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Whether calling for an end to the capitalist system, addressing the crowds after the Russian Revolution, or attacking Stalin during his years of exile, Trotsky’s speeches give an extraordinary insight into a man whose words and actions determined the fates of millions.Throughout history, some books have changed the world. They have transformed the way we see ourselves – and each other. They have inspired debate, dissent, war and revolution. They have enlightened, outraged, provoked and comforted. They have enriched lives – and destroyed them. Now Penguin brings you the works of the great thinkers, pioneers, radicals and visionaries whose ideas shook civilization and helped make us who we are. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (1)

Trotsky in Brief
This is the first thing I've read of Trotsky. It has collected speeches and writings from 1915 to 1940.

This is also the first of the Penguin Great Ideas I've read. My slight complaint is that there are no notes of any kind. Unless you are familiar with the 1917 revolution's ins and outs then it may be a bit confusing. In general the story can be pieced together from the selections. There are no other writings contained besides those of Trotsky (no preface, introduction, etc.)

All in all it seems like a fine place to start learning about the Man and his ideas. ... Read more

Product Description
Leon Trotsky (1879-1940) the leader of the Russian Revolution and Stalin s unyielding opponent remains an immensely controversial figure seventy years after his assassination in Mexico City. In this collection of essays and lectures, David North, an authority on Soviet history, examines the disputes surrounding Trotsky s life and ideas and explains their contemporary relevance. Exposing recent efforts by several British scholars to denigrate Trotsky s historical role by falsifying history, the author insists that their aim is to forestall a resurgence of interest in the great revolutionist at a time when millions of people are becoming disenchanted with capitalism. The passions evoked by [Trotsky s] name testify to the enduring significance of [his] ideas, North writes in the introduction of his book. Arguments about Trotsky are never simply about what happened in the past. They are just as much about what is happening in the world today, and what is likely to happen in the future. In the first section of In Defense of Leon Trotsky, North explores Trotsky s Theory of Permanent Revolution and insists that it had a decisive impact on the events of October 1917, which is often overlooked by scholars. Examining Trotsky s varying treatment at the hands of the liberal left intelligentsia over the post-war period, North argues that shifts in the attitude of scholars towards the Russian revolutionary have been bound up with changes in the objective political and economic situation. He challenges today s historians to once again turn serious and honest attention to Trotsky s life and ideas.In the last two parts of the collection, readers will find reviews of recent biographies of Trotsky written by Geoffrey Swain, Ian Thatcher, and Robert Service. North demonstrates that these biographies reproduce many of the same claims made by Stalin in order to besmirch Trotsky reputation and undermine his political authority in the working class. Rather than shedding light on the man and his work, these books, which are riddled with factual errors, are part of the unrelenting campaign of vilification of which Trotsky has been the object for decades.In Defense of Leon Trotsky contains numerous photographs of Trotsky and family members interspersed throughout the text, as well as a complete index. ... Read more

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On-the-spot analysis of national and social conflicts in the Balkans, written 80 years ago, sheds light on the conflicts shaking these countries today.

Photos, maps, chronology, glossary, index. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (4)

A profound introduction to Balkan Politics and History
In the first Balkan War (October, 1912), the armies of Bulgaria, Montenegro, Serbia, and Greece attacked-and defeated-the army of the Ottoman Empire, coming within some 25 miles of Constantinople. Within three months, fighting resumed; but this second Balkan War was between the victors-over division of the Turkish spoils.

Today these battles may seem a mere historical footnote dwarfed by the First World War that began only a few months later. But to think so would be a failure to understand how it was the Balkan crisis that brought long-simmering anti-imperialist rivalries across Europe to the boiling point.

Indeed the political questions at play during this time continue to be central to subsequent events. How fortunate we are then, that Pathfinder has issued a new, improved edition of The War Correspondence of Leon Trotsky: The Balkan Wars, 1912-13.

Trotsky had been tried and exiled to Siberia after the 1905 Russian Revolution in which he played a central leadership role went down to defeat. In 1907 he escaped, winding up in Vienna-from where he continued to participate actively in the work and debates of the European socialist movement including in the Balkan countries.

A 1910 article, for example, "The Balkan Countries and Socialism" lays out a materialist analysis that retains its accuracy and usefulness for understanding many of the subsequent events in this part of the world: from the birth of a new, united Yugoslavia out of the partisan battles against German occupation during the Second World War to the hypocritical intervention into the region during the 1990s by United Nations and NATO forces capped by the Pax Americana imposed by Washington at Dayton.

"The frontiers between the dwarf states of the Balkan peninsula were drawn [by]...the Great Powers-in the fist place Russia and Austria-[that] have...a direct interest in setting the Balkan peoples and states against each other...This peninsula, richly endowed by nature, is senselessly split up into little bits...[rendering] impossible [the] development of Balkan industry and culture...

"The only way out of the national and state chaos is a union of all the peoples of the peninsula in a single economic and political entity on the basis of national autonomy....

"State unity of the Balkan Peninsula can be achieved in two ways: either from above, by expanding one Balkan state...at the expense of the weaker ones...or from below, through the peoples themselves coming together...and unfurling the banner of a Balkan federal republic..."

Is this not a great beginning for analyzing Balkan developments ever since?!

In 1912-13, Trotsky traveled through Belgrade, Sofia, Romania, and elsewhere, sending eyewitness accounts of the two wars to the popular Ukrainian leftist newspaper, Kievan Thought. These articles form the bulk of this extremely useful and educational collection.

Trotsky writes, with similar incisiveness, on the question of Macedonia, Armenia, the Young Turk movement, and the politics of anti-Semitism in Romania (on this subject, opening a window to a profound understanding of later events). His articles vary from political documents to moving descriptions of what war means for the workers and farmers swept up in its hellfire to interviews with all kinds of political personalities-from leading bourgeois politicians to rank and file soldiers. Of particular interest are his accounts of the early history of the various socialist parties in the region

His vivid portraits-particularly his appreciation of his longtime friend and collaborator, the Bulgarian communist Christian Rakovsky as well as of the founding Romanian socialist leader Konstantin Dobrogeanu-Gherea-are an excellent antidote to the bourgeois commentators, politicians and journalists who so often dehumanize the workers and farmers of this region, depicting them as, at best, helpless and irrational victims trapped in a cycle of "centuries-old" national and ethnic violence. Trotsky's writings make it clear that nothing could be further from the truth. The responsibility for that violence lies squarely at the feet of the imperialist powers that have long used the Balkans without regard for the [very] human beings who live there.

