Immediately download the Leon Trotsky summary, chapter-by-chapter analysis, book notes, essays, quotes, character descriptions, lesson plans, and more - everything you need for studying or teaching Leon Trotsky. He relates that this "counter-factual approach is nothing new", having been the "stock-in-trade" for both anti-communist and Stalinist critics of Trotsky for decades.[9]. Patenaude, reviewing Service's book alongside a rebuttal by the Trotskyist David North(In Defence of Leon Trotsky), charged Service with making dozens of factual errors, misrepresenting evidence, and "fail[ing] to examine in a serious way Trotsky's political ideas". In 1897, Trotsky helped found the South Russian Workers' Union. While there, they had two daughters. Between 1922 and 1924, Lenin tried to counter some of Stalin's influence and support Trotsky on several occasions. Reviews in the mainstream British press were predominantly positive. Theater director Lee Strasberg co-founded the Group Theatre, where he directed experimental plays, and later became artistic director of the Actors Studio. Countless studies of the Russian revolutionary movement and the Revolution exist. Provisional Government and Soviet Leadership. His father was a prosperous Jewish farmer. Trotsky and his arch-rival Joseph Stalin struggled for power after Lenin's death in 1924. Believing that it offered a much-needed "scholarly revision" of the revolutionary's "historical reputation", he praised the way that it explored "the ugly egotism and unpleasant, overweening arrogance, the belief in and enthusiastic practice of killing on a colossal scale, the political ineptitude [and] the limit of ambition [of Trotsky]. Some historians believe if he had not subordinated himself to Lenin during the Bolshevik Revolution, the history of the Soviet Union might have been very different. His parents, David and Anna Bronstein, were prosperous Jewish farmers. The material here presented in article form is, perhaps, Leon Trotsky’s best contribution toward clarifying the differences between the views held by himself and those of Lenin in the period before 1917 on the historical character of the Russian Revolution. Albert Camus was a French Algerian writer best known for his absurdist works, including 'The Stranger' and 'The Plague.' The first edition cover of the book, depicting Trotsky. Trotsky had a stellar record as a military leader and administrator and seemed the obvious choice among the rank and file membership of the Communist Party. Trotsky was born Lev Davidovich Bronstein on 7 November 1879 in Yanovka, Ukraine, then part of Russia. It also didn't help that some members of the Soviet leadership, including Lenin, became involved in military strategy, redirecting the Red Army's efforts and countermanding some of Trotsky's orders. Trotsky: A Biography is a biography of the Marxist theorist and revolutionary Leon Trotsky written by the English historian Robert Service, then a professor in Russian history at the University of Oxford. His eulogy for the late party leader was, in effect, delivered in a biography of Lenin that Trotsky wrote for the 13th edition (1926) of the Encyclopædia Britannica. Originally published in 1954, Deutscher's magisterial three-volume biography was the first major publication to counter the powerful Stalinist propaganda machine. Through comrades loyal to my person, I regularly read snippets of Trotsky's biography of me, entitled with appropriate simplicity: STALIN. [3] Service responded that the book's factual errors were minor and that Patenaude's own book on Trotsky presented him as a "noble martyr". For most of his life Leon Trotsky was a “man without a country,” banished from one land to another. Between 1925 and 1928, Trotsky was gradually pushed from power and influence by Stalin and his allies, who discredited Trotsky's role in the Russian Revolution and his military record. I'm finishing up reading Gulag: A history, and I'm very interested in reading more about Stalin and to a lesser extent Lenin and 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. A breach between the two developed and other officials, including Joseph Stalin, took advantage, siding with Lenin to gain favor. [2] Patenaude, reviewing Service's book alongside a rebuttal by the Trotskyist David North (In Defence of Leon Trotsky), charged Service with making dozens of factual errors, misrepresenting evidence, and "fail[ing] to examine in a serious way Trotsky's political ideas". But the damage was done, and Trotsky had lost much of his political influence over the dispute. However, Stalin, contrary to his opponent, was a brilliant politician and political tactician, who was among the few who genuinely understood the consequences and means of political maneuvering in an environment in which appeals to the masses (where the other leaders were strong) had been systematically cut out of the equation by the means of the red-terror and prohibition of most means and vehicles of opposition that they had themselves promoted and embraced. He presided over the complete transformation of his country, not merely a change of government but a total restructuring of society on every level. As the Soviet government developed, he engaged in a power struggle against Joseph Stalin, which he lost, leading to his exile again and, eventually, his murder. In February, he wrote a testament expressing his final thoughts for posterity and forcibly denied Stalin's accusations. During the winter of 1920-21, as the Soviet government moved from war to peace-time operations, an increasingly acrimonious debate grew over the role of trade unions. After he arrived in Russia in May 1917, he quickly addressed some of the problems forming in post-revolutionary Russia. He's a scholar of Russian history and he's written lengthy biographies of Stalin, Lenin and Trotsky.I think you should give him a try. He argues that Trotsky has been romanticized by western leftists for decades, instead