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The Life and Death of Trotsky
Hardcover and DJ McGraw-Hill, 1977. Looks NEW. Boards and Spine look NEW, tight binding. DJ looks NEW in a clear plastic wrap, (not taped), protects the DJ. Collector’s Quality
498 pages, Hardcover
First published January 1, 1977
85 people are currently reading
138 people want to read
About the author
Robert Payne
339 books34 followersPierre Stephen Robert Payne was born December 4, 1911, in Saltash, County of Cornwall, England, the son of Stephen Payne, a naval architect, and Mireille Louise Antonia (Dorey) Payne, a native of France. Payne was the eldest of three brothers. His middle brother was Alan (Marcel Alan), and his youngest brother was Tony, who died at the age of seven.
Payne went to St. Paul's School, London. He attended the Diocesan College, Rondebosch, South Africa, 1929-30; the University of Capetown, 1928-1930; Liverpool University, 1933-35; the University of Munich, summer, 1937, and the Sorbonne, in Paris, 1938.
Payne first followed his father into shipbuilding, working as a shipwright's apprentice at Cammell, Laird's Shipbuilding Company, Birkendhead, 1931-33. He also worked for the Inland Revenue as an Assistant Inspector of Taxes in Guilford in 1936. In 1937-38 he traveled in Europe and, while in Munich, met Adolf Hitler through Rudolf Hess, an incident which Payne vividly describes in his book Eyewitness. In 1938 Payne covered the Civil War in Spain for the London News Chronicle, an experience that resulted in two books, A Young Man Looks at Europe and The Song of the Peasant.
From 1939 to 1941 Payne worked as a shipwright at the Singapore Naval Base and in 1941 he became an armament officer and chief camouflage officer for British Army Intelligence there. In December, 1941, he was sent to Chungking, China, to serve as Cultural Attaché at the British Embassy.
In January, 1942, he covered the battle of Changsha for the London Times, and from 1942 to 1943 he taught English literature at Fuhtan University, near Chungking. Then, persuaded by Joseph Needham, he went to Kunming and taught poetry and naval architecture at Lienta University from 1943 to 1946. The universities of Peking, Tsinghua, and Nankai had converged in Kunming to form the University at Lienta. It was there that Payne, together with Chinese scholars and poets, compiled and co-translated The White Pony.
In China Payne met General George C. Marshall, Chiang Kai-shek, and Mao Tse-tung, who was elusive and living in the caves of Yenan, all of whom later became subjects for his biographies. From his time in China also came the autobiographical volumes Forever China and China Awake, and the historical novels Love and Peace and The Lovers.
From China, Payne briefly visited India in the summer, 1946, which resulted in a love for Indian art. Throughout his life, Payne retained a love for all forms of oriental art.
He came to the United States in the winter of 1946 and lived in Los Angeles, California, until he became Professor of English and Author-in-Residence at Alabama College, Montevallo, 1949-54. He was the founding editor of Montevallo Review, whose contributors included poets Charles Olson and Muriel Rukeyser. He became a naturalized U.S. citizen in 1953.
In Spring, 1949, Payne visited Persia with the Asia Institute Expedition. He received an M.A. degree from the Asia Institute in 1951.
In 1954 Payne moved to New York City, where he lived the rest of his life, interrupted once or twice a year by travel to the Middle East, the Far East, and Europe, mostly to gather material for his books, but also to visit his mother and father in England. His very close literary relationship with his father is documented in the hundreds of highly personal and informative letters which they exchanged.
In 1942, Payne married Rose Hsiung, daughter of Hsiung Hse-ling, a former prime minister of China. They divorced in 1952. In 1981, he married Sheila Lalwani, originally from India.
Over a period of forty-seven years Payne had more than 110 books published. He wrote his first novella, Adventures of Sylvia, Queen of Denmark and China, when he was seven years old. Payne's first publication was a translation of Iiuri Olesha's Envy, published by Virginia and Leonard Woolf's Hogarth Press in 1936. A year later, T.S. Eliot published his novel The War in the Marshes under
Payne went to St. Paul's School, London. He attended the Diocesan College, Rondebosch, South Africa, 1929-30; the University of Capetown, 1928-1930; Liverpool University, 1933-35; the University of Munich, summer, 1937, and the Sorbonne, in Paris, 1938.
Payne first followed his father into shipbuilding, working as a shipwright's apprentice at Cammell, Laird's Shipbuilding Company, Birkendhead, 1931-33. He also worked for the Inland Revenue as an Assistant Inspector of Taxes in Guilford in 1936. In 1937-38 he traveled in Europe and, while in Munich, met Adolf Hitler through Rudolf Hess, an incident which Payne vividly describes in his book Eyewitness. In 1938 Payne covered the Civil War in Spain for the London News Chronicle, an experience that resulted in two books, A Young Man Looks at Europe and The Song of the Peasant.
From 1939 to 1941 Payne worked as a shipwright at the Singapore Naval Base and in 1941 he became an armament officer and chief camouflage officer for British Army Intelligence there. In December, 1941, he was sent to Chungking, China, to serve as Cultural Attaché at the British Embassy.
