “I made ten thousand in ten minutes today! Estimate - that's eighty thousand in a week. " In our wilderness, bank presidents and railroad workers have cut off telephones by calling brokers. Everyone was a broker. At lunchtime, clerks and stenographers chewed sandwiches, followed the quotes and calculated their winnings, growing like a pyramid. Their eyes were like those of casino players.

Then came the panic. And the panic gave way to a dull shock. When the market collapsed, factories, mines, workshops ... Everything was closed. Nobody could buy anything. Even food. People looked like they had been muzzled. The newspapers talked about the broken lives of those who threw themselves out of the window. On the sidewalk, they literally crashed ... Then people rushed to withdraw money. Riots and clashes with the police broke out. Frightened and furious stormed the bank offices until the doors were closed tightly. As in the days of Marie Antoinette, President Hoover invited the unemployed to sell apples. Businessmen panicked, banks panicked, workers demanded to open factories, but no one needed the goods. People began to stock up on food - as before the invasion. Local power passed to the gangsters.

John Steinbeck

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Good quote: On social being and social consciousness https://www.personal-view.com/talks/discussion/25606/good-quote-on-social-being-and-social-consciousness Thu, 06 May 2021 06:46:02 +0000 Vitaliy_Kiselev 25606@/talks/discussions

Social being and social consciousness are not identical, in exactly the same way as being in general and consciousness in general are not identical. From the fact that people, entering into communication, enter into it as conscious beings, it in no way follows that social consciousness should be identical with social being. Entering into communication, people in all somewhat complex social formations - and especially in the capitalist social formation - are not aware of what social relations are formed in this case, according to what laws they develop, etc. For example, a peasant, selling grain, enters into "communion" with world grain producers in the world market, but he is not aware of this, he is also unaware of what social relations are formed from exchange. Social consciousness reflects social being - this is what Marx's teaching consists.

Reflection can be approximately a true copy of the reflected, but it is absurd to talk about identity here. Consciousness generally reflects being — this is the general position of all materialism. It is impossible not to see its direct and indissoluble connection with the position of historical materialism: social consciousness reflects social being.

V. Lenin

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Good quote: On freedom and lack of it https://www.personal-view.com/talks/discussion/25593/good-quote-on-freedom-and-lack-of-it Mon, 03 May 2021 15:28:42 +0000 Vitaliy_Kiselev 25593@/talks/discussions image

Real freedom exists only where exploitation has been abolished, where there is no oppression of some people by others, where there is no unemployment and poverty, where a person does not tremble because tomorrow he may lose his job, home, bread.

I. Stalin

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Good quote: On global warming https://www.personal-view.com/talks/discussion/25451/good-quote-on-global-warming Mon, 29 Mar 2021 08:09:09 +0000 Vitaliy_Kiselev 25451@/talks/discussions

We have to admit that we are redistributing the world's wealth through climate policy. It is necessary to get rid of the illusion that climate policy is somehow linked to environmental issues. Actually, the climate agenda has almost nothing to do with the environment today ...

Ottmar Edenhofer, UN Climate Change Specialist

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Good quote: On capitalism future https://www.personal-view.com/talks/discussion/25558/good-quote-on-capitalism-future Thu, 22 Apr 2021 11:56:45 +0000 Vitaliy_Kiselev 25558@/talks/discussions

The world is torn apart by a great many great and small contradictions, the solution of which is beyond the power of a person who is non-communist educated ... If humanity does not understand this and does not irrevocably take the path of creating a higher communist society, will not be able to resolutely re-educate itself, then it will be plunged into such abysses hunger and extermination, which the world has never heard of ... For me, the question is: either there will be an all-planetary communist society, or there will be none, but there will be sand and dust on a dead planet.

I. Efremov

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Good quote: Gagarin on importance of revolution https://www.personal-view.com/talks/discussion/25544/good-quote-gagarin-on-importance-of-revolution Mon, 19 Apr 2021 20:16:09 +0000 Vitaliy_Kiselev 25544@/talks/discussions

Someone calculated that the power of the rocket engines, which put the red-star "Vostok" into orbit, was equal to the combined power of the entire horse population of pre-revolutionary Russia. This coincidence, although witty, is sad. A country of backwardness and despotism, such as tsarist Russia, could not have escaped into space ... To ascend to the stars, it is not enough to break the fetters of gravity - it was first necessary to throw off the shackles in which labor, reason, and human soul languished before October! It was not for nothing that the Communards were called “people storming the sky” ... The storming of space did not begin on April 12, 1961, when man saw the open universe, and not even on October 4, 1957, when the first satellite took off from the Earth. It all started with the Aurora shot, with the storming of the Winter Palace.

