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English phrase
The phrase "ash heap of history ",
[n 1] is a derogatory metaphoric reference to oblivion of things no longer relevant.
[1]
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.'
[1]
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 .
[2]
[3]
[4]
[5]
[n 2]
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".
[6]
Similar expressions are
"sink into oblivion" ,
"fall into oblivion" ,
"drop off radar", "fall off radar" .
Lethe , in Greek mythology, a river of oblivion, gave rise to the Russian expression of the same kind: "sink into Lethe" (кануть в лету).
See also
Notes
^ Alternatively: "dustbin of history", "dust heap of history", "trash heap of history", "garbage heap of history", and "ashcan of history".
[1]
^ Trotsky actually said "на
свалку истории", "to the dump of history".
References
^
a
b
c Safire, William (16 October 1983).
"On Language; Dust Heaps of History" . The New York Times . Retrieved 13 March 2016 .
^ Liberman, Mark (23 December 2011).
"The What of History?" . Language Log . Retrieved 23 December 2011 .
^ Sonne, Paul,
"The Dustbunnies of History"
[usurped] , The Oxonian Review 8 June 2009 • Issue 9.7.
ISBN
978-0-571-22875-1
^ Bertrand M. Patenade (2009) Stalin's Nemesis: The Exile and Murder of Leon Trotsky , Faber and Faber, pp. 193–194, 352.
ISBN
978-0-571-22875-1
^ Maureen Healey (2004),
"11 Dictator in a Dumpster: Thoughts on History and Garbage" , in Alun Munslow, Robert A. Rosenstone (ed.), Experiments in Rethinking History (illustrated ed.), Routledge, p. 225,
ISBN
978-0-415-30146-6
^ Pipes, Richard (3 June 2002).
"Ash Heap of History: President Reagan's Westminster Address 20 Years Later" . Heritage Foundation. Archived from
the original on 17 September 2013. Retrieved 13 February 2007 .