By outlining the theory and true history of the pioneering Balkan communists, Trotsky also helps make clear how the Stalinist regimes that later arose there and in the Soviet Union turned their backs on the real program of Marxism. This should be of great interest to workers and farmers in that part of the world looking for a way out from the dead-end that imperialist intervention has produced in the Balkans.

Pathfinder's new edition of this classic work features larger, much more readable type. A look through the maps, time charts, glossary, footnotes, and index of this book will make it clear that an extraordinary effort has been expended so that workers interested in acquiring a fundamental knowledge of Balkan history and politics can confidently begin right here.

Trotsky's brilliant war correspondence
Trotsky saw in the Balkan Wars a portent of the Europe-wide war, which we know today as World War I. He risked cholera, malaria, and other ills, to file these articles, which expose the social breakdown in these small impoverished nations. He blasts the imperialist powers for using the conflict for their own purposes, for example when the Russian-French-British camp covered up massacres of Turkish Muslims. Anyone interested in the roots of anti-Semitism should read the article included here on the Jewish question in Romania. This book is a classic of Marxist reporting and a very good source of background information to anyone wanting to understand the current unraveling of the Balkans.

2000, and still the same
What's most frightening about this book is that ever so often I had the impression that I was reading about the present-day situation on the Balkan. Yes, the old dynasties were swept away in the aftermath of WWI, sothe names have changed, but the peoples on the Balkan peninsula are stillthe playthings of international capital and its henchmen in theparliaments. Unfortunately most modern reporters either hardly know how toformulate a correct phrase or have no clue about the social and economicbackground of the situation they write about. L.D. Trotsky, on the otherhand, combined a keen eye for the complex intersection of economy, politicsand religion with an expressive style. Not to forget his vitriolic humour.(And yes, I loved his snide remark about Austrian tardiness - verrrytrue!;-)) Despite the intricacy of the issues, these reports are easilyreadable.

An indispensable reference on the background of Balkan fight
Trotsky's war correspondence from the Balkan Wars that just preceded WorldWar I is more than a fascinating collection of journalism by a dramatic andpassionate figure in modern history.It is also an indispensablebackgrounder for the fighting going on in the region today.Much ofTrotsky's reportage, e.g. on Serbian attempts to reduce the Albanianpopulation of Kosova by mass murder, will echo very loudly.To his credit,Trotsky sided whole-heartedly with the Albanian victims, in a way thatshames the modern defenders of media neutrality and global passivity in theface of ethnic terrorism.The beginning of all wisdom on the modern Balkanwars. ... Read more

Product Description
Trotsky and Zizek on revolutionary violence.Written in the white heat of revolutionary Russia's Civil War, Trotsky's Terrorism and Communismis one of the most potent defenses of revolutionary dictatorship. In his provocative commentary to this new editionthe philosopher Slavoj Zizek argues that Trotsky’s attack on theillusions of liberal democracy has a vital relevance today. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (1)

defense of equality
this was Trotsky's bout with one-time Marxist Karl Kautsky, representative of Social-Democracy,revolution,the affinity for parliamentarian incremental change through bourgeois means; ballot-boxes, sitting sovereigns, capital comforted with safety nets, and the context here is Soviet Russia was waiting(isolated) for assistance from the German Revolution to happen which just eroded away with the murder of Rosa Luxemberg, curious that the word "terror" has magnetized itself around it new multi-dimensional meanings,the media has done wonderful work bundling the word "terror" with anything resembling opposition, I doubt if Israeli apparatchiks could speak on TV without utilizing the word a few dozen times, to define, fears fears-of-fears,Unknown-Knowns-Fears,Known-Knowns, the Rumsfeldian epistemology,still there is some marvelous reflections here from Trotsky on the Paris Commune,the balance of power in the shape of the globe circa 1920; the paradigms of power and the next thread in its evolution, Kautsky simply wanted to preserve, the Known-Knowns,without seeking to face those monstrous Un-Knowns, he didn't have a sensibility for such dangers, Trotsky did up to a point,but was blind of his own fate, yet here there is good analysis of the reality of aftermath Soviet situations prior to the Stalin Thermidor was to take root,a vastly involutarily trained endoctrinated marxologist himself I suspect Zizek is looking for cognitive "threads"in shapes resembling Badiou-ian " Truth" nodes, "Events" which can illumine a path perhaps simply to more discussions on youtube within the world un-evolving postpoltical context, with bio-politics, and the neo-liberal order at the helms stirring the ship with their own cognitive maps. Zizek is good at what he does, and leaves out the residue of rhetorical hatreds you still odiously find on the Left,fighting self-defeating battles merely to hear one's own voice, I like to recall the old RCA white putchee dog, staring mindlessly into vinyl playing speaker cone; "What's this?" like the Left does today for things they refuse to explain, Zizek has a Wotan-like spirit in these Verso writings assignments assembling his theoretical "Walkure" to assist him; ... Read more

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Participating in the revolutionary workers movement "with open eyes and an intense will--only this can give the highest moral satisfaction to a thinking being," Trotsky writes. He explains how morality is rooted in the interests of contending social classes. With a reply by the pragmatist philosopher John Dewey and a Marxist response to Dewey by George Novack. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (6)

THEIR MORALS AND OURS, INDEED!
One of the most tragic results of the Stalinization of a significant part of the international workers movement in the 20th century was the steep decline in the norms of revolutionary morality. In fact a persuasive argument can be made that the Stalinist lies, distortions and destruction of revolutionary cadre, as well as untold innocents, dragged the workers movement to a moral level below even the abysmal bourgeois hypocrisy of modern day liberalism and social democracy. But, although one would be hard pressed to refute that idea that is an argument for another day. Here, Leon Trotsky, as he had in the political struggles to defend the ideas of the socialist revolution raised his lonely voice to defend revolutionary morality against the onslaught of Stalinist falsifiers, liberal cynics, social democratic hypocrites and some of his faint-hearted intellectual former `supporters' who were beginning their rapid retreat from revolutionary politics in the run-up to World War II.