Yuri Gagarin

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Good quote: On USSR https://www.personal-view.com/talks/discussion/25539/good-quote-on-ussr Mon, 19 Apr 2021 07:31:41 +0000 Vitaliy_Kiselev 25539@/talks/discussions

The Soviet Union was a country that posed a serious threat to the Western world. I'm not talking about a military threat. I mean the economic threat. Thanks to the planned policy and a peculiar combination of moral and material incentives, the USSR managed to achieve high economic indicators... and good quality of life for their citizens.

(c) 1991 Margaret Thatcher

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Good quote: Stalin on present capitalism situation https://www.personal-view.com/talks/discussion/25508/good-quote-stalin-on-present-capitalism-situation Tue, 13 Apr 2021 00:38:11 +0000 Vitaliy_Kiselev 25508@/talks/discussions

I spoke about the crisis that has engulfed all branches of production. But there is one industry that has not been caught in the crisis. This industry is the military industry. It is growing all the time, despite the crisis. The bourgeois states are furiously arming and rearming themselves. For what? Of course, not for conversation, but for the war. And the imperialists need war, since it is the only means for redivision of the world, for redistribution of sales markets, sources of raw materials, areas of capital investment.

It is quite understandable that in this situation the so-called pacifism is living out its last days...

V. Stalin

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Good quote: On imperialist big wars https://www.personal-view.com/talks/discussion/25507/good-quote-on-imperialist-big-wars Tue, 13 Apr 2021 00:32:47 +0000 Vitaliy_Kiselev 25507@/talks/discussions

War is the continuation of policy. Consequently, we must examine the policy pursued prior to the war, the policy that led to and brought about the war. If it was an imperialist policy, i.e., one designed to safeguard the interests of finance capital and rob and oppress colonies and foreign countries, then the war stemming from that policy is imperialist. If it was a national liberation policy, i.e., one expressive of the mass movement against national oppression, then the war stemming from that policy is a war of national liberation.

The philistine does not realize that war is “the continuation of policy”, and consequently limits himself to the formula that “the enemy has attacked us”, “the enemy has invaded my country”, without stopping to think what issues are at stake in the war, which classes are waging it, and with what political objects.

For the philistine the important thing is where the armies stand, who is winning at the moment. For the Marxist the important thing is what issues are at stake in this war, during which first one, then the other army may be on top.

V. Lenin

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Good quote: How communists must deal with capitalists if they need them https://www.personal-view.com/talks/discussion/25427/good-quote-how-communists-must-deal-with-capitalists-if-they-need-them Wed, 24 Mar 2021 12:47:16 +0000 Vitaliy_Kiselev 25427@/talks/discussions

The directive of the Politburo of the Central Committee of the All-Union Communist Party (Bolshevik) to the head of "Amtorg" P.A. Bogdanov at the talks in America about a 200 million loan for the supply of equipment to the USSR ...

“... The term of the loan is 4-5 years, with no payments in the first year after delivery. Payments start 12 months after delivery, with equal maturity over the remaining 3-4 years. The cost of the loan is not more than 7% per annum. ... Do not in any way conduct any negotiations with the United States government or with any government agencies. Likewise, one should not start negotiating with banks or with any financial institutions, bearing in mind the need to achieve, first of all, pressure from the most interested industry circles on the banking institutions that finance them ... "

Operation of getting industrial equipment, knowledge, papers, engineers and more is considered as absolute example and hated till this time by all capitalist countries (as it is their crisis and weakness that had been used against them).

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Good quote: Ernesto Che Guevara on NEP and Chinese Socialism https://www.personal-view.com/talks/discussion/25395/good-quote-ernesto-che-guevara-on-nep-and-chinese-socialism Wed, 17 Mar 2021 20:11:03 +0000 Vitaliy_Kiselev 25395@/talks/discussions

NEP is one of the biggest steps back taken by the USSR; it was not for nothing that Lenin compared it to the Brest Peace. The decision was extremely difficult and, judging by the doubts that tormented Lenin's soul in the last years of his life, if he had lived for a few more years, he would have rectified the most dangerous consequences of this decision. But his successors did not see this danger, and so a huge Trojan horse appeared in the construction of socialism - a direct material interest, as the main economic lever. The NEP took shape, not being directed against small-scale commodity production, but as an embodiment of the requirements of this production

Everything stems from an erroneous concept - the desire to build socialism from the elements of capitalism, without changing the latter in essence. This leads to the creation of a hybrid system that is bewildering; moreover, into a dead end, hardly noticeable, which forces us to make more and more concessions to the state of economic methods, i.e. forces to retreat.

My thesis is that the changes that took place in connection with the NEP affected the life of Soviet society so deeply that they left an imprint on the entire subsequent stage of its history. And the results of this are discouraging: the capitalist superstructure in an ever more distinct form influences production relations, and the conflicts caused by the "hybridization" that the NEP designated, are being resolved today in favor of the superstructure; there is a return to capitalism.

