14

This particular quote is often attributed to different people including Hitler and Goebbels. Being USSR-born I've heard many Lenin quotes about information and propaganda, but not this one, still it seems to be popular attribution in the West.

Is there any definite reference to either a Russian-language publication or a direct translation that references an original Russian-language publication quoting Lenin using this phrase?

enter image description here

enter image description here

enter image description here

0

1 Answer 1

25

In 1869, before Lenin was even born, in The Crown of a Life it was written by Isa Blagden:

If a lie is only printed often enough, it becomes a quasi-truth, and if such a truth is repeated often enough, it becomes an article of belief, a dogma, and men will die for it.

I only see recent (last 15 years) references attributing it to Vladimir Lenin.

I think the misattribution grew out of a statement like this one in the 1966 book Great China Danger:

Actually, Peking has operated, as Moscow has since the days of Lenin, on a number of principles which taken together can be called the technique of the "great lie." Among these are: 1) make it big enough and people will believe part of it; (2) repeat it often enough and you will convince some people; (3) say it in enough different ways, and you will convince others...

So it went from saying that is what Lenin did, to making it be a direct quote.

Also, a different Lenin is quoted in the 2001 book The Duke of Havana: Baseball, Cuba, and the Search for the American Dream:

“There's a saying in Cuba: A lie repeated many times becomes the truth,” said Lenin Rivero

The misattribution could have also originated from this quote. Lenin Rivero is a Cuban who defected to the USA in 1998 and who was named after Vladimir Lenin.

2
  • 2
    Maybe Lenin did say it. (There's nothing in OP's question about him being the first to say it.)
    – RonJohn
    Nov 8, 2018 at 16:28
  • 2
    "1) make it big enough and people will believe part of it" echoes Hitler's "big lie": “[the masses] more readily fall victims to the big lie than the small lie, since they themselves often tell small lies in little matters but would be ashamed to resort to large-scale falsehoods. It would never come into their heads to fabricate colossal untruths, and they would not believe others could have the impudence to distort the truth so infamously.” — Mein Kampf, volume 1, chapter 10. Apr 15, 2022 at 14:44

You must log in to answer this question.

Not the answer you're looking for? Browse other questions tagged .