claiming that Trotsky laid the groundwork for the Stalinist totalitarian state in the Soviet Union and that had he become Soviet leader rather than Stalin, the end result would have been very similar. The mainstream British and American press was overwhelmingly positive, but reviews in peer-reviewed, academic journals were more critical, highlighting factual errors throughout the text. Robert Service, professor of Russian History at Oxford University, counters such speculative thinking with his new biography on Trotsky. The book has also been harshly criticized by the German historian of communism Hermann Weber who led a campaign to prevent Suhrkamp Verlag from publishing it in Germany. By Tim Lambert. Second, only to Lenin, Trotsky was a key figure in the Russian civil war and the formative years of the Soviet Union. As commissar of war in the new Soviet government, he helped defeat forces opposed to Bolshevik control. 1 Soviet leader Nikita Khrushchev publicized Stalin's crimes, was a major player in the Cuban Missile Crisis and established a more open form of Communism in the USSR. After the overthrow of Russian Tsar Nicholas II, in February 1917, Trotsky set out for Russia from New York. In July 2009, prior to the publication of his own book, Robert Service had written a review of Partenaude's publication Stalin's Nemesis: The Exile and Murder of Leon Trotsky which he applauded for being "vividly told" but also criticised for neglecting Trotsky's crimes while sharing power in the USSR. He reasoned that this would give officials a tighter control over labor and facilitate a greater integration between government and the proletariat. Trotsky spent the rest of his life in exile, living in the home of Mexican communist artist Diego Rivera in Mexico. But for those with an open mind, Trotsky: A Biography shows that in the end, Stalin and Trotsky were blood brothers. To know more about this man, biography, profile, childhood, life & timeline, read on. An interview with Tariq Ali", https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Trotsky:_A_Biography&oldid=990529575, Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License, This page was last edited on 25 November 2020, at 00:35. He was exiled and later assassinated by Soviet agents. Trotsky disagreed and resigned from this post. He became president in 1911, but was assassinated two years later. He quickly consolidated his power and started lining up allies against Trotsky. Leon Trotsky was born Lev Davidovich Bronstein in Yanovka, Ukraine — in the Russian Empire — on November 7, 1879. While there, he became enthralled with Marxism. But he had offended many in the Politburo (the Communist Party's executive committee), and a group of Politburo members, led by Stalin, joined forces to oppose him. He died a gruesome death. Robert Service completes his masterful trilogy on the founding figures of the Soviet Union in an eagerly anticipated, authoritative biography of Leon Trotsky. On Lenin: Notes Towards a Biography by Leon Trotsky . His legacy of being the most brilliant intellect of the Communist Revolution and his reputation as a tireless worker, rousing public speaker and decisive administrator was restored. Trotsky is perhaps the most intriguing and, given his prominence, the most understudied of the Soviet revolutionaries. Trotsky proved to be an outstanding military leader, as he led the army of 3 million to victory. By 1922, the pressures of revolution and injuries from an earlier assassination attempt had taken their toll on Lenin. Trotsky stood alone as the champion of revolutionary socialism and Cliff's biography is the best possible tribute: The essence of Marxism is action. He was arrested within a year and spent two years in prison before being tried, convicted and sent to Siberia for a four-year sentence. Service is of the opinion, controversial among Trotskyists and anti-Stalinist Leninists, that politically the difference between Lenin, Trotsky and Stalin was only marginal and that excessive antidemocratic attitudes and use of terror as a mean of politics, was an embedded attitude with all three men and a significant portions of the Bolshevik leadership from the earliest days. The previous month, Lenin had appointed Stalin to the new post of Central Committee General Secretary. info) (Russian: Лев Давидович Троцкий; also transliterated Leo, Lev, Trotskii, Trotski, Trotskij and Trotzky; October 26 = November 7 (), 1879 in Kropyvnytskyi (nowadays Ukraine) - August 21, 1940 in Coyoacán, Mexico) was the public name of Leib or Lev Davidovich Bronstein.He was a Russian revolutionary and political theoretician. Service's biography will not convince them otherwise. Andrei Chikatilo was a former school teacher who murdered more than 50 young people in the Soviet Union. In the late 1920s, Trotsky lost position after position in the party. Stalin's Nemesis: The Exile and Murder of Leon Trotsky, “Robert Service has written a diatribe, not a scientific polemic!”, "European historians oppose publication by Suhrkamp of Robert Service's Trotsky biography", "Trotsky: past, present… future? Leon Trotsky was one of the leading figures in the Communist Revolution in Russia in 1917 which created a brutal and repressive regime. By an incredible coincidence, Trotsky and his wife survive. While in jail, Trotsky was admitted to the Bolshevik Party and released soon after. Trotsky had himself aided the cutting off the only branch which might have supported him. Stalin eventually stripped Trotsky of his influence by 1929, and expelled him from Russia in 1936. Alexandra Feodorovna was consort of the Russian Czar Nicholas II. His real name was Lev Davidovich Bronstein. He was taken to the hospital, but died a day later, at the age of 60. "[7], In contrast, Tariq Ali, socialist activist and a former Trotskyist still appreciating Trotsky,[8] produced a negative review of Service's book for The Guardian. Deutscher was a disciple of Trotsky.