In January, 1942, he covered the battle of Changsha for the London Times, and from 1942 to 1943 he taught English literature at Fuhtan University, near Chungking. Then, persuaded by Joseph Needham, he went to Kunming and taught poetry and naval architecture at Lienta University from 1943 to 1946. The universities of Peking, Tsinghua, and Nankai had converged in Kunming to form the University at Lienta. It was there that Payne, together with Chinese scholars and poets, compiled and co-translated The White Pony.
In China Payne met General George C. Marshall, Chiang Kai-shek, and Mao Tse-tung, who was elusive and living in the caves of Yenan, all of whom later became subjects for his biographies. From his time in China also came the autobiographical volumes Forever China and China Awake, and the historical novels Love and Peace and The Lovers.
From China, Payne briefly visited India in the summer, 1946, which resulted in a love for Indian art. Throughout his life, Payne retained a love for all forms of oriental art.
He came to the United States in the winter of 1946 and lived in Los Angeles, California, until he became Professor of English and Author-in-Residence at Alabama College, Montevallo, 1949-54. He was the founding editor of Montevallo Review, whose contributors included poets Charles Olson and Muriel Rukeyser. He became a naturalized U.S. citizen in 1953.
In Spring, 1949, Payne visited Persia with the Asia Institute Expedition. He received an M.A. degree from the Asia Institute in 1951.
In 1954 Payne moved to New York City, where he lived the rest of his life, interrupted once or twice a year by travel to the Middle East, the Far East, and Europe, mostly to gather material for his books, but also to visit his mother and father in England. His very close literary relationship with his father is documented in the hundreds of highly personal and informative letters which they exchanged.
In 1942, Payne married Rose Hsiung, daughter of Hsiung Hse-ling, a former prime minister of China. They divorced in 1952. In 1981, he married Sheila Lalwani, originally from India.
Over a period of forty-seven years Payne had more than 110 books published. He wrote his first novella, Adventures of Sylvia, Queen of Denmark and China, when he was seven years old. Payne's first publication was a translation of Iiuri Olesha's Envy, published by Virginia and Leonard Woolf's Hogarth Press in 1936. A year later, T.S. Eliot published his novel The War in the Marshes under
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Displaying 1 - 8 of 8 reviews
March 26, 2022
This is a 3.5/5 biography. Robert Payne remains in my mind one of the great prose-writers in the historical community, with powerful insights into human nature and a novelist's gift for storytelling. However, as with his bio of Lenin, "Trotsky" is needlessly bloated. A cut of 100 - 150 pages would not have harmed the narrative and would have made the final product more enjoyable and less of a slog in the final act...though I do confess a "slog" with Payne is more entertaining than many other historians running at full speed.
Lev Trotsky is today weirdly best-remembered not as a towering historical figure, the cold-blooded genius who gave the go-ahead for the Russian Revolution of 1917, and worked as Lenin's 50/50 partner and full-on military leader during the Russian Civil War...but as inspiration for the character of Snowball in Orwell's classic "Animal Farm," and for Goldstein in the even more seminal "1984." The extent to which Trotsky was successfully scrubbed from history by Stalin remains a chilling reminder that history is written by the victors, for he was one of the crucial figures of the 20th century.
Trotsky hailed from a fairly prosperous middle-class family in the Russian Empire. He was an extremely brilliant pupil who fell into socialist politics at a young age and went from there to revolutionary communism in less than a year. Like many of his cohorts he was arrested, imprisoned, and eventually exiled to Siberia, and from there went through Europe to America, before returning to help ignite the Revolution of 1917. During this time he became famous for his speaking ability and his prolific production of books, tracts, pamphlets, and political polemics. He and Lenin had a curious relationship: he acknowledged Lenin as the leader of the world Marxist movement without acknowledging him his superior. Indeed, Payne paints a picture of Trotsky as a brilliant but autocratically-minded man with remarkable gifts for oratory, theory, and -- despite his complete lack of training in the field -- military command, but also as incredibly prideful and filled with disdain for lesser intellects, which in Trotsky's mind was pretty much every other human. Indeed, between Lenin and Trotsky there is nothing to choose from when it comes to an arrogant certainty that they should be allowed to boss around the entire human race, and, if necessary, kill that portion of it which won't be bossed. Payne hastens to point out, however, that Trotsky lacked the carniverous lust for murder which characertized Stalin: when Trotsky ordered someone shot, he felt it was for the good of the movement. That he may have been wrong never once crossed his mind.