Trotsky's argument is fairly simple and straightforward. Not only do the ruling classes own the means of production and control the educational, cultural and state apparatuses but impose their concept of morality on their society. Thus it follows, in order to break the stranglehold of the ruling classes, it is necessary for revolutionaries to develop their own moral sense- outside and in counter position- to the ruling classes. That truth may not be the most profound idea that Trotsky ever uttered but in light of the rise of fascism, the Stalinist Moscow purge trials and the Stalinist destruction of the Spanish Revolution which formed the backdrop for his analysis it needed saying-and needs repeating today. No militant can hope to change society for the better if he or she does not make a clean break from bourgeois norms of morality, period.

Politics and morality obviously are not counterpoised but flow from the nature of the task. If the politics are not revolutionary then it is hard to see how the moral compass that leads to a revolutionary life would be. Again, Stalinism in its political guise as a form of international class collaborationism blurred the lines between what to a revolutionary is the norm and an `amoral' or `anti-moral' world-weary bureaucratic response. And that tension has not stopped with the defeat of Stalinism. Because leftists did not defeat Stalinism but rather it collapsed from its own internal moral decay and ineptitude that line has never been straightened out.Nowhere is this seen more clearly than today when revolutionaries use the bourgeois institutions against others in the labor movement, including other revolutionaries, to further their aims. Yes, of course we use these alien institutions when we fight the oppressors-that is part of our arsenal. No, we do not ask (really, beg) the class enemy to adjudicate disputes within the labor movement. Learn to fight the political struggle the proper way. To get the necessary foundation for that read this little book.

more popagandistic than academic
Trotsky shared Dewey's utilitarianism. They only disagreed
about the existence of laws governing social evolution . I.e.
Dewey supported piecemeal reforms while Trotsky thought he knew the laws of history. With greater knowledge of historical cookery came his willingness to break more eggs for the omlettes of posterity.

Which Side Are You On?
Which Side Are You On?

Claims to the moral high ground by ruling classes fill the pages of history through today. Their crimes against humanity are morally justified to the masses. This book delves into the class underpinnings of all moral function.

Their Morals and Ours is a valuable help to thinking through what is morality, its roots and changes. Leon Trotsky, a great Marxist and John Dewey, a great liberal pragmatist debate these questions on the eve of World War II.

Stalinism, wars, the ten commandments, strikes, taking of hostages, marriage relations, means and ends, and common sense are some of the subjects discussed. The morality of capitalism vs. the morality of the working-class struggle for liberation from capitalism are counterposed.

Whose Morality?
Written on the eve of World War II, this piece defends revolutionary Marxist and revolutionary morality against progressive-minded detractors, i.e. disillusioned former Marxists who claim the horrific crimes of Stalin were the logical outcome of Lenin's and the Bolsheviks' policies.

In refuting these detractors, Trotsky explains that "morality more than any other form of ideology has a class character."Thus, it was "moral" according to U.S. rulers to use atomic bombs against Japanese cities when Japan had already sought to surrender in World War II and it's OK to threaten countries today with them. But it's "immoral" for North Korea or other countries to seek to develop atomic bombs to defend themselves.

The imperialist "war on terrorism" is a current example.According to ruling class 'morality' it's perfectly moral for the Israeli rulers to murder Palestinian leaders and people as it occupies Palestine.It's OK for the U.S. and U.K rulers to murder Iraqis.But it's Not OK for the Palestinians or people of Iraq to defend themselves and seek to end occupation of their lands.

The Great Humanity has said enough
With morality being preached at us by a president whose pockets are stuffed with Enron dollars, who seeks to bomb and murder around the world, this short book explains a real morality, the morality that flows from the struggle of the great humanity as Che once called it, of the great humanity to say that we have had enough exploitation, enough oppression, enough poverty, enough disease, enough sexism, enough racism, enough throttling of the rights of Africa, Asia, and Latin America, enough.Morality flows from the struggle of oppressed humanity to free itself from the big business rich who pay the priests, the professors, and the cops.We need this book to stand up against them.


While this book is not always available on Amazon, it is always available from BooksfromPathfinder, an Amazon Z store that you can get to by clicking on New and Used further up this page! ... Read more

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Customer Reviews (1)

A short summary of Marx's "Das Kapital"
This is a republication of a book called "The Living Thoughts of Karl Marx," written by Leon Trotsky and Karl Marx. Only the title has been changed. Trotsky's aim was to present the fundamentals of Marx's economic teachings. He added his own introduction, better known as "Marxism in Our Time" and the rest of the text in this book is really Otto Ruhle's "abridgement of the first volume of Das Kapital."

Like we all know, capitalists don't produce for the sake of production but only for profit. And Marx was wisely concerned about the concentration of wealth into ever-decreasing number of hands. This summary provides some insight into the dodgy underpinnings of capitalism. But it wasn't any enchanting read, though.

(Published 1st in 1939. The reviewed edition: 2006, 9780486451169) ... Read more

Customer Reviews (5)

PRACTICAL PROBLEMS IN BUILDING A SOCIALIST SOCIETY
Sometimes those of us embattled socialists still trying to propagandize for the socialist worldview get so totally caught up in that fight that we at times neglect the goals of our efforts. No so Leon Trotsky who, despite being in a continual fight inside the Russian Communist Party in the 1920's to save and extend the Russian Revolution, from time to time put out essays and gave speeches on behalf of that goal. The book under review contains a wide ranging selection of some of the everyday issues and examples of the aspirational messages given him at the time. Although some of those issues are particular to the Russian situation at the timedue to the underdevelopment of Russian society (and unfortunately now, in the post-Soviet era, as well) some of the aspirational essays should be taken to heart by socialists working today.