Ernesto Che Guevara

Situation in USSR had been much better, as it did not have any billionaires and openly capitalist factories like China.

Chinese elite more and more will rely on censorship and pure force despite capitalist elements are rising their head each day, they become stronger.

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Good quote: Limits exist for any ruler https://www.personal-view.com/talks/discussion/25377/good-quote-limits-exist-for-any-ruler Sat, 13 Mar 2021 15:08:47 +0000 Vitaliy_Kiselev 25377@/talks/discussions

En Russie le gouvernement est un despotisme mitigé par la strangulation.

in english

In Russia the government is a despotism mitigated by strangulation.

Pushkin.

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Good quote: On working class https://www.personal-view.com/talks/discussion/25262/good-quote-on-working-class Mon, 22 Feb 2021 15:56:49 +0000 Vitaliy_Kiselev 25262@/talks/discussions

Modern left idiots as well as old school Mensheviks have a favorite topic for whining - the working class, they say, is not revolutionary in itself and does not generate by itself brave people in leather jackets who are ready to establish a new order. The absurdity of this claim has been evident for over a hundred years. Another question is the nature of this claim; after all, it does not grow out of the blue, but is taken from the same surprisingly ridiculous concept that it is possible and necessary to find some external source of morality, its a priori carrier.

To this guys I have already given a well-known answer to any educated (that is, who read Marx and Lenin) person: the working class is not a panacea and not a savior in a halo, but explosives lying dead weight, of all types of social explosives, by virtue of social status, capable of detonation, that's all. From the point of view of the process of the explosive reaction itself, it does not matter at all who will bring the detonators to this explosive and ignite: the RSDP (b), or some "Partyda Laborista"; with one or another degree of resistance, the explosive process in the accumulated mass ready for detonation will proceed, releasing the accumulated energy. This, in essence, is used all over the world by paid provocateurs under left-wing slogans, making small senseless bangs here and there. Naturally, if you just detonate the explosives, you get a spectacular, dangerous close up and sometimes quite a beautiful sight - but that’s where it all ends.

For an explosive to do useful work, it needs a harness designed for specific conditions and a specific type of work. The explosives must be organized by giving them the necessary forms (to break through a pit, fill a dam or split an armored wall - three completely different tasks!). For large masses or complex shapes, it is necessary to ensure the simultaneity or the correct order of detonation, initiating the processes in exactly the right sequence and at the right time. The released energy must be channeled and used with the highest possible efficiency, in every possible way avoiding unnecessary destruction, overexpenditure of efforts and loss of energy for various internal transitions. Finally, it is required to take measures to ensure maximum safety of the process, withdraw the civilian population and infrastructure from the zone of possible destruction, precipitation and disposal of hazardous reaction products, etc.

In the case of a revolution, it is not the class that does it. This is done by a political party (in the broad sense of the term). And without the organized (as well as organizing) work of the party, any actions of the working class will turn into a noisy but senseless gross-babach. The workers themselves are well aware of this, and, lacking an organizing principle, they rarely enter politics on behalf of the class. Instead it is small shopkeeper or rentier considers himself smarter than all the beasts of the field, therefore he gladly discusses the orders of commanders in the Battle of Solferino, scolds Roosevelt for ill-conceived economic decisions and loves to arrange "hydnost revolutions" with fireworks. The mass of the worker is averse to such nonsense; he reserves his great strength for great deeds, but does not suffer from "morality" and "spirituality" at all. And it is right.

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Good quote: On present United States Congress https://www.personal-view.com/talks/discussion/25258/good-quote-on-present-united-states-congress Sun, 21 Feb 2021 04:02:19 +0000 Vitaliy_Kiselev 25258@/talks/discussions

I have always said: parliamentarism is wonderful, but the times are not parliamentary now.

V. Lenin

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Good quote: About Pugs, sorry, Kurths of this world https://www.personal-view.com/talks/discussion/25230/good-quote-about-pugs-sorry-kurths-of-this-world Sun, 14 Feb 2021 19:36:52 +0000 Vitaliy_Kiselev 25230@/talks/discussions Elephant And Pug

Along the streets Big Elephant was led,
To show him off, most likely.
Since Elephants are not a common thing to see
A crowd of gapers followed on his heels.
All of a sudden Pug springs up in front of them.
And seeing Elephant, it raises a great rumpus,
It lunges, barks and howls
And does its best to pick a quarrel.
'Hey neighbor, stop the fuss,'
A mutt intones, 'You? Deal with Elephant?
Look at you barking yourself hoarse, and he just strolls
Nonplussed
And doesn't care one bit about your noise.'
'Ho ho!' Pug says,
'That's just what I enjoy,
Since I can be a real tough guy
Without a single blow or bruise.
That way, the other dogs will say:
'To bark at Elephant this Pug
Must be a real strong mug!'

