The ash heap of history (or often garbage heap of history or dustbin of history) is a figurative place to where objects such as persons, events, artifacts, ideologies, etc. are relegated when they are forgotten or marginalized in history.

The expression—or something like it—was coined by Leon Trotsky in response to the Mensheviks walking out of the Second Congress of Soviets, on October 25, 1917, thereby enabling the Bolsheviks to establish their dominance. Trotsky declared: "Go out where you belong—into the ash heap of history."^[1] Another version is said to have been: “'You are pitiful, isolated individuals', Leon Trotsky roared. 'You are bankrupts. Your role is played out. Go where you belong from now on—into the dustbin of history!'"^[2][3]

It has since been used in both the direct and the ironic sense in political and nonpolitical contexts.

Later, it was most notably used by Ronald Reagan in a speech to the British House of Commons on June 8, 1982. This speech, later known simply as "The Evil Empire" is a lasting hallmark of the Reagan presidency. Reagan's speechwriter chose the expression deliberately because of its prior context. His exact phrase was: "... freedom and democracy will leave Marxism and Leninism on the ash heap of history." ^[4]

[edit] See also

• Memory hole

[edit] References

• Deutscher, Isaac (2003). The Prophet Armed: Trotsky 1879-1921. Verso; New Ed edition. ISBN 1859844413.