Generally when educated people speak of culture they are referring to "high culture", the arts and the like. Trotsky was not unaware of that distinction and wrote many enduring essays elsewhere on the subjects of literature and the arts. Here Trotsky looks at the deeper meaning of culture for the mass of society. That is, those characteristics and manners of behavior that would lead to a more educated workforce, a more enlightened population and that would give the fight for a socialist society a gigantic push forward. Thus, he writes about the problems of endemic alcoholism, illiteracy, swearing, the fight against religious superstition, the fight for cleanliness and promptness and the like. Except in a mocking manner most cultural writers do not take such issues seriously except to distance themselves from the habits of the under- classes. Yet here was a big-time intellectual, revolutionary leader and in this reviewer's opinion an exemplar of communist man harping on the necessity of acquiring just such virtues.

Part of the compilation in this book is also taken up with Trotsky's daydreaming in print about how a future socialist and later communist classless society might look. He did not neglect the importance of using the preexisting industrial apparatus left from capitalism as the starting point. He also presents many interesting predictions about the use of technology, including nuclear technology, and mass communications to make the transition easier. However, Trotsky's dreams certainly do not include a theory of "barrack communism", that is, the equality of all citizens based on scarcity or return to a more primitive form of society. On the contrary, Trotsky's communist future is explicitly based on abundance so that the question of daily survival is taken off the agenda for the mass of humankind. Then society will, as a matter of course, develop many great political thinkers, literary writer and other types of geniuses and put the geniuses of past societies in the shade. Yes, I can get behind goals like that. Yes, those are what the goals of socialism are all about.

Particularly Tough to Read
I started to read this book in an attempt to get a better idea of the revolutionary and communinistic atmosphere in the Soviet.Maybe it is just me, but I could not finish this book.It is extremely hard to read and not too interesting, in my opinion.I may recommend a different book on Trotsky and the revolution...

"Not by politics alone!"
This is not a "self-help" book, or a psychiatry book that tries to make you accept things no matter how grim they get in society around you-- unlike other books that popped up when I searched the database for "problems of everyday life."This collection of articles by Leon Trotsky, a central leader of the Russian Revolution in its early years, is much more challenging and interesting.

It was first written for the millions of workers and young people who were inspired to join the heroic struggles to overthrow the Czarist social order in Russia and take first steps towards building a socialist society. Full of a wonderful sense of respect for each individual and the capacities of ordinary men and women to work together to overcome society's ills. Takes up the challenges of illiteracy; real education in sciences, art, literature; punctuality and accuracy in work; of overcoming alcoholism and superstition -- not as an individual escape or salvation but as necessary and possible steps to be tackled in forging a new society.

A sample of the contents: "Vodka, the Church, and the Cinema," "Civility and Politeness as a Necessary Lubricant in Daily Relations," "The Newspaper and Its Readers," "Leninism and Library Work," "Radio, Science, Technology and Society," "Young People, Study Politics!"

Don't miss it!

cleaning the filth of capitalism out of our pores
These articles and speeches struggle against the corrupting and degrading aspects of capitalist culture that remained in Russia after the Russian revolution.

Here, Trotsky talks about the importance of fun and amusement for workers freed of moralizing and paternalistic pedagogy. Here, Trotsky explains why young people must study politics, fight for a bigger role in society, and look to world struggles.Here, Trotsky explains the importance of attention to detail, libraries, punctuality, and getting rid of profanity.
This is a good book to read today.We all need to the clean out the filth of capitalist culture that has wedged its way into the pores of our everyday life.

While this book is sometimes not directly available from Amazon, it is always available from BooksfromPathfinder, which you can reach by clicking on New and Used further up this page.

Very superb compilation.
Leon Trotsky, the founder of the Red Army, commisar of the Russian army and navy, not only was a brilliant politician, he was also a brillian journalist. Evidence of his journalistic prowess is the wonderful compilation of Trosky's writings & speeches, "Problems of Everyday Life". The title would suggest that he is to some degree a philosopher, but as he writes early in the book, the opinions stated in the book are by no means original.

In this particular work, Trotsky describes a large spectrum of subjects that people in his position(arguably one of the most powerful politicians of the twentieth century), would have considered insignificant. The name of some of the chapters provides a glimpse of what I am talking about. Here is a name of a chapter in Part I, "Vodka, the Church, and the Cinema".In this chapter, Trotsky states that as opposed to abolishing religion by force, the state should persuade individuals to leave their religious sect for more realistic alternatives(and in this case, he says the cinema is a solid alternative). Another name of a chapter is, "the struggle for cultured speech". In this chapter, Trotsky says the Russian language likely has the most profane and disgusting terms of any language(clearly he didn't know English to the extent he thought!), and he provides a program that could be used to eliminate the usage of such disgusting terms. In another chapter, which presently eludes my mind, Trotsky explains why individuals should opt for cremation, as opposed to Christian burials.

Conversely, the book is sectioned off into four parts, 1.Problems of Everyday Life, 2.Education and Culture, 3.Science and Technology, 4.The Materilist Outlook. And as the name of the sections would suggest, the book is rich in opinions & observations. To a potential reader, I would definitely suggest this very insightful work, it's the equivalant of reading a book on etiquette, science, literature, etc, by a real genius(similar to Einstien's "Ideas and Observations"). Even if you disagree with Trotsky's materialist outlook on life, and his theory of permanent revolution, read this book, it will almost certainly make a positive impact on your relations with friends, relatives, and of course, adversaries. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (1)

Lenin's Lighter Side
Let me start out by saying that I am in no way an expert in the teachings of Lenin, the Russian revolution, or even Communism. I only have a basic knowledge of Lenin's essential works, and thought this book would shed some light on Lenin and his character. With that said...

