International Trotskyism, 1929-1985: A Documented Analysis of the Movement

Book Description

In a work of encyclopedic scope, International Trotskyism, 1929–1985 is sure to become the definitive reference work on a movement that has had a significant impact on the political culture of countries in every part of the world for more than half a century.
Renowned scholar Robert J. Alexander has amassed, from disparate sources, an unprecedented amount of primary and secondary material to provide a documentary history of the origins, development, and nature of the Trotskyist movement around the world. Drawing on interviews and correspondence with Trotskyists, newspaper reports and pamphlets, historical writings including the annotated writings of Trotsky in both English and French, historical memoirs of Trotskyist leaders, and documents of the Fourth International, Alexander recounts the history of the movement since Trotsky’s exile from the Soviet Union in 1929.
Organized alphabetically in a double-column, country-by-country format this book charts the formation and growth of Trotskyism in more than sixty-five countries, providing biographic information about its most influential leaders, detailed accounts of Trotsky’s personal involvement in the development of the movement in each country, and thorough reports of its various factions and splits. Multiple chapters are reserved for countries where the movement was more active or fully developed and various chapters are organized around crucial thematic issues, such as the Fourth International. The chapters are followed by extensive name, organization, publication, and subject indexes, which provide optimal access to the wealth of information contained in the main body of the work.

Customer Reviews:

Obscure topic, but worthwhile if you need it.......2004-04-26

Any history or politics student coming clean to the multitude of groupings that make up Leon Trotsky's latter-day followers will welcome this book, as it gives a broadly correct overview of all the various squabbling outfits and how they all relate to each other. On a micro level the book falls down from time to time: too many names are mis-spelt ("Colin" instead of Corin Redgrave, "Paul" instead of Hall Greenland, to name just two examples out of dozens), and some of the explanations for the positions of the groups are too hastily wrapped up by a quick review of a sect's newspaper headlines. On the other hand, many of these outfits have soldiered on with a mere handful of members, and while a comprehensive account has to acknowledge their existence, their relevance is often so minor that a cursory glance is probably more than enough. So, on balance, this is a solid overview - especially in those areas where Alexander is more comfortable - such as the US and Latin America.

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One of the best books ever written about revolution
How to overthrow the profit system
Powerful account of a great revolution!
Facinating!
Essential reading for the Russian Revolution

History of the Russian Revolution
Leon Trotsky
Manufacturer: Pathfinder Press (NY)
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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ASIN: 0873488296

Customer Reviews:

One of the best books ever written about revolution.......2005-04-18

In spite of its length, I've read this book several times. It isn't just a widely acclaimed historic and literary masterpiece, written by a leading participant in the events he describes. It isn't just vividly written and thoroughly researched.

More importantly, it's one of the best books ever written about revolution, as relevant today as ever.

The most important conclusion that emerges is the crucial role of a revolutionary party with an overwhelmingly working class membership, leadership and political orientation: a party that has trained itself in the many years of partial struggles that precede a revolutionary crisis; studied together the lessons of past revolutionary struggles throughout the world; and done everything possible to educate broader layers of workers in those lessons.

(The point is illustrated both positively and negatively. More than once, Lenin had to turn to the Bolshevik's working class rank and file against wavering intellectuals in the party leadership.)

Please don't be put off by the first chapter, the driest and most difficult in the book. The basic idea is that capitalism arrived late in Russia, imported from abroad in the form of huge factories, which laid the basis for the rapid development of a strong, militant labor movement. As a result, the emerging capitalist class was reluctant to mobilize the masses against the feudal nobles and landlords that stood in their way, for fear that the aroused workers might turn on the capitalists themselves.

Under the impact of war and economic crisis, the resulting mixture of different forms of class oppression exploded in a combined revolt of workers, farmers, and oppressed nationalities, destroying both feudalism and capitalism by the time it was through.

Several postcripts:

(1) If you're wondering what went wrong in the Soviet Union after such a promising start, I recommend "The Revolution Betrayed" by Trotsky; also "Lenin's Final Fight" by Lenin.

(2) I disagree with Trotsky's assessment of the pre-1917 differences between himself and Lenin concerning the role of working farmers, the relationship between democratic (anti-feudal) revolution and socialist revolution, and Lenin's formula, "the democratic dictatorship of the proletariat and the peasantry". I think Trotsky's discussion of this is confusing. I recommend "Their Trotsky and Ours" by Jack Barnes. There is also a good debate in "Bolshevism and the Russian Revolution" by Doug Jenness, Ernest Mandel, and V.I. Lenin.

(3) Another reviewer pointed out that this book is available online. However, the printed version has glossaries of people, places, organizations and unfamiliar terms; a more complete chronology; and a thorough index. I relied very heavily on all of these, so much so that I used color-coded post-its to turn to them easily. Also, parts of the online version are full of obvious typos; books from Pathfinder Press are proofread very thoroughly.

(4) Finally, I recommend the ads in the back of the book. Pathfinder Press is defined by a political goal, not commercial success. It aims to provide a platform for revolutionary leaders speaking in their own words. If you like one book, you will probably like others.

How to overthrow the profit system.......2003-05-08

This is one of the most exciting books I've ever read. It tells the amazing story of the Russian revolution of 1917, from the overthrow of the Czar to the Bolshevik Revolution of October. What makes it an incredible read is that the author, Leon Trotsky, was at the middle of it all, as one of the central planners of the insurrection that took power. Trotsky was a great revolutionary and great writer. But one thing I especially like about the book is that Trotsky uses excerpts from many other accounts, including those who hated him with a passion, to tell the story accurately. It is an inspiring story, especially for new generations of young people, workers and farmers who need to learn about an example showing that the dog-eat-dog system of capitalism we live in can be overthrown. For the definitive account of how this great revolution was later derailed, see Trotsky's Revolution Betrayed.

Powerful account of a great revolution!.......2003-04-27

This is a huge and wonderful book-- three volumes in one book, some 1200 pages in all. The story Trotsky lays out is most inspiring and encouraging: how revolutionary-minded workers and peasants in Russia, led by the Bolshevik party, overthrew the centuries-old Czarist monarchy, defeated the attempts to impose a capitalist dictatorship and went on to establish a worker and peasant revolutionary government, opening the road to the possibility of building a socialist society. It's a book you can read repeatedly, getting more out of it each time.

Trotsky explains with rich detail the growing social crisis that wracked Russia, the devastating impact of World War I, the economic collapse, and the incapacity of the old regime to offer any way out. He takes up political developments amongst workers and peasants and the oppressed nationalities of the Russian Empire, including the many millions forced into the Russian army. You understand their growing conviction that the old society had to be and could be overturned and a new order established. And Trotsky gives real insight into the leadership that made possible an actual revolution under these conditions-- the development of the Bolshevik party led by V.I. Lenin and it's successful fight to win the allegiance of the struggling millions.

