Ash heap of history explained

The phrase "ash heap of history", is a derogatory metaphoric reference to oblivion of things no longer relevant.

In 1887 the English essayist Augustine Birrell (1850–1933) coined the term in his series of essays, "Obiter Dicta": that great dust heap called 'history.'

A notable usage was that of the Russian Bolshevik Leon Trotsky referring to the Mensheviks: "Go where you belong from now on – into the dustbin of history!" as the Menshevik faction walked out of the All-Russian Congress of Soviets on 25 October 1917 in Petrograd.^{[1] [2] [3]}

In a speech to the British House of Commons, on 8 June 1982, U.S. President Ronald Reagan later responded that "freedom and democracy will leave Marxism and Leninism on the ash heap of history".^[4] The speech was written by Reagan's chief speechwriter, Anthony Dolan, who stated that they had deliberately echoed Trotsky's statement "to throw it back in the communists’ faces.”^[5]

See also

• Memory hole

Notes and References

1. Web site: The What of History?. Liberman. Mark. Language Log. 23 December 2011. 23 December 2011.
2. Sonne, Paul,, The Oxonian Review 8 June 2009 • Issue 9.7.
3. Bertrand M. Patenade (2009) Stalin's Nemesis: The Exile and Murder of Leon Trotsky, Faber and Faber, pp. 193–194, 352.
4. Web site: Pipes . Richard. Ash Heap of History: President Reagan's Westminster Address 20 Years Later. 3 June 2002. Heritage Foundation. 13 February 2007. https://web.archive.org/web/20130917063505/http://www.reagansheritage.org/reagan/html/reagan_panel_pipes.shtml. 17 September 2013.
5. Web site: September 27, 2023 . Ronald Reagan famously spoke of the 'ash heap of history.' So do several GOP candidates today . November 27, 2024 . AP News . en.