In this book, right after Lenin's death, Trotsky writes about his memories on Lenin, from the day he met him until he died. The book starts at his arrival in London in order to work for the Iskra, and ends with his essays/speeches on Lenin's illness and death. For the most part this book was an entertaining read and gives us an interesting glimpse as to who Lenin was and what it was like to be in his company. Many accounts on Lenin portray him as a very serious, occupied, and worried individual, but in this book, Trotsky shows us his lighter side. These pages are full of stories and conversations (recreated to Trotsky's best memory) portraying Lenin as a more normal man than how he has been portrayed, by recounting some funny comments that Lennin has made in Trotsky's presence (calling H.G. Wells a "philistine" after meeting with him) and his downright absurd behavior sometimes, like racing (and beating) Trotsky to the Committee meeting after purposely misleading Trotsky into believing he was going to be late, therefore winning the bet they had. These are just a few of these moments, and it was refreshing to see Lenin portrayed in this lighter fashion.

The historic events are portrayed smoothly as well and the transition of Lenin's life from editor of Iskra, to taking power are usually interesting and take into account the different people in Lenin's life and Trotsky's account on how these people were affected. The only reason this book does not receive a flawless rating is that, sometimes, the political terms used were unfamiliar, and it proved difficult to follow the progress of the stories. Also, the thoughts of the children on Lenin at the end, break the flow of the book, in my opinion, and are overly sentimental. However, I would highly recommend this book to anyone who wants a brief overview of Lenin's later life, and a different view on his personality.
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Customer Reviews (4)

lol
Either that, or Trotsky COINED THE TERM while working at his think-tank, to produce divisiveness and tear down existing structures FOR HIS OWN ENDS, and I guess the proof is in the pudding.The term "revisionsim" was made for the reviewers here. Please, start to THINK, THINK, THINK. People make this stuff up---then when their plan goes into operation, you say they were visionaries. LOL. Only dependent populations don't understand how this works!!!

Trotsky way ahead of his time on question of racism
When the great Black revolutionary leader Malcolm X left the Nation of Islam in 1964, he stated that he and his followers were ready to join hands with anyone, no matter what their skin color, to rid the earth of the miserable system of oppression and exploitation that had kept Black people down.The Socialist Workers Party and Young Socialist Alliance, known then as Trotskyists, were eager to do so.Whereas the Trotskyists appreciated Malcolm's politics and publicized his speeches in the Militant newspaper and later through Pathfinder Press, the Stalinized Communist Party was hostile to Black nationalism.This book does a great job of showing how Trotsky helped lead his supporters in the US to a proper appreciation of the importance of viewing Blacks as an oppressed nation within the US.In the 1930s, the largely white and better-paid workers in the Socialist Workers Party found it difficult to see clearly how important the question of the oppression of Blacks was.They tended to assume that once capitalism was overthrown, racism would just fade away. It took Bolshevik leaders from thousands of miles away to set them on the right course.Trotsky argued that Blacks had to decide for themselves what their destiny would be as an oppressed nation, just as the Bolsheviks supported the right of oppressed peoples within former Czarist Russia to self-determination. As the result of conversations between US revolutionaries and Trotsky, when Malcolm X came along, over twenty years later, these revolutionaries were ready to join hands with him.

A Historical View of Marxism & the Fight against Racism
"We can and we must find a way to the consciousness of the Negro workers, the Chinese workers, the Indian workers and all the oppressed in the human ocean of the colored races to whom belongs the decisive work in the development of mankind."- Leon Trotsky, June, 1932.
This book is the record of meetings that Trotsky, leader of the opposition to Joseph Stalin, held in exile in Turkey and Mexico with his followers. Their purpose was to hammer out a Marxist position on the struggle for Black liberation in the U.S. and to campaign against the racism that divided the working class.
Readers of this book can gain an understanding of the historical depth of Black oppression, and how an alliance of white and Black workers can be won. Trotsky was in agreement with Lenin on the defense of the right of oppressed nations to self-determination.

Trotsky predicts role of Black worker
This book from the 1930s pierces right to the heart of American politics today. In these discussions with communists active in the labor movement, Trotsky defended the ideas of Black nationalism long before they were understood by American political activists. Trotsky emphasized that for good reason many Black workers saw white workers as part of the system of oppression.Communists-white and Black-must be in the front ranks of the fight for Black rights, up to and including support for a Black party that fights for an independent Black nation. He pointed out that an independent Black nation is not a threat to workers who are white-- it is a threat to the common enemy, imperialism. His language is quite strong on this point. He said that no worker who fears or shrinks from the Black fight for self-determination can rightly call him or herself a communist. In the late 1930s, Trotsky predicted the vanguard role of Black workers and the emergence of leaders of the caliber of Malcolm X. If not available from Amazon, booksfrompathfinder will have it. Click on "new and used" near the top of the page. ... Read more

Product Description
Leon Trotsky - Bolshevik Revolutionary is the biography of Leon Trotsky, a Ukrainian-born Bolshevik revolutionary and Marxist theorist. He was one of the leaders of the Russian October Revolution, second only to Lenin. During the early days of the Soviet Union, Trotsky served first as People's Commissar for Foreign Affairs and later as the founder and commander of the Red Army and the People's Commissar of War. He was also among the first members of the Politburo. After leading the failed struggle of the Left Opposition against the policies and rise of Joseph Stalin in the 1920s and the increasing bureaucratization of the Soviet Union, Trotsky was expelled from the Communist Party and deported from the Soviet Union in the Great Purge. As the head of the Fourth International, he continued in exile to oppose the Stalinist bureaucracy in the Soviet Union, and was eventually assassinated in Mexico by a Soviet agent, Ramón Mercader. Trotsky's ideas form the basis of Trotskyism, a major school of Marxist thought that is opposed to the theories and practices of Stalinism. Leon Trotsky - Bolshevik Revolutionary is highly recommended for those interested in the history and life of this Marxist theorist and revolutionary. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (1)

Do not buy this book
Do not buy this book.It is a glorified term paper or expanded pamphlet.There is nothing in this book that you cannot find in an encyclopedia.It claims to be 104 pages, but that includes the cover page and Notes and References. It is actually 76 pages with a print size of about 20, which at normal type size would be about 40 pages.It is a $4.00 book at most. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (5)

Congressional Eye opener
One of the best books to detail the rise of communism and the reason it is doomed to failure every time it is implemented.It should be a warning to ALL of us about how dictatorships arise and their affect on the people.