Trotsky was, along with Lenin, a central leader of the 1917 revolution and of the government it established. After Lenin's death in 1924, he led the international fight to defend the Bolshevik's revolutionary course against the conservative and reactionary bureaucracy headed by Joseph Stalin that came to power later in the Soviet Union. This work was a key part of Trotsky's efforts to make the real facts and lessons 1917 available to future generations of workers, farmers and radicalizing young people. Read it along with some of his many other important works, including The Transitional Program for Socialist Revolution, In Defense of Marxism, The Revolution Betrayed, and The Struggle Against Fascism in Germany.

Facinating!.......2002-07-14

This book provides a very unique perspective into the Russian Revolution. Written by Leon Trotsky himself, it is an excellent way to get first hand information on the events of the revolution. Furthermore, it is very interesting to read how a leader of the revolution viewed the event after several years. Trotsky is an excellent writer, and his book is very detailed. My one warning is that if you don't know much about the Russian Revolution to begin with you may get somewhat confused because of the great amount of detail in this book.

Trotsky's History of the Russian Revolution is written in the third person - just as a historian would write it - not in a first person narrative. After reading the book for a while, I sometimes even forget that it was written by Trotsky. Then, when some bizarre interpretation appears, I think - "What is this? Who wrote this book?" only to realize that, obviously, the book is written by Trotsky and would naturally be biased!

Even if you don't read the entire book, just reading some of the passages can give you a very facinating perspective into the revolution. After all, Trotsky was one of the most important leaders during the revolution. It is not often that a revolutionary leader has time to record the events he lived through. Luckily for us, Trotsky did write an account of the Russian Revolution, an event that has clearly had immense influence on world history! So, I would totally recommend this book - read it, and see what Trotsky himself has to say!

Essential reading for the Russian Revolution.......2002-05-03

Whatever Trotsky's faults or your own political persuasion, his own history of the Russian Revolution is an excellently written, engaging and energetic work. Openly biased and without apology, Trotsky recounts the events before, during and after the Bolsheviks rise. Essential to understanding the motivations and mindset of one of history's greatest revolutionaries.

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Trotsky and E.H. Carr
A revolutionary retrospective
Revolutions revisited
Trotsky: Mass Murderer and Liar
why workers state is stronger than the bureaucracy

The Revolution Betrayed
Leon Trotsky
Manufacturer: Dover Publications
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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ASIN: 0486433986

Book Description

Written in 1936 and published the following year, this brilliant and profound evaluation of Stalinism from the Marxist standpoint prophesied the collapse of the Soviet Union. Trotsky employs facts, figures, and statistics to show how Stalinist policies rejected the enormous productive potential of the nationalized planned economy engendered by the October Revolution.

Customer Reviews:

Trotsky and E.H. Carr.......2007-01-29

If one wants to understand contemporary world politics then one ought to read this book.The Russian Revolution WAS and IS the most important event of the 20th century. Trotsky, the consumate Marxist, explains to us the whole story from the inside ---looking out. I might add that as a companion to Trotsky's works one should read the British historian E.H. Carr's History of the Russian Revolution. Carr was no Marxist but gives us as a view of the revolution from the outside--- looking in.
ET Seattle

A revolutionary retrospective .......2006-06-28

A reader of 'The Revolution Betrayed' will find invaluable insight into the 'intellectual response' of a leading Soviet politician. Trotsky was a very important contributor to the theoretical idiom which frames the 'conceptual creation' of the USSR. He had a part to play in many critical phases of the October Revolution and Civil War, organizing and propagandizing, enforcing harsh discipline and imposing his theoretical brand of Marxism on the Soviet State. His distinguished position in Lenin's party is beyond debate. Reading this text gives the reader a deeper analytical impression into the changes and transformations that occurred in the highest echelons of the Soviet bureaucracy, as Stalin began to accrue power. Indispensable reading for anybody with an interest in Russia history.

Revolutions revisited.......2006-02-01

In my humble opinion, Trotsky's "Revolution Betrayed" is the best analysis of not only the Russian revolution, but revolutions in general. I have studied revolutions in the modern world quite extensively, and re-reading this book at this particular time in history was a true eye-opener - again. To be simplistic, revolutions do not provide lasting success when nothing is to be gained. Those who rise against existing power expect to be rewarded, not with poverty, but with a certain degree of wealth and privilege. If there is nothing to be distributed, then what is the use in fighting? Stalin unfortunately stepped in at the right place, at the right time. Not good for the outcome of that revolution, not good for socialism, but good for Stalin's kind of power.

A few years ago I visited Komsomolsk, Stalin's "Youth" city. It was decaying, a pitiful sight to behold. Buildings on ultra-wide neglected avenues in need of repair, high weeds everywhere, crime uncontrolled. Power gone bad?

Stalin and his compulsive bureaucracy were feared all over Europe. Blessed with clear early childhood memories that include the conversation of adults, I vividly remember my grandmother's fear of Stalin discussed with friends and family members. They witnessed the rise of this awful bureaucracy next door, word of the killings and the horrible brutality didn't just dribble out, it flowed out. I want to say that the Stalinist bureaucracy is unique, but all bureaucracies are designed to increase continuously and feed of themselves, and exist everywhere in the world. And people flock to them for employment, protection, security, in great masses, because bureaucracies deliver security. And if people do not fly into bureaucratic arms directly, they deal with them on a daily basis. There is no getting away from that apparatus of suffocation, nowhere.

Bureaucracy does not have to be bad, and Trotsky dwells on the need for leadership from within the workers, the suppressed, creating a bureaucracy that is just and fair. Is that ever possible? I believe that capitalism and bureaucracy are a contradiction, and unless corruption reigns, they cannot coexist. What comes next?

Trotsky's book raises more questions than it answers, but I am sure it was written for that purpose as well as enlightening the scholar of his interpretation of a betrayed revolution. And where do we go from here?

Trotsky: Mass Murderer and Liar.......2005-01-30

You know, I hate to burst the bubble of devoted Trotskyites across the globe, but Trotsky was just as responsible for Stalin's rule as anyone. For Leon to blame Stalin is the height of hypocrisy. Without Lenin's apparatus of social repression and Trotsky's apparatus of military dictatorship, Stalin would never have been.
The Russian Revolution was never a win for workers. It destroyed them, some 4 million at Lenin's hands, 30 million by Stalin, and 65 million by Mao Tse-tung.

No policy or ideology that denies the soul can ever succeed. And communism does just that. By denying that which makes humans humans, it can bring only suffering.

why workers state is stronger than the bureaucracy.......2003-03-25

First published over 60 years ago, this definitely is a book for today. Leon Trotsky, a central leader of Russian revolution and commander of the Red Army offers an insightful analysis of what led to the rise of the Stalinist Bureaucracy in the former Soviet Union.

War weariness, scarcity of the necessities of life, and the retreat of the world revolution created conditions for career seekers, faint hearts, dogmatists and bullies to thrive, and slowly but surely drive the Russian workers and peasants out of politics.