I. A. Krylov

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Good quote: On fascism and capitalism https://www.personal-view.com/talks/discussion/25205/good-quote-on-fascism-and-capitalism Thu, 11 Feb 2021 15:33:16 +0000 Vitaliy_Kiselev 25205@/talks/discussions

Fascism is a modern historical phase in the development of capitalism, and in this sense it is something both new and old at the same time.
In the fascist countries, capitalism now exists only as fascism, and therefore it is possible to fight against fascism only as against capitalism, capitalism of the most undisguised, in its most arrogant, cruel and demagogic form.
What will happen if the enemy of fascism tries to tell the truth about it without touching upon the capitalism that generates it? Where can we get to the truth, suitable for practical application! Opponents of fascism, who are not opponents of capitalism, with their complaints of barbarism stemming from barbarism, resemble people who do not mind eating a calf, but do not want animal to be stabbed to death. They love meat, but cannot stand the sight of blood. Let the butcher wash his hands before bringing the meat; that will be perfectly satisfactory. After all, they are not against property relations that give rise to barbarism, but only against barbarism as such.
They raise their voice against barbarism in countries where the same property relations prevail, but where butchers still wash their hands before bringing meat.

Bertolt Brecht

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Good quote: Why you need to read liberal stuff https://www.personal-view.com/talks/discussion/25195/good-quote-why-you-need-to-read-liberal-stuff Mon, 08 Feb 2021 19:07:54 +0000 Vitaliy_Kiselev 25195@/talks/discussions

Lenin liked to use the expression "class truth, rudely, openly expressed by the class enemy."

He even advised his comrades to read the newspapers of the Black Hundreds. In 1917, while hiding from arrest, Lenin asked his comrades: "Can't I get the newspapers of the extreme right-wing parties?" “I had to get it,” recalled journalist Jukka Latukka. - Ilyich paid especial attention to the Black-Hundred newspapers. "It is a pity," Lenin remarked, "that the Social-Democrats do not catch these sparks of truth from the black hundred."

Lenin retained this attachment to the writings of his enemies even after October. Bolshevik Maria Skrypnik recalled how he read liberal newspapers: “So he took the latest issue of Rech ... Reading ... Lenin was not irritated, on the contrary, he laughed with a contented look ... Looking at him at these moments, I recalled the well-known Bebel's words: "If our enemies revile us, then we are doing the right thing." One day she asked why the Cadet newspapers still continue to appear. "If we will close the newspapers," replied Lenin, "we will not know what our enemies think of us." Cadet newspapers were published in the Soviet Russia until August 1918, when the open war with exact this same cadets started.

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Good quote: On modern mentality https://www.personal-view.com/talks/discussion/25163/good-quote-on-modern-mentality Sun, 31 Jan 2021 17:49:56 +0000 Vitaliy_Kiselev 25163@/talks/discussions

The pace of development of technology, creation, processing and dissemination of information has significantly exceeded the capabilities of most people in the development and application of knowledge. The shift in accents in the perception of the surrounding world, especially on the Internet, from scientific, educational and cultural to entertainment and reference, has formed a new model of perception - the so-called clip thinking, a characteristic feature of which is the mass superficial perception of information. This form of assimilation of information simplifies the influence on the views and preferences of people, contributes to the formation of imposed patterns of behavior, which gives an advantage in achieving economic and political goals to those states and organizations that own information dissemination technologies"

Decree of the President of the Russian Federation dated 09.05.2017 No. 203 "On the Strategy for the Development of the Information Society in the Russian Federation for 2017 - 2030".

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Good quote: On efficient management and bureaucracy https://www.personal-view.com/talks/discussion/25074/good-quote-on-efficient-management-and-bureaucracy Wed, 13 Jan 2021 14:12:01 +0000 Vitaliy_Kiselev 25074@/talks/discussions

My personal managerial experience shows that bureaucracy works well only if you hold a soldering iron in its anus with one hand, while the smile of a progressive leader shines on your face, and your other hand holds the soldering iron plug at the outlet.

Only then will the bureaucracy work as you want.

I am a great humanist, no questions asked. But in practice, I don’t know any other ways to make the bureaucratic structure work effectively.

Some old efficient manager.

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Good quote: On war https://www.personal-view.com/talks/discussion/25066/good-quote-on-war Mon, 11 Jan 2021 20:56:02 +0000 Vitaliy_Kiselev 25066@/talks/discussions

War is often useful because it exposes rot and discards lot of conventions.

It has long been recognized that wars, for all the horror and misery they entail, bring more or less important benefit in what they ruthlessly reveal, unmask and destroy much that is corrupt, outworn and dead in human institutions.

V. Lenin

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