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People throw around Marx's "we will make no excuses for the terror" quote because it sounds cool but don't actually engage with what it means: A thread
Marx acknowledges that the conflict between opposing classes, particularly between ones that do and do not have institutional (state) power, is already a form of warfare. The capitalists have further perfected the state machinery to control the classes below, namely the workers
To facilitate this control of dissent, they deploy police forces, secret police (The FBI, MI5, etc), controlled opposition parties (Labour, the Democrats, etc), military occupations, and a tightly controlled media. These structures were in their infancy when Marx was alive.
Marx says we ask no compassion from the capitalists, because they already have demonstrated that they have none to give. The tiniest of reforms to capitalism throughout history have required massive bloodshed inflicted by the previously mentioned apparatuses of control.
The rest of the quote is what is truly important: As we know that the bourgeoisie has not, and will never show compassion for us, we are not obligated to waste our resources or weaken our position to show compassion or civility to them.
This also means that it is not hypocritical of us to oppose capitalist secret police, controlled parties, and armies while employing socialist secret police, controlled parties, and armies. This is a war, and the best way to lose a war is to denounce your gun and die unarmed.
The terror socialists have unleashed upon capitalists and their collaborators requires no excuse, as they will give no excuse when they unleash terror upon us. Capitalists understand that their objective is victory, not holiness, and this is what Marx wanted to convey.