The idea that the fall of the Stalinist regimes in the late 1980's and early 90's would usher in a new prolonged period of prosperity for capitalism has proven to be wishful thinking at best. As Trotsky painstakingly details in the book, the workers states is stronger than the Bureaucracy that sits and feeds upon it.

Book Description

Published for the ninetieth anniversary of the 1917 Russian Revolution, this edition of Leon Trotsky's masterpiece, with a new foreword by Ahmed Shawki, tells the epic story of the remarkable events that transformed the history of Russia-and the world-forever.

Leon Trotsky was a leader of the 1917 Russian Revolution and is author of My Life and The Revolution Betrayed.

Ahmed Shawki is editor of International Socialist Review and author of Black Liberation and Socialism.

The Autobiography of Joseph Stalin: A Novel

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"Anyone can destroy enemies. It takes a special freedom to destroy friends."
A masterpiece
"Leon Trotsky is trying to kill me!"
Interesting Perspective on Paranoid Tyrant!
Interesting Concept extremely well executed

The Autobiography of Joseph Stalin: A Novel
Richard Lourie
Manufacturer: Da Capo
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

Contemporary | General | Literature & Fiction | Subjects | Books

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ASIN: 0306809974

Amazon.com

In a brief poem written in response to the Soviet invasion of Czechoslovakia, W.H. Auden ridiculed the inexpressive nature of tyranny and tyrants: "One prize is beyond his reach, / The Ogre cannot master Speech." Now, it seems, the translator and novelist Richard Lourie has set out to prove Auden wrong. In The Autobiography of Joseph Stalin, he lets that chuckling despot tell his own story, from his obscure origins in the Georgian sticks to his bureaucratic apotheosis as ruler of all Russia. In part Stalin simply wants to get his life down on paper. But as he informs the reader, he's also trying to launch a preemptive strike against his arch-nemesis, Leon Trotsky, who's currently compiling a scurrilous (i.e., fundamentally accurate) biography of Stalin in Mexico City.

Given this scenario, many a novelist would have turned Uncle Joe into an articulate monster, a kind of Bolshevik Iago. Lourie takes a different route. Oh, his narrator does have a gift for poetic doublespeak, which comes into play during his ruminations on the 1938 Moscow show trials: "In a certain highly literal sense of the word, most of these men are not guilty of most of these crimes. They may, however, be guilty of many other crimes, crimes for which the state has decided to spare itself the expenses of a trial but which would have cost them their head in any case." He also gets off some memorable character sketches, like this one of Lenin:

He was five feet three at most but so solidly planted on the floor that he made you feel the smaller man. As the Hungarians say, his forehead reached to his ass, but his baldness was dynamic, not pathetic--as if intense thought had sent the hairs flying from his scalp. He wore a three-piece suit and had the lawyer's habit of hooking his thumbs inside his vest.

Still, Lourie's Stalin is very much a meat-and-potatoes stylist--perhaps blood-and-guts would be the more appropriate epithet, considering the number of corpses he leaves in his wake. His raw efficiency as a narrator does have its black-comic charms, however, and his race to the biographical finish with Trotsky gives the book a powerful momentum. (Students of history will recall that the narrator's rival was brutally cut off in mid-sentence.) And what would be the moral of Stalin's story, at least in Lourie's version? There are two, which should surprise nobody: Always watch your back and It's lonely at the top. --James Marcus

Book Description

In a spellbinding novel that combines the suspense of a thriller and the accuracy of a work of history, the psychology of a monster is fully revealed, every atom of his madness explored, every twist of his homicidal logic followed to its logical conclusion.

"Leon Trotsky is trying to kill me," thinks Joseph Stalin. It's a paranoid lie, but all too real to Stalin. Trotsky, in exile in Mexico City, is writing a biography of Stalin that may offer proof of a secret crime that could force Stalin from power. What will Trotsky disclose before the long hand of Stalin reaches him and eliminates the threat? The prospect leads Stalin to reflect on his own life--the sly and domineering schoolboy battling a sadistic father...a youthful poet, thief, and seminarian who questions morality, evil, and the existence of God until he finds answers that free him to a life of power and slaughter. Stalin takes us deeper and deeper into his life and into the labyrinth of his psyche until we are finally alone with him. The Autobiography of Joseph Stalin is a mesmerizing journey to the very heart of evil.

Customer Reviews:

"Anyone can destroy enemies. It takes a special freedom to destroy friends.".......2007-03-03

A very unusual way to write a book about a person who had such an impact on the 20th Century.One could argue endlessly whether Stalin or Hitler was the most evil and who had the most evil impact on the world during the century. However;don't expect this book to settle that question.What the author does, is try to explain what it was that made Stalin so important,how he thought,what his goals were and how he went about attaining them.
Normally ,this would be done via a Biography;but this author does it via an Autobiography. He has "created" the autobiography that Stalin would written ;if he had written one himself. By doing this the author tries to get deep into the personal thinking and feelings of Stalin. At the same time, he gives great insight into Lenin ,Trotsky,Beria and many others who surrounded Stalin;particularly as to what he thought of them.This book is considered fiction or a novel;but that hardly does it justice. If you go along with the author's knowledge and intent of purpose ;while technically speaking,it is fiction,it is more important than that.
This book answers many questions as to what motivated Stalin.We see that he was total believer in diabolitical,dialectic materialism. The only thing that interested him was his own pursuit of power.He had no feelings whatsoever of any concept of right or wrong.He didn't have any concern for Russia,the People,or even Political Systems.He used everyone and everything ,in any way he rationalized, in his pursuit of personal power.
The author follows Stanlin from his early days in Georgia up to the time where he has used everyone or eliminated them to become the undisputed ruler of Russia at the age of 50 ,in 1929. History has shown that in the end he accomplished nothing more than absolute power for himself and hence when he died that power dissipated,leaving nothing but strife and misery. It is little wonder this was the result when you see he had no other interest than that of self power.
The book does an excellent job of showing haw one person can get control of so many people and cause such evil. It has happend many times in history and there is no reason it can't happen again.All it takes is someone driven by evil and in search of power.
It is worthwhile srudying how historical figures came on the scene in their day,how they got control and compare these people with what is taking place today on the world stage. It's scary!

A masterpiece.......2006-12-15

Of course he never wrote an autobiography, but if he told it to cronies, it would sound like this, then he'd have them shot. So imagine Stalin telling his life story, a crude thug boasting of his power, telling little anecdotes about exterminating millions, and sharing his innermost "thoughts". It's black humor at its best. Lourie is a sovietologist and literary translator from Russian, he's done the research, spent time in Russia, he knows his stuff. It's hard to imagine a more accurate portrait of the monster, and once you start reading, you can't put it down. Should be required reading, lest we forget. Highly recommended.

