How did phraseologism gnaw at the granite of science?

The expression gained immense popularity after the speech of L.D. Trotsky at the Fifth All-Russian Congress of the Russian Communist Youth Union on October 11, 1922.

The great orator Trotsky

Lev Davidovich then said: "Science is not a simple thing, and social science as well is granite, and it must be bitten with young teeth." And again: "Learn, bite the granite of science with young teeth, temper and get ready for a shift!"

Soon, the futurist poet S. M. Tretyakov wrote in his poem "The Young Guard": "Persistent study / Gryzem granite sciences." A successful phrase was immediately picked up by many other poets, writers and journalists.

In general, one of the leaders of the October Revolution and the creator of the Red Army, Leo Trotsky, was known as an unsurpassed speaker. It is not surprising that many phrases from his speeches quickly became “winged” and went to the people.

This happened, for example, with the expressions: “Send to the dustbin of history”, “I am the son of the working people” and “Proletarian, on a horse!”. The last phrase later, in the early thirties, was rephrased into the slogans: "Komsomolets, on a plane!" and "Woman on the tractor!"

Only, did Trotsky himself come up with the phrase “gnaw at the granite of science” or simply successfully used the speech circulation used in the narrow circle of revolutionary emigration? The question is open today.