Leon TrotskyThere are few more divisive names in history than the Soviet communist Leon Trotsky. To some, he was a betrayer, a hypocrite, and a totalitarian, and yet to many others he was a revolutionary of high esteem, who battled an outdated, oppressive dynasty and helped to usher in a new political era, and whose name became a political moniker: trotskyist. Whether colored by disdain or admiration, one thing is certain: Trotsky was one of the most important figures of the twentieth century. In Leon Trotsky, Paul Le Blanc delves deep into Trotsky’s life and relationships to reveal and make sense of his complex character and decisive actions. Interweaving dramatic historical events with examinations of Trotsky’s multi-faceted personality, he offers incisive views of the key facets of Trotsky’s life: his involvement with Soviet bureaucracy, the Spanish Civil War, and the rise of Hitler in the years before World War II. Illuminating Trotsky’s personal and political struggles and achievements, this balanced portrait will be invaluable to history students or anyone interested in the extraordinary lives that made up the twentieth century. |
Contents
The Shock of Exile | |
Revolutionary Past and Present | |
The Revolution Betrayed | |
Bracing for the Storm | |
The Jaws of Death | |
Afterlife | |
Chronology | |
Other editions - View all
Common terms and phrases
activists Alexandra authoritarianism Beilharz Bolshevik BolshevikLeninist bureaucratic capitalism capitalist Communist International Communist Party comrades counterrevolutionary Coyoacán critique Death of Leon democracy dictatorship dissident early economic exile factions fascism Fourth International France George Breitman Hansen History increasingly insisted intellectuals Isaac Deutscher Jean van Heijenoort Joffe Kamenev Krupskaya Labour later leader leadership Left Opposition Left Oppositionists leftwing Lenin Leon Trotsky Lev Sedov live London Lyova majority Marx masses Max Eastman Menshevik Moscow trials murderous Naomi Allen Natalia Sedova Nazi Norway organization peasants People’s Front permanent revolution perspectives policies political Prinkipo recalled Red Army repression Revolution Betrayed revolutionary Marxist Rivera Rühle Russian Revolution Sedova Trotsky Serge and Sedova Seva Shachtman Social Democrats socialist revolution Soviet Union Stalin Stalin regime Stalinist struggle Swain Terror theory of permanent trade unions Trotsky and Natalia Trotsky household Trotsky’s Trotskyist USSR Victor Serge victory workers workingclass Writings young Zina Zinoviev