"Leon Trotsky is trying to kill me!".......2006-06-26

That's the first line of this strange little book, and almost the theme of it. The author attempts to get us into the mind of Stalin, and gives us a biography of sorts, up until about 1939 or so, but the main thrust of the work appears to be Stalin's obsession with Trotsky, and the fact that he is writing a biography of him from his exile in Mexico. Stalin is extremely afraid that Trotsky is going to find out the big secret Stalin is trying to hide, but anyone with half a brain can figure out the secret the first time it is mentioned! The book was interesting, however, for it's heroic attempt to give us some inkling of what goes on in the mind of a mass murderer.

Interesting Perspective on Paranoid Tyrant!.......2005-12-28

The tyrant Stalin is seriously brooding about what his arch-enemy Trotsky may write about him in a biography. Stalin contemplates what section of his past may be available for Trotsky to discover and tell the world. So we hear the Soviet Leader on his early life in seminary school, and the beginnings of revolution, and Stalin's participation or non- participation in these events. Will Trotsky suggest Stalin's early contributions were less than satisfactory? Will Trotsky mention Lenin's serious misgivings about the character of the future dictator? And we are given a grand tour through the 1937 Trials of former comrades. Therefore, Stalin must do away with Trotsky, and arranges a massive spying operation in Trotsky's Mexico City Compound. Told with verve, nastiness,and even some very dark humor, this short and incisive work will be hard to put down for anyone. My only complaint is that many aspects of the 1930's USSR are not mentioned, especially the man-made famines in Ukraine, but still a fine piece of work!

Interesting Concept extremely well executed.......2005-09-13

This book takes the reader into Stalin's mind and helps you understand why he did the things he did. While nothing can excuse most of what Uncle Joe did, we can at least understand some of what drove him to become the monster that he was.

This book very well written and I had difficulty putting it down. I started it on a two hour flight and finished it on the return flight the same day. Anyone interested in Stalin, Russia, mental illness, the Cold War, or great writing will appreciate this book. It is not often that you come across a novel as conceptually interesting as this one that is also so well written. I have recommended it to anyone who will listen.

Transitional Program for Socialist Revolution

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A Critical Book for Our Epoch
A Handbook on how working people can change the world
Building a Revolutionary Party
for the real revolutionary!
for the real revolutionary!

Transitional Program for Socialist Revolution
Leon Trotsky
Manufacturer: Pathfinder Press (NY)
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

Revolutionary | Historical Study | History | Subjects | Books

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ASIN: 0873485246

Customer Reviews:

A Critical Book for Our Epoch.......2005-06-22

This is one of the most critical books for our epoch. According to Trotsky, the working class can lead humanity out of its impasse of war and oppression, if it has a tested communist leadership. He puts forward a program for such a leadership to inspire workers with the confidence that as a class we can seize power from the destructive capitalist class. With his strategic sense of history, he paints a picture of the leadership tests that will occur as workers try to defend themselves, against unemployment, inflation, war, or against the secret strikebreaking or fascist gangs of the capitalists. A revolutionary communist party must prepare for revolutionary times now. Revolutionaries who wait have always failed. This book is totally grounded in Trotsky's experience at the side of Lenin during the Russian Revolution and the early revolutionary years of the Communist International. Among the interesting and very relevant sections is one on how the revolutionary party can guide the working class to achieve unity with farmers, since these two exploited classes are taught to distrust each other under capitalism. As you read this book, you will say to yourself-"this is just what we need today!"

A Handbook on how working people can change the world.......2002-03-09

This remarkable book contains the Transitional Program, the founding document of the revolutionary movement Trotsky built. As you will read in this book, it was not written by Trotsky alone, but was the product of the experience of fighting workers from every continent. It was written to apply the lessons of the Russian revolution to the world, particularly to the realities of class struggle in the United States. It also contains discussions Trotsky had with American revolutionists and union leaders like Farrell Dobbs and Vincent Dunne, leaders of the great Minneapolis Strikes of the 1930s that made the Teamsters a real force in the labor movement. It also contains attempts to apply this program to the struggles of African Americans and other working people. This is a practical handbook on how to change the world.

Building a Revolutionary Party.......2000-09-25

This book is a field manual of revolutionary tactics. It builds a bridge from the daily economic needs and struggles of the working class to the necessity for socialist revolution to successfully fulfill those needs. The Transitional Program is just that - a transitional program or approach on how to get from where we are today, the epoch of capitalist-imperialist decay to the socialist-communist society based on the works of Marx and Lenin. This is the Communist Manifesto for the 21st century.

for the real revolutionary!.......1999-02-24

I am in Indonesia, a country that had been under imperialism for decades. This book tell us (students) about the way... is patience more and much more.

for the real revolutionary!.......1999-02-24

I am in Indonesia, a country that had been under imperialism for decades. This book tell us (students) about the way... is patience more and much more.

Average customer rating:

a sweeping and penetrating masterpiece
DEFEATED, BUT UNBOWED
In view of a forthcoming edition.
Reading the pre-Soviet era in the post-Soviet age
Enjoyable whitewash

The Prophet Armed: Trotsky 1879-1921
Isaac Deutscher
Manufacturer: Verso
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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ASIN: 1859844413

Book Description

Few political figures of the twentieth century have aroused as much controversy as the Russian revolutionary Leon Trotsky. Trotsky's extraordinary life and extensive writings have left an indelible mark on revolutionary conscience, yet there was a danger that his name would disappear from history. Originally published in 1954, Deutscher's magisterial three-volume biography was the first major publication to counter the powerful Stalinist propaganda machine. In this definitive biography Trotsky emerges in his real stature, as the most heroic, and ultimately tragic, character of the Russian Revolution.

Customer Reviews:

a sweeping and penetrating masterpiece.......2006-08-08

This first of 3 volumes in Deutscher's biography is an astonishing and captivating achievement. Deutscher weaves together character study, drama, and historical narrative to give an authoritative account of Trotsky's life and the Russian Revolution from Trotsky's birth up through the quickening bureaucratization of Soviet Russia in 1921.

Deutscher's deft handling of the facts, personalities, ideas, and situations of the time is simply unparallelled, and makes for a tremendously enjoyable and informative read.

Essential material for anyone exploring the question of where socialism went wrong in the 20th century.

DEFEATED, BUT UNBOWED .......2006-08-02

THIS YEAR MARKS THE 66TH ANNIVERSARY OF THE ASSASSINATION OF LEON TROTSKY-ONE OF HISTORY'S GREAT REVOLUTIONARIES. IT IS THEREFORE FITTING TO REVIEW THE THREE VOLUME WORK OF HIS DEFINITIVE BIOGRAPHER, THE PROPHET ARMED, THE PROPHET UNARMED, THE OUTCAST.

