Trotsky For Beginners

This illustrated introduction's irreverent cartoons will amuse readers, and surprise them with its sophisticated portrait of Trotsky's life and works.

Since My Life was first published it has been regarded as a unique political, literary and human document. Written in the first year of Trotsky's exile in Turkey, it contains the earliest authoritative account of the rise of Stalinism and the expulsion of the Left Opposition, who heroically fought for the ideas and traditions of Lenin. Trotsky's exile is the culmination of a narrative which moves from his childhood, his education in the "universities" of Tsarist prisons, Siberia and then foreign exile - to his involvement in the European revolutionary movement and his central role in the tempestuous 1905 revolution and the Bolshevik victory in October 1917 and the civil war which followed. The work concludes with his deportation and exile. With an introduction by Alan Woods and a preface by Trotsky's grandson, Vsievolod Volkov.

Leon Trotsky The man that history came to know by the name of Trotsky has the well-established legacy of being one of the most mysterious of all the cast and characters involved with the Russian Revolution. If the Russian Revolution was a Shakespearean tragedy, Trotsky would undoubtedly be cast into the role of an Othello or King Lear type figure who means well but seems to hamstring himself with his never-ending ideological speculation and theorizing. Inside you will read about... - A Prisoner of War - Putting a Stop to World War I - The Execution of the Last Tsar - Russia Under Siege - Stalin Takes Over - Trotsky's Exile Begins - Trotsky's Last Testament And much more! In many ways, Trotsky could be said to be a brilliant thinker that was miscast in the wrong role. Almost seeming to refute Plato's idea of the philosopher king, Trotsky appeared to be just a little bit too introspective for his own good. While the likes of Joseph Stalin were taking action and seizing the reins from Lenin, Trotsky seemed to be lost in his thought. This book takes a look at the great mind that the Russian Revolution forgot, Leon Trotsky.

This illuminating portrait of Leon Trotsky sets the record straight on the common misconceptions about the man and his legacy. Completing his masterful trilogy on the founding figures of the Soviet Union, Service delivers an authoritative biography.

1917: the year a series of rebellions toppled three centuries of autocratic rule and placed a group of political radicals in charge of a world power. Here, suddenly, was the first modern socialist state, “a kingdom more bright that any heaven had to offer”. But the dream was short-lived, bringing in its wake seventy years of conflict and instability that nearly ended in nuclear war. How could such a revolution take place and what caused it to go so very wrong? Presenting a uniquely long view of events, Abraham Ascher takes readers from the seeds of revolution in the 1880s right through to Stalin’s state terror and the power of the communist legacy in Russia today. Original and shrewd, Ascher’s analysis offers an unparalled introduction to this watershed period in world history