Humorous yet informative
This book is a great starting point for Trotsky and at the same time a friendly introduction to the often confusing political situation in Russia during the period of the Alexander II's death and the Bolshevik revolution until Stalin. It integrates primary sources from contemporaries, including Bolsheviks and Trotsky himself, and some secondary source from historians that are particularly informative.

The book weaves through humorous and brief summaries of some stages of Trotsky's life (particularly his early life and conversion to Marxism) yet this is redeemed by its concise and very useful segments on complex issues such as Marxist ideology, the role of the Comintern, the various congresses of the Soviets/Communist party and united frontism. I found that the illustrations were actually quite useful and not simply humorous in many cases, such as the 'hear no evil, etc.' monkeys in the section on the power struggle.

However, it is after all a beginner's guide and the sections on Trotsky's role in the 1917 insurrection was lacking, as well as the Civil War. Nevertheless, I still recommend this book to high school students studying Trotsky and general Soviet history as an introductory text, and Trotsky enthusiasts regardless of their level of education as both an informative text and ultimately an entertaining read.

History as a smart cartoon.
My favorite page of this book is page 84, which has some small print at the bottom of the page, "Lenin sees Trotsky's position as attractive but too risky." The illustration shows a three-way argument among the leaders of the Bolshevik Central Committee on how to get an immediate armistice with Germany in World War One, for which Trotsky had been sent to Brest-Litovsk to negotiate peace at the end of November 1917. Somehow, page 82 reported, "The Allied Powers are desperately against Russia signing a separate peace with Germany." Trotsky's position in the argument on page 84 nicely avoided the possibility of conflict with the Allied Powers, "Prolong the negotiations. No war - No Peace - till the German workers revolt!" According to page 83, "The peace delegation at Brest-Litovsk distributed pamphlets to the German soldiers." The cartoon shows a soldier looking at a page and exclaiming, "It says - shoot your officers!!" The Germans might not have been used to reading that kind of thing, but there is a historical Who's Who on pages 168 to 173 which shows how much support there was for this when someone's idea of justice supported it. The Who's Who contains anarchist activists like Vera Zasulich, a Narodnik militant who "Shot and wounded the Governor of St. Petersburg, General Tepov" [which might not be spelled correctly] because a Narodnik student "was flogged for failing to remove his hat in Trepov's presence. Her trial and acquittal by the jury caused a sensation and was popularly supported." (p. 173). Back on page 76, following a cartoon that looks a lot like some famous painting of the last supper, there is even a picture of Joseph Stalin, who praised Trotsky in Pravda for the "practical organisation of the insurrection" (The October Revolution) only 84 years ago in November 1917, but the picture is saying, "I said that? No - you must be thinking of some other Stalin!" The humor of history is perfect for a cartoon book like this, which is history at a level which everybody ought to be able to understand. Unfortunately for the Soviets, they were probably not aware of the work of the young Karl Kraus in Vienna during this period, who observed, "Satires which the censor understands are rightly prohibited."This book is too true to be considered satire in a thoroughly comic society like our own.

A good introduction to Trotsky's thought
Lev Davydovich Bronstein A.K.A. Leon Trotsky was certainly a very complicated figure as this book shows. Early on he opposed Lenin's conception of the hierarchal, tightly centralized working class party and was very active in the Petersburg Soviet of 1905. Lenin accepted Trotsky's view of "permenant revolution" after the February 1917 revolution and Trotsky joined forces with him to oppose the liberals and leftists in the workers and soldiers soviet who supported handing over power to the liberal bourgeoisie, in the case of the leftists apparently because they thought the bourgeoisie should have their revolution first. The Bolsheviks won overwhelming majorities in the soviets accros the nation. They seized power from the liberals and then proceeded to liquidate their opposition which seemed to be excused by Trotsky on the ground of centralising power in order to fight the Whites and the imperialist invaders and the especially brutal "war communism" was instituted. Trotsky directed the violent repression of the workers and sailors at Kronstadt in 1921. He pretty much played the good solider, occasionally making noises about the suppression of democratic debate and the growing power of the bueracracy until Stalin consolidated his power after Lenin's death in 1924. He unwaveringly opposed Stalin who finally expelled him from the country in 1929. He was murdered under Stalin's orders in Mexico in 1940.

Trotsky once in exile gave full flower to his best thinking. The bueracracy in the Soviet Union owned everything (the means of production,etc.) and would not give up power but perpetuate itself as dictatorships tend to do. Trotsky advocated destroying the bueracracy, reinstitue free debate and, according to Mr. Ali, wanted to "restore the Soviets." What this last means, I don't quite know. Does it mean he wanted to restore to them the power they held in 1917-18, as they were conceived to function during the revolution of 1905, perhaps even as the narodniks conceived them? Very interesting. Ali also points out that Trotsky saw clearly the menace of Hitlerism before just about everybody else did and advocated that the communists and social democrats join forces in a "united front" to try to stop Hitler which earned him even more violent abuse from Moscow and their sattelites in Germany. He vigorously attacked the "United Front" concept adopted at the seventh congress of the communist international in 1935 which called for Communists accross the world to join forces with social democrats and liberals in "popular fronts," effectively maintainging the status quo, which had such disasterous results in Spain during the civil war.

I thought Phil Evans's illustrations were entertaining.