Isaac Deutscher's three-volume biography of the great Russian Bolshevik leader Leon Trotsky although written over one half century ago remains the standard biography of the man. Although this writer disagrees , as I believe that Trotsky himself would have, about the appropriateness of the title of prophet and its underlying premise that a tragic hero had fallen defeated in a worthy cause, the vast sum of work produced and researched makes up for those basically literary differences. Deutscher, himself, became in the end an adversary of Trotsky's politics around his differing interpretation of the historic role of Stalinism and the fate of the Fourth International but he makes those differences clear and in general they does not mar the work. I do not believe even with the eventual full opening of all the old Soviet-era files any future biographer will dramatically increase our knowledge about Trotsky and his revolutionary struggles. Moreover, as I have mentioned elsewhere in other reviews while he has not been historically fully vindicated he is in no need of any certificate of revolutionary good conduct.

At the beginning of the 21st century when the validity of socialist political programs as tools for change is in apparent decline or disregarded as utopian it may be hard to imagine the spirit that drove Trotsky to dedicate his whole life to the fight for a socialist society. However, at the beginning of the 20th century he represented only the one of the most consistent and audacious of a revolutionary generation of mainly Eastern Europeans and Russians who set out to change the history of the 20th century. It was as if the best and brightest of that generation were afraid, for better or worse, not to take part in the political struggles that would shape the modern world. As Trotsky noted elsewhere this element was missing, with the exceptions of Rosa Luxemburg, Karl Liebknecht and precious few others, in the Western labor movement. Deutscher using Trotsky's own experiences tells the story of the creation of this revolutionary cadre with care and generally proper proportions. Here are some highlights militant leftists should think about.

On the face of it Trotsky's personal profile does not stand out as that of a born revolutionary. Born of a hard working, eventually prosperous Jewish farming family in the Ukraine (of all places) there is something anomalous about his eventual political occupation. Always a vociferous reader, good writer and top student under other circumstances he would have found easy success, as others did, in the bourgeois academy, if not in Russia then in Western Europe. But there is the rub; it was the intolerable and personally repellant political and cultural conditions of Czarist Russia in the late 19th century that eventually drove Trotsky to the revolutionary movement- first as a `ragtag' populist and then to his life long dedication to orthodox Marxism. As noted above, a glance at the biographies of Eastern European revolutionary leaders such as Lenin, Martov, Christian Rakovsky, Bukharin and others shows that Trotsky was hardly alone in his anger at the status quo. And the determination to something about it.

For those who argue, as many did in the New Left in the 1960's, that the most oppressed are the most revolutionary the lives of the Russian and Eastern European revolutionaries provide a cautionary note. The most oppressed, those most in need of the benefits of socialist revolution, are mainly wrapped up in the sheer struggle for survival and do not enter the political arena until late, if at all. Even a quick glance at the biographies of the secondary leadership of various revolutionary movements, actual revolutionary workers who formed the links to the working class , generally show skilled or semi-skilled workers striving to better themselves rather than the most downtrodden lumpenproletarian elements. The sailors of Kronstadt and the Putilov workers in Saint Petersburg come to mind. The point is that `the wild boys and girls' of the street do not lead revolutions; they simply do not have the staying power. On this point, militants can also take Trotsky's biography as a case study of what it takes to stay the course in the difficult struggle to create a new social order. While the Russian revolutionary movement, like the later New Left mentioned above, had more than its share of dropouts, especially after the failure of the 1905 revolution, it is notably how many stayed with the movement under much more difficult circumstances than we ever faced. For better or worst, and I think for the better, that is how revolutions are made.

Once Trotsky made the transition to Marxism he became embroiled in the struggles to create a unity Russian Social Democratic Party, a party of the whole class, or at least a party representing the historic interests of that class. This led him to participate in the famous Bolshevik/Menshevik struggle in 1903 which defined what the party would be, its program, its methods of work and who would qualify for membership. The shorthand for this fight can be stated as the battle between the `hards' (Bolsheviks, who stood for a party of professional revolutionaries) and the `softs' (Mensheviks, who stood for a looser conception of party membership) although those terms do not do full justice to these fights. Strangely, given his later attitudes, Trotsky stood with the `softs', the Mensheviks, in the initial fight in 1903. Although Trotsky almost immediately afterward broke from that faction I do not believe that his position in the 1903 fight contradicted the impulses he exhibited throughout his career- personally `libertarian', for lack of a better word , and politically hard in the clutch.

Even a cursory glance at most of Trotsky's career indicates that it was not spent in organizational in-fighting, or at least not successfully. Trotsky stands out as the consummate free-lancer. More than one biographer has noted this condition, including his definitive biographer Isaac Deutscher. Let me make a couple of points to take the edge of this characterization though. In that 1903 fight mentioned above Trotsky did fight against Economism (the tendency to only fight over trade union issues and not fight overtly political struggles against the Czarist regime) and he did fight against Bundism (the tendency for one group, in this case the Jewish workers, to set the political agenda for that particular group). Moreover, he most certainly favored a centralized organization. These were the key issues at that time. Furthermore, the controversial organizational question did not preclude the very strong notion that a `big tent' unitary party was necessary. The `big tent' German Social Democratic model held very strong sway among the Russian revolutionaries for a long time, including Lenin's Bolsheviks. The long and short of it was that Trotsky was not an organization man, per se. He knew how to organize revolutions, armies, Internationals, economies and so on when he needed to but on a day to day basis no. Thus, to compare or contrast him to Lenin and his very different successes is unfair. Both have an honorable place in the revolutionary movement; it is just a different place.

That said, Trotsky really comes into his own as a revolutionary leader in the Revolution of 1905 not only as a publicist but as the central leader of the Soviets (workers councils) which made their first appearance at that time. In a sense it is because he was a freelancer that he was able to lead the Petrograd Soviet during its short existence and etch upon the working class of Russia (and in a more limited way, internationally) the need for its own organizations to seize state power. All revolutionaries honor this experience, as we do the Paris Commune, as the harbingers of October, 1917. As Lenin and Trotsky both confirm, it was truly a `dress rehearsal' for that event. It is in 1905 that Trotsky first wins his stars by directing the struggle against the Czar at close quarters, in the streets and working class meeting halls. And later in his eloquent and `hard' defense of the experiment after it was crushed by the Czarism reaction. I believe that it was here in the heat of the struggle in 1905 where the contradiction between Trotsky's `soft' position in 1903 and his future `hard' Bolshevik position of 1917 and thereafter is resolved. Here was a professional revolutionary who one could depend on when the deal went down.

