Ash heap of history

The phrase "ash heap of history",^[a] 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][b]}

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] 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."^[7]

See also

• Memory hole

Notes

1. Alternatively: "dustbin of history", "dust heap of history", "trash heap of history", "garbage heap of history", and "ashcan of history".^[1]
2. Trotsky actually said "na svalku istorii" (на свалку истории), "to the dump of history".