Politics & Power Quote by Vladimir Lenin

Lenin isn’t confessing to cynicism as a personal flaw; he’s advertising it as a governing principle. The line has the blunt, metallic clarity of a revolutionary who believes history is a battlefield, not a salon. “No morals in politics” isn’t a claim that ethics don’t exist. It’s a move to disqualify moral language as a rival source of legitimacy. If politics is framed as expedience, then the only sin is inefficacy, and the only virtue is usefulness to the cause.

The second sentence sharpens the blade. A “scoundrel” isn’t merely tolerated; he’s instrumentally valuable precisely because his scoundrelness signals traits the project can exploit: ruthlessness, deniability, a willingness to do what respectable allies won’t. Lenin is mapping a coalition logic of revolution: when the goal is seizure and consolidation of power, the roster includes not saints but operators. The subtext is also a warning to the idealists in his orbit: purity is a luxury; sentimental scruples are a liability.

Context matters. Lenin is speaking from a tradition that treats politics as class war conducted by other means, where opponents aren’t mistaken but structurally hostile. That worldview turns compromise into surrender and reframes dirty tactics as strategic necessity. The rhetorical power here lies in its chilling candor. By naming the bargain outright, Lenin normalizes it, pre-empting scandal: if you’re shocked by the use of scoundrels, you’ve already misunderstood the job description.