No discussion of this period of Trotsky's life is complete without mentioning his very real contribution to Marxist theory- that is, the theory of Permanent Revolution. Although the theory is over one hundred years old it still retains its validity today in those countries that still have not had their bourgeois revolutions. This rather simple straightforward theory about the direction of the Russian revolution (and which Trotsky later in the 1920's, after the debacle of the Chinese Revolution, made applicable to what today are called "third world" countries) has been covered with so many falsehoods, epithets, and misconceptions that it deserves further explanation. Why? Militants today must address the ramifications of the question what kind of revolution is necessary as a matter of international revolutionary strategy. Trotsky, taking the specific historical development and the peculiarities of Russian economic development as part of the international capitalist order as a starting point argued that there was no `Chinese wall' between the bourgeois revolution Russian was in desperate need of and the tasks of the socialist revolution. In short, in the 20th century ( and by extension, now) the traditional leadership role of the bourgeois in the bourgeois revolution in a economically backward country, due to its subservience to the international capitalist powers and fear of its own working class and plebian masses, falls to the proletariat. The Russian Revolution of 1905 sharply demonstrated the outline of that tendency especially on the perfidious role of the Russian bourgeoisie. The unfolding of revolutionary events in 1917 graphically confirmed this. The history of revolutionary struggles since then, and not only in `third world' countries, gives added, if negative, confirmation of that analysis.

World War I was a watershed for modern history in many ways. For the purposes of this review two points are important. First, the failure of the bulk of the European social democracy- representing the masses of their respective working classes- to not only not oppose their own ruling classes' plunges into war, which would be a minimal practical expectation, but to go over and directly support their own respective ruling classes in that war. This position was most famously demonstrated when the entire parliamentary fraction of the German Social Democratic party voted for the war credits for the Kaiser on August 4, 1914. This initially left the anti-war elements of international social democracy, including Lenin and Trotsky, almost totally isolated. As the carnage of that war mounted in endless and senseless slaughter on both sides it became clear that a new political alignment in the labor movement was necessary. The old, basically useless Second International, which in its time held some promise of bringing in the new socialist order, needed to give way to a new revolutionary International. That eventually occurred in 1919 with the foundation of the Communist International (also known as the Third International). Horror of horrors, particularly for reformists of all stripes, this meant that the international labor movement, one way or another, had to split into its reformist and revolutionary components. It is during the war that Trotsky and Lenin, not without some lingering differences, drew closer and begins the process of several years, only ended by Lenin's death, of close political collaboration.

Secondly, World War I marks the definite (at least for Europe) end of the progressive role of international capitalist development. The outlines of imperialist aggression previously noted had definitely taken center stage. This theory of imperialism was most closely associated with Lenin in his master work Imperialism-The Highest Stage of Capitalism but one should note that Trotsky in all his later work up until his death fully subscribed to the theory. Although Lenin's work is in need of some updating to account for various technological changes and the extensions of globalization since that time holds up for political purposes. This analysis meant that a fundamental shift in the relationship of the working class to the ruling class was necessary. A reformist perspective for social change, although not specific reforms, was no longer tenable. Politically, as a general proposition, socialist revolution was on the immediate agenda. This is when Trotsky's theory of Permanent Revolution meets the Leninist conception of revolutionary organization. It proved to be a successful formula in Russia in October, 1917. Unfortunately, those lessons were not learned (or at least learned in time) by those who followed and the events of October, 1917 stand today as the only `pure' working class revolution in history.

An argument can, and has, been made that the October Revolution could only have occurred under the specific condition of decimated, devastated war-weary Russia of 1917. This argument is generally made by those who were not well-wishers of revolution in Russia (or anywhere else, for that matter). It is rather a truism, indulged in by Marxists as well as by others, that war is the mother of revolution. That said, the October revolution was made then and there but only because of the convergence of enough revolutionary forces led by the Bolsheviks and additionally the forces closest to the Bolsheviks (including Trotsky's Inter-District Organization) who had prepared for these events by the entire pre-history of the revolution. This is the subjective factor in history. No, not substitutionalism, that was the program of the Social Revolutionary terrorists and the like, but if you like, revolutionary opportunism. I would be much more impressed by an argument that stated that the revolution would not have occurred without the presence of Lenin and Trotsky. That would be a subjective argument, par excellent. But, they were there.

Again Trotsky in 1917, like in 1905, is in his element speaking seemingly everywhere, writing, organizing (when it counts, by the way). If not the brains of the revolution (that role is honorably conceded to Lenin) certainly the face of the Revolution. Here is a revolutionary moment in every great revolution when the fate of the revolution turned on a dime (the subjective factor). The dime turned. (See review dated April 18, 2006 for a review of Trotsky's History of the Russian Revolution).

One of the great lessons that militants can learn from all previous modern revolutions is that once the revolutionary forces seize power from the old regime an inevitable counterrevolutionary onslaught by elements of the old order (aided by some banished moderate but previously revolutionary elements, as a rule). The Russian revolution proved no exception. If anything the old regime, aided and abetted by numerous foreign powers and armies, was even more bloodthirsty. It fell to Trotsky to organize the defense of the revolution. Now, you might ask- What is a nice Jewish boy like Trotsky doing playing with guns? Fair enough. Well, Jewish or Gentile if you play the revolution game you better the hell be prepared to defend the revolution (and yourself). Here, again Trotsky organized, essentially from scratch, a Red Army from a defeated, demoralized former peasant army under the Czar. The ensuing civil war was to leave the country devastated but the Red Army defeated the Whites. Why? In the final analysis it was not only the heroism of the working class defending its own but the peasant wanting to hold on to the newly acquired land he just got and was in jeopardy of losing if the Whites won. But these masses needed to be organized. Trotsky was the man for the task.

Both Lenin's and Trotsky's calculation for the success of socialist revolution in Russia (and ultimately its fate) was its, more or less, immediate extension to the capitalist heartland of Europe, particularly Germany. While in 1917 that was probably not the controlling single factor for going forward in Russia it did have to come into play at some point. The founding of the Communist International makes no sense otherwise. Unfortunately, for many historical, national and leadership-related reasons no Bolshevik-styled socialist revolutions followed then, or ever. If the premise for socialism is for plenty, and ultimately as a result of plenty to take the struggle for existence off the agenda and put other more creative pursues on the agenda, then Russia in the early 1920's was not the land of plenty. Neither Lenin, Trotsky nor Stalin, for that matter, could wish that fact away. The ideological underpinnings of that fight centered on the Stalinist concept of `socialism in one country', that is Russia going it alone versus the Trostskyist position of the absolutely necessary extension of the international revolution. In short, this is the fight that historically happens in great revolutions- the fight against Thermidor (from the overthrow of Robespierre in 1794 by more moderate Jacobins). What counts, in the final analysis, are their respective responses to the crisis of the isolation of the revolution. The word isolation is the key. Do you turn the revolution inward or push forward? We all know the result, and it wasn't pretty, then or now. That is the substance of the fight that Trotsky, if initially belatedly and hesitantly, led from about 1923 on under various conditions until the end of his life by assassination of a Stalinist agent in 1940.

Although there were earlier signs that the Russia revolution was going off course the long illness and death of Lenin in 1924, at the time the only truly authoritative leader the Bolshevik party, set off a power struggle in the leadership of the party. This fight had Trotsky and the `pretty boy' intellectuals of the party on one side and Stalin, Zinoviev and Kamenev (the so-called triumvirate).backed by the `gray boys' of the emerging bureaucracy on the other. This struggle occurred against the backdrop of the failed revolution in Germany in 1923 and which thereafter heralded the continued isolation, imperialist blockade and economic backwardness of the Soviet Union for the foreseeable future.