Trotsky For Begginers
An excellent introduction to some very complex and confusing history.This biography of Leon Trotsky, also explores some very complex marxist theory.Historically, it covers not only Trotsky's life and idea's, butthe Russian Revolution, the Russian civil war, and the usurpation of powerof the fledgling workers democracy by Joseph Stalin and his co-conspiritorsfrom the democratically elected politburo.This book is much moreentertaining then the new "For Begginers" series, as it has muchmore artistic diversity, then the mostly cartoon, drawing style of the newbooks.It contains colages, and many photos of historical figures andevents.Overall a great introduction to history, that is not taught inschool. ... Read more

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The displacement of British industry, trade, finance, and diplomacy by its U.S. rival following World War I opened a period of social crisis and class battles across Britain, discussed in these articles by Trotsky. Includes an analysis of the 1926 general strike, betrayed by the labor officialdom.

Introduction by George Novack, notes, other writings by Trotsky on Britain, index. ... Read more

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Workers/union people in USA need this book !ASAP !
In 1926 a strike by coal miners in Britain in desperate conditions led to such a wave of solidarity that a general strike resulted. Thatgeneral strike shut the whole country down and put the workers and farmers in striking distance ( no pun intended) of grabbing the brass ring : taking the whole power over, out of the hands of the Big Boss class ( who are the warlovers-warmakers as well by the way ), and establishing a workers and farmers government , so they could join the world struggle for socialism. They were betrayed by their top bureaucrat union leaders, whose hands trembled at the thought of taking governmental power, and they were betrayed by the party of the most militant , self-sacrificing, solidarity-in-action workers of the U.K. : the Communist Party, or rather its leadership ,obeying the dictates of the soon- to -be -dictator and mass murderer of communists, Joseph Stalin ( who was playing footsie with the union misleaders mentioned above at the expense of the fighting ranks ). In this book by Leon Trotsky, co-leader with V.I. Lenin of the Russian Revolution, you can learn what happened and what could have happened in this almost-revolution. What does this have to do with workers here and now? Wewhodo not yet lead our own unions ? We who need to start seriously resist the effects of the Second Great Depression coming in front of our eyes.? We whose ownsame-typeunion tops support Bush and the Democrats' wars- (more coming after Iraq ) for Big Oil and Big Business?We whohave no choice but to start building a working class movement to take the power out of the hands of the "civilized hyenas" ( the superrich ) ? Well, the author of this book would say to ask these questions is to answer them. It has to do with taking back control of our unions to make them fighting instruments, and all of us starting to act like the longshore workers of the West Coast;to act like the coal miners, laundry, garment, and meatpacking workers fighting to get the union in or defend the union they have; following the lead of themost recent example-- the NYC transit workers...

It also has to do with understanding that it is Stalinism, shown in this book to be the opposite of communism, that is dead. Not socialism.

Instructions on how to overthrow capitalimsm
When "Where is Britain Going," the central component of this collection was published in 1926, the Brooklyn Daily Eagle reported that this book contained detailed instructions on how to overthrow capitalism in Britain and the US. This book is still pretty good for that.

Trotsky takes apart the bourgeois liberal, imperialist, and "democratic" illusions about Britain, and shows how in a time of crisis, more and more like the economic and political crisis faced in the US, Britain, and other imperialist countries today, only a revolutionary working class solution is correct. I found his criticism of the philosophy of political gradualism offered by British social democrats and Conservative politicians particularly pointed at both reformist and conservative labor bureaucrats today.

The current editions contains contemporary responses this book by British reformist labor party leaders H. N. Brailsford, Ramsey McDonald, and George Lansbury and philosopher Bertrand Russell as well as Trotsky's responses to their criticism. It also contains 20 pages of reviews of Where is Britain going from bourgeois, reformist, and communist newspapers and magazines from Britain, the US, and Germany.
Just as rich, is "After the General Strike," Trotsky's analysis of the great British General strike of 1926 and its betrayal by Britain's trade union and labor party bureaucrats?

Invaluable writings on capitalism and workers politics
This collection of writings by Leon Trotsky, a central leader of the 1917 Russian Revolution, provides a vivid and incisive analysis of big events in British politics in the turbulent years 1925-28.This was a time when millions of workers grappled with the lessons of the Russian Revolution, while the deep conflicts in the world capitalist economy left unresolved by World War I were pointing toward the renewed slaughter of World War II. I find these are not just interesting historical questions, but remain at the heart of politics in the 21st century with its new economic crisis and resulting drive towards war.
Trotsky's explanation of the decline of the British Empire and the shifting balance of power among the imperialist powers, especially with the rise of the United States, is a model for analyzing the world today.
So are his writings on working class political strategy. Bosses attacks against workers in Britain provoked a near-revolutionary general strike in 1926.However, the course followed by the new Communist Party in Britain, directed by the conservative Stalinist bureaucracy rising in the Soviet Union, failed to advance the struggle towards a workers seizure of power. Trotsky's writings criticizing the Stalinist course in Britain were an early part of his fight against the degeneration of the Russian Revolution-- and full of rich lessons for today.
Check out other writings by Trotsky such as Leon Trotsky on France, The Struggle Against Fascism in Germany, Leon Trotsky on the Spanish Revolution, and The Revolution Betrayed. And for current analysis of the world and working class politics, I'd recommend: Capitalism's World Disorder, Their Trotsky and Ours, and Cuba and the Coming American Revolution, all by U.S. revolutionary Jack Barnes. ... Read more

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This monumental triple biography weaves together the personal and public lives of the triumvirate behind the 1917 Russian Revolution. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (3)

a misleading title
This hefty volume, long considered a standard work, follows the minutiae of international socialist squabbling over decades, but comes to an abrupt end with the outbreak of the First World War in August 1914.The Revolution itself never appears, let alone the first decade or so of Bolshevik rule or the attempted socialist uprisings in neighboring countries. Where's the rest of the story?