While the disputes in the Russian party eventually had international ramifications in the Communist International, they were at this time fought out almost solely with the Russian Party. Trotsky was slow, very slow to take up the battle for power that had become obvious to many elements in the party. He made many mistakes and granted too many concessions to the triumvirate. But he did fight. Although later (in 1935) Trotsky recognized that the 1923 fight represented a fight against the Russian Thermidor and thus a decisive turning point for the revolution that was not clear to him (or anyone else on either side) then. Whatever the appropriate analogy might have been Leon Trotsky was in fact fighting a last ditch effort to retard the further degeneration of the revolution. After that defeat, the way the Soviet Union was ruled, who ruled it and for what purposes all changed. And not for the better.

In a sense if the fight in 1923-24 is the decisive fight to save the Russian revolution (and ultimately a perspective of international revolution) then the 1926-27 fight which was a bloc between Trotsky's forces and the just defeated forces of Zinoviev and Kamenev, Stalin's previous allies was the last rearguard action to save that perspective. That it failed does not deny the importance of the fight. Yes, it was a political bloc with some serious differences especially over China and the Anglo-Russian Committee. But two things are important here One- did a perspective of a new party, which some elements were clamoring for, make sense at the time of the clear waning of the revolutionary ebbing the country. No. Besides the place to look was at the most politically conscious elements, granted against heavy odds, in the party where whatever was left of the class-conscious elements of the working class were. As I have noted elsewhere in discussing the 1923 fight- that "Lenin levy" of raw recruits, careerists and just plain thugs which enhanced the growing power of the Stalinist bureaucracy was the key element in any defeat. Still the fight was necessary. Hey, that is why we talk about it now. That was a fight to the finish. After that the left opposition or elements of it were forever more outside the party- either in exile, prison or dead. As we know Trotsky went from expulsion from the party in 1927 to internal exile in Alma Ata in 1928 to external exile to Turkey in 1929. From there he underwent further exiles in France, Norway, and Mexico when he was finally felled by a Stalinist assassin. But no matter when he went he continued to struggle for his perspective. Not bad for a Jewish farmer's son from the Ukraine.

The last period of Trotsky's life spent in harrowing exiles and under constant threat from Stalinist and White Guard threats- in short, on the planet without a visa -was dedicated to the continued fight for the Leninist heritage. It was an unequal fight, to be sure but he waged it and was able to cohere a core of revolutionaries to form a new international, the Fourth International. That that effort was essentially militarily defeat by fascist or Stalinist forces during World War II does not take away from the grandeur of the attempt. He himself stated that he felt this was the most important work of his life- and who would challenge that assertion.

But one could understand the frustrations, first the failure of his correct analysis of the German debacle then in France and Spain. Hell a lesser man would have given up. In fact, more than one biographer has argued that he should have retired from the political arena to, I assume , a comfortable country cottage to write I do not know what. But, please reader, have you been paying attention? Does this seem even remotely like the Trotsky career I have attempted to highlight here? Hell, no.

Many of the events such as the disputes within the Russian revolutionary movement, the attempts by the Western Powers to overthrow the Bolsheviks in the Civil War after their seizure of power and the struggle of the various tendencies inside the Russian Communist Party and in the Communist International discussed in the book may not be familiar to today's audience. Nevertheless one can still learn something from the strength of Trotsky's commitment to his cause and the fight to preserve his personal and political integrity against overwhelming odds. As the organizer of the October Revolution, creator of the Red Army in the Civil War, orator, writer and fighter Trotsky he was one of the most feared men of the early 20th century to friend and foe alike. Nevertheless, I do not believe that he took his personal fall from power as a world historic tragedy. Moreover, he does not gloss over his political mistakes. Nor does Trotsky generally do personal injustice to his various political opponents although I would not want to have been subject to his rapier wit and pen. Politicians, revolutionary or otherwise, in our times should take note.

REVISED JULY 25, 2006

In view of a forthcoming edition........2005-03-21

Firstly, it's necessary to keep in mind that Deustscher was not trying to write a biography of Trotsky- if by that is meant an account of his life for its own sake- nor was he trying to write a history of the Russian Revolution and its leaders as a self-contained account. Deutscher's goals where twofold: to vindicate Trotsky's early opposition against Lenin's conception of the revolutionary party as well as his later opposition to Stalin's policies _in the long run_ and at the same time to acknowledge the necessity of Leninism and Stalinism _in the short run_. However objectionable such a view is today, Deutscher's political dialogue with Trotsky's ghost is superbly argued and documented, and anyone, no matter one's political views, will finish reading this work feeling one knows more about the subject than beforehand. In all the languages this work was translated (and I remember the ruckus produced in Brazil by the 1960s Portuguese trans.) it played havoc with accepted Left commonplaces.

There are many faults in this new Verso edition: first, its paperback binding is atrocious (after a first read, I have already a couple of loose pages); secondly, there lacks an introduction that sets the work in perspective 50 years after its publication, as well as a glossary of unusual terms for today's conservative age (such as comissar, soviet, etc.) and, perhaps, some short biographies of the smaller characters,with dates of birth and decease, positions held, whereabouts, etc.However, the work can still be enjoyably read on its own, even if you miss some (admittedly small) points.

Reading the pre-Soviet era in the post-Soviet age.......2005-03-02

It is indeed odd to read the early life of Leon Trotsky up to 1920 now, fifteen years after the collapse of the Soviet Union he saved from civil war 88 years ago. The reissue of this classic work, written right after WWII to vindicate the man who had done the most to give birth to the Soviet experiment and had been written out of its history by Stalin and his henchmen, is welcome. We are allowed to remember what we would rather forget, that despite our difficulties with Boshevism it did seek to right the wrong of Tsarism, one of the most backward, brutal, and desensitizing systems of oppression known to European man up to that time. Trotsky was unquestionably a genius, a hero, and of course also a man of weaknesses and ego who set the Soviet Union on a path which he could easily justify but which could also be used for more narrow and nefarious purposes by his old enemy, Joseph Stalin. Stalin in fact, while opposing Trotsky at almost every turn before and after Lenin's death, managed in the end to adopt Trotsky's economic policies with a ruthlessness which Trotsky would have approved had he not been forced to disapprove of it as a proscribed enemy of Stalinism.

Trotsky demonstrates that a certain logic of history, in this case Russian history, a history half-European and half-Asiatic, forced the liberation of Russia to become its subjugation to a tyrrany more verbally benevolent but no less horrible than Tsarism. Trotsky was undoubtedly a more enlightened and humane man than the half-barbarian Stalin, but it is not clear that had he beaten Stalin he would have been able to do better than Stalin in two tasks: setting Russia on a path of industrialization and modernization and defeating Hitler. For Stalin, lest we forget because of his crimes, Stalin did these two important things and did them very well indeed.

To relive the heroic days of the Russian Revolution is to be reminded that once Russian Socialism (including Bolshevism) deserved the respect of the onlooking world. The Cold War has distorted much about this history and hidden much from our eyes. We have allowed ourselves to adopt the counter-revolutionary ideology of the reactionary classes when it comes to the birth of Soviet Russia. Isaac Deutscher deserves praise for not only restoring our view of Trotsky but for having restored our view of the Russian revolutionary tradition.

Enjoyable whitewash.......2005-01-29

For nearly all its existence since Lenin's death in 1924 Trotsky (aka Lev Davidovich Bronstein) was Satan in the Bolshevik's manichean view of the world. Most of the purges of the 1930s were allegedly meant to cleanse Soviet society and its key institutions (the Communist Party, the unions, the Red Army, the intelligentsia) of the Trotskyte taint that, like some sort of Original Sin, pervaded the proletarian dictatorship. Stalin tried to erase Trotsky from the history of the Revolution. He even erased Trotsky's physical attributes, not just by killing him in 1940, half a world away, but by obliterating his likeness wherever it might have been found.

This book, published fifty years ago, tried to counter the Stalinist plot against Trotsky by vindicating his key role in the 1905 and 1917 revolutions, in the Civil War and in the establishment of the Red Army and the Soviet state. The author partially succeeds. Here we see Trotsky in all his glory, as perhaps he would have liked to be remembered, as a child prodigy who from humble rural beginnings quickly found his way in the world, as a professional revolutionary, as a brilliant polemist and orator, who even as a young man was seen as worthy counterpart to Lenin, and far above the rest of the Party, as a good hearted man who tried to promote harmony within the Party and failed at it, as a cultured, civilized "westernizer", much more appealing than the brutal Stalin, who came straight from the "log cabin" of czarist barbarism. He also came up with many good ideas, such as Lenin's New Economic Policy. Deutscher also gives us some of the darker sides to Trotsky's scintillating personna. He was proud and haughty, but brittle. He was abusive to others, often unnecessarily. He often let abstractions and daydreams take the place of reality. And he came up with many bad ideas, such as War Communism and the Militarization of Labor.

But, given Deutscher's profile (he was a Trotskyte) the book is often a competent whitewash. The author shares Trotsky's (and the Bolshevik's) worldview to a great extent, and sees the October Revolution as a worthy action. Mostly, he takes Trotskyte and Bolshevik motives as justification for their actions. He portrays opponents (such as the White Guards and nationalist Ukrainians and Poles) as illegitimate. Nowhere does the awfulness of Soviet rule, and the brutality of the Bolshevik leaders come through, except perhaps in their remarkably abusive writings. To find such bitchiness nowadays one would have to refer to the academic world, where the nastiness is commensurate to the irrelevance of that which is being discussed.

Also, the book is often not very readable as history. The author will often refer to future or past events in a single page, without indication of the precise dates, which makes this a hard book to read for someone not familiar with the October Revolution.

Having said this, a good reason to read this book is that it is beautifully written, and that the author really does get very close to his subject, which is mostly a negative in that he lacks perspective, but does bring the advantage of great liveliness which makes this a very good read. This reminds me of Preston's life of General Franco. Preston hated his subject and was unable utterly to develop any empathy with him, so the book was fairly arid and not insightful. Deutscher has the opposite defect: he gets too close, as perhaps does Nicholas Farrell to Mussolini. The ideal would be like Kershaw's Hitler or Short's Mao: far enough to look the monster in the eye, but not close enough to kiss him.

At this book's end, Trotsky is at the apex of his power, from which he would begin to slip during Lenin's final year. But this is better left to volume II, which I also hope to review.

So read the book, but don't take Deutscher at his word. Complement this with Volkogonov's Trotsky. And with Trotsky's own voluminous writings, which are often very amusing (particularly his biography of Stalin).

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How were women & their families impacted by the Russian Revolution?
What women fight for
Revolution frees women!

Women and the Family
Leon Trotsky
Manufacturer: Pathfinder Press (NY)
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

Revolutionary | Historical Study | History | Subjects | Books

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Customer Reviews:

How were women & their families impacted by the Russian Revolution?.......2006-07-05

What a slim volume brimming with juicy information "Women and the Family" is! Trotsky takes a hard look at the very big economic and social picture and how it will impact on women's emancipation and the development of the family. For example, the fight for electrification, mechanization, the need to curb alcoholism, educate women and children, create communal childcare are all discussed with the focus on how women and their families will be impacted. Sexuality, abortion rights, monogamy, religious influences and more are topics Trotsky addresses. One of the selections is in easy-to-read Q & A format but all the selections are quite readable and to the point. Two articles are written by Trotsky in exile. You can see the crushing contrast of gains women made in the early years of the Russian Revolution and how Stalinism eroded these gains. The introduction to the book contains useful overview of the role of women in the Russian Revolution, the gains of the first ten years, and the decline of those gains under Stalin. Although Amazon may list this book as out of stock from time to time, it's always available from booksfrompathfinder by clicking on "new and used" near the top of this page.

What women fight for.......2005-06-20

How can a book that begins, "The Russian Revolution was begun by women" not intrigue a serious reader interested in women's role in history? This sentence begins the introduction to Leon Trotsky's seminal work on women in a revolutionary society. In this collection of letters, articles, and greetings to political rallies, Trotsky takes up the question of woman's equality and emancipation.
In one article written in 1925 Trotsky explains, "from the enslavement of women grow prejudices and superstitions which shroud the children of the new generation..." and in 1937 with the consolidation of Stalinism in the Soviet Union, he writes, from exile, about the counter-revolution against women. The Stalinists have "forgotten that socialism was to remove the cause which impels woman to abortion and not force her into the "joys of motherhood" with the help of a foul police interference in what is to every woman the most intimate sphere of life." Reading this book today strikes me as both instructive and relevant to those who continue to struggle for full women's liberation.

Revolution frees women!.......2005-05-30

The depth of revolutionary transformation brought on by social upheavals can be judged by how much the status and role of women in that society are altered. This author, Leon Trotsky, was one of the central leaders of the Russian revolution of 1917. In this set of essays, Trotsky examines the effect of that revolution on the status of women and the structure and function of the nuclear family. Prior to 1917, women in Russia were the virtual slaves of their husbands. The Russian revolution began a process of freeing women from this bondage. This book explains the huge advances in the rights of women that were made in the early days of the Russian revolution. This process, unfortunately, was cut short and betrayed by the bureaucratic caste led by Joseph Stalin that usurped political power from the workers. Trotsky also examines in this book how the reactionary leadership under Stalin and his successors rolled back the gains made by women. This contrast between the revolutionary treatment of women and the family under the leadership of Lenin and the reactionary policies of the Stalinist regime has important lessons for revolutionists today. This book is a must-read for today’s rebels.

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