Very good - helds up despite being written decades ago
A study of the events leading to the Russian revolution through a biography of its three main leaders: Lenin, Stalin and Trotsky. Bertram Wolfe wrote this book in 1948. He didn't have the access to official documents that today historians of the Russian revolution have. But as one of the founders of the US Communist party, he knew some of the Soviet leaders himself (including Stalin) and he did a thorough job looking at the Soviet press, the Soviet propaganda, the autobiographies of the exiled leaders (Trotsky and the Georgian Mensheviks were particularly useful in this regard). Through this "archaeological" work (his own term), seeing how different accounts confirmed or contradicted each other, he was able to find a lot about the beginnings of the Russian revolution. Only in writing about the early life of Stalin he made some mistakes, since the Soviet leader himself try to disguise a lot of his early life through the official hagiographies (Wolfe, for example, states that he was born in 1879, not 1878, that his father died in 1890 and not some two decades later, and he downplays his early role as a revolutionary in the Caucasus, following Trotsky). Wolfe's viewpoint is very interesting, and original at the time it was written, that of a disillusioned believer. Many of the things he charged the Soviets were learned some years later to be true, following Khrushchev's secret speech. Overall, a very good work that has stood the test of time.

A Welcome Retrieval
I've lamented in other reviews about good books that have gone out of print.Therefore what a pleasure it is to find that Betram D. Wolfe's "Three Who Made a Revolution" is back on the shelves.I read it first when I was in school -- one of the first serious or challenging "adult" books that I read with pleasure.I'm a little chagrined to recall some of my own responses.On the one hand, I remember entertaining the uneasy sense that the book was probably too much fun to be "real scholarship."Maybe a little -- but in retrospect, I think most of the fun comes not from mere clowning, but from Wolfe's real engagement with the humanity of his subjects.On the other hand, I remember writing in a term paper something along the lines of how the book would probably put a damper on further research.I think I knew as I wrote it that this was a pretty fatuous remark, but hey, I was on a deadline.Anyway, it is nice to be able to recognize in retrospect that (a) it of course certainly did nothing at all to dampen further reserach; but (b) despite the torrent of further research, it still repays rereading.

Wolfe wrote at a time when the left was still pretty gullible about Communism.There was, of course, an anti-communist opposition: in the long run the antis have proved to be more right than the apologists, but it is not so clear how much this is the result of careful research, how much of lucky accident.At any rate, giving a few points for hindsight, Wolfe's moral clarity is in retrospect pretty clear.And whatever his imperfections, he probably motivated me to read a lot of stuff I might otherwise never have come to: I remember particularly Trotsky's own autobiography, Adam Ulam's "Unfinished Revolution,", and Robert V. Daniels' "Documentary History of Communism," all of which I read in the weeks after I had finished Wolfe, and while I was still operating in his wake -- to say nothing of whatever I have picked up in the generation or more since.Any book that can stimulate that kind of inquiry has justified itself, no matter what its intrinsic merits -- and in this case, the intrinsic merits are pretty strong, also. ... Read more

Product Description
Mexico, 1940. Leon Trotsky, a key charismatic figure in the 1917 Russian Revolution, lives in exile in Mexico after losing power to Josef Stalin in 1924. He resides in a comfortable, fortified villa in Coyoacán in relative peace-until an agent of Stalin assassinates him.Los Angeles, 1990. Fifty years later, Trotsky's memory remains alive for six Americans who lived with him at the time of his death. Now they've gathered together to mark the fiftieth anniversary of his assassination. Though they have aged and their bodies no longer have the energy they once possessed, they still passionately believe in Trotsky's cause. For former lovers Byron Lerner and Verna Swartz, the past collides with the present as long-dormant emotions erupt between them, leading them down a road of painful memories. And for the entire group, their brief reunion will uncover betrayal, lies, and secrets so devastating that their perception of history will forever be altered.Rich with historic detail, The Ghost of Leon Trotsky is a brilliant examination of how six people come to terms with their individual and collective pasts and presents. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (3)

When does it all make sense>
Suddenly we're old and all of our dreams, self-perceptions, and beliefs morph through the reality of lost time.This is a book about aging.It is about love and sexuality.It is about history and lost meaning.It is rare to read something so relevant to the later years and yet so alive and brimming with intellectual and emotional enthusiasm.I highly recommend this book.

REUNIONS CAN BE DEADLY
I never knew much about the American communist party orlabor movements but I do know about aging and the shocks reunions can hold. forty years earlier the murderer and his ice pick get past the group of young Americans devoted to both Leon Trotsky's cause and his safety.. .
All we did at my fortieth reunion was
Dance the cha-cha-cha . . can't wait to recommend this tomy book club.

RUSSIAN HISTORY COMES TO LIFE
This novel is remarkably researched and allows the reader to experience true Russian history.The characters are beautifully developed, passionate and pulsating with life.Ms Young-Tulin is an accomplished author able to involve her readers in this terrific story.
BB New York City ... Read more

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This biography of Trotsky provides readers with the first full account of Trotsky’s role during the Russian Civil War as Commissar for War.

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Traces the life of one of the men behind the Russian Revolution of 1917, from his early years, through his leadership in the Communist regime, to his exile as "the most unwanted man in the world." ... Read more

Customer Reviews (1)

How revolting
I knew Hedda Garza for about 20 years.She was a lunatic.She actually came out of the Communist Party USA Cesspool in the mid 1950s and never learned better.

Worse than that, she was constant thorn in the side of people trying to build a genuine socialist movement in this country, against the very people who Trotsky had trained.She constantly put up conservative pressures: antiGay, anti women's liberation, antieverything from her position as a writer of trashy confession stories for trashy publications and her nest in suburban Long Island.

Hedda topped that off by testifying as an FBI agent witness and as a spy for the US government in the successful suit in which the Socialist Workers Party convicted the US government for spying, burgluries, and other illegal harassment of socialists, antiwar activits, civil rights workers, and others fighting for social progress. More or less she tried to help the government fight the civil liberties of people in this country at a time when the government was being defeated and human rights were extended!

That this person dares to have anything to write about a man like Trotsky who dedicated his life and his honor every minute to the socialist future of humanity, that this person who heaped stupid calumny on people who were trained by Trotsky, on the movement he founded dares to write something like this is simply revolting, simply revolting.Reading Hedda Garaz on Trotsky is like reading something about Martin Luther King written by George Wallace! ... Read more

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