Trotsky's downfall lay in the fact he had no real gift for intra-party intrigue and, having commanded the Red Army during the Civil War, found himself too exhausted afterwards to counter the intricate chicanery and plotting of Stalin. Thus the man who should have been Lenin's inheritor ended up stripped of his posts and power, exiled, hunted, hounded, and eventually murdered by a GRU assassin while living in Mexio in 1940. His greatest defeat, however, was to be erased from history by Stalin and by those in the West -- and there were many -- who ate out of Stalin's blood-crusted hand. Payne spends a lot of time examining how it felt for Trotsky to fall from exalted status to that of a scorned fugitive in a faraway land. If it's possible to pity someone like Trotsky, Payne definitely elicits some sympathy, although he frequently reminds the reader that Trotsky had none for the enemies he had ruined and destroyed. He paints Trotsky, in the end, as a tragic Shakespearian figure, who rose on a wave of righteous indignation and blood, was bested by a much crueler and more cunning (if considerably less intelligent) man, and fell torturously to his doom. I would agree with this assessment. It reminded me in some ways of Ernst Röhm, who got Hitler into power and then was discarded and shot, and whose last recorded words were, "All revolutions devour their children."
As with all Payne's works, this is entertaining and informative. My main criticisms are that it is too long and that it lacks to a degree that exquisite level of prose-writing that tpefies other of Payne's bios I've read. My guess is that he wrote this after or in tandem with his Lenin book and approached the subject with a little less zest than usual, perhaps exhausted by the immensity of the subject. It's still well-written, but not quite up to the standard I've come to expect from Payne.
Lev Trotsky is today weirdly best-remembered not as a towering historical figure, the cold-blooded genius who gave the go-ahead for the Russian Revolution of 1917, and worked as Lenin's 50/50 partner and full-on military leader during the Russian Civil War...but as inspiration for the character of Snowball in Orwell's classic "Animal Farm," and for Goldstein in the even more seminal "1984." The extent to which Trotsky was successfully scrubbed from history by Stalin remains a chilling reminder that history is written by the victors, for he was one of the crucial figures of the 20th century.
Trotsky hailed from a fairly prosperous middle-class family in the Russian Empire. He was an extremely brilliant pupil who fell into socialist politics at a young age and went from there to revolutionary communism in less than a year. Like many of his cohorts he was arrested, imprisoned, and eventually exiled to Siberia, and from there went through Europe to America, before returning to help ignite the Revolution of 1917. During this time he became famous for his speaking ability and his prolific production of books, tracts, pamphlets, and political polemics. He and Lenin had a curious relationship: he acknowledged Lenin as the leader of the world Marxist movement without acknowledging him his superior. Indeed, Payne paints a picture of Trotsky as a brilliant but autocratically-minded man with remarkable gifts for oratory, theory, and -- despite his complete lack of training in the field -- military command, but also as incredibly prideful and filled with disdain for lesser intellects, which in Trotsky's mind was pretty much every other human. Indeed, between Lenin and Trotsky there is nothing to choose from when it comes to an arrogant certainty that they should be allowed to boss around the entire human race, and, if necessary, kill that portion of it which won't be bossed. Payne hastens to point out, however, that Trotsky lacked the carniverous lust for murder which characertized Stalin: when Trotsky ordered someone shot, he felt it was for the good of the movement. That he may have been wrong never once crossed his mind.
Trotsky's downfall lay in the fact he had no real gift for intra-party intrigue and, having commanded the Red Army during the Civil War, found himself too exhausted afterwards to counter the intricate chicanery and plotting of Stalin. Thus the man who should have been Lenin's inheritor ended up stripped of his posts and power, exiled, hunted, hounded, and eventually murdered by a GRU assassin while living in Mexio in 1940. His greatest defeat, however, was to be erased from history by Stalin and by those in the West -- and there were many -- who ate out of Stalin's blood-crusted hand. Payne spends a lot of time examining how it felt for Trotsky to fall from exalted status to that of a scorned fugitive in a faraway land. If it's possible to pity someone like Trotsky, Payne definitely elicits some sympathy, although he frequently reminds the reader that Trotsky had none for the enemies he had ruined and destroyed. He paints Trotsky, in the end, as a tragic Shakespearian figure, who rose on a wave of righteous indignation and blood, was bested by a much crueler and more cunning (if considerably less intelligent) man, and fell torturously to his doom. I would agree with this assessment. It reminded me in some ways of Ernst Röhm, who got Hitler into power and then was discarded and shot, and whose last recorded words were, "All revolutions devour their children."
As with all Payne's works, this is entertaining and informative. My main criticisms are that it is too long and that it lacks to a degree that exquisite level of prose-writing that tpefies other of Payne's bios I've read. My guess is that he wrote this after or in tandem with his Lenin book and approached the subject with a little less zest than usual, perhaps exhausted by the immensity of the subject. It's still well-written, but not quite up to the standard I've come to expect from Payne.
January 8, 2023
(There's no photo of the book cover for the edition I read.) I took this book out of the library intending only to give it a quick peruse; afterall, it's 2023 and this book was published in 1977. As it turned out I read every word of this almost 500 page book and thoroughly enjoyed Robert Payne's prose. Of course, this is not THE definitive book on Trotsky, as no book is, especially where politics/ideology is concerned, and certainly not a book that was written almost 50 years ago, but it's highly engaging. I would recommend this book to anyone who wants to learn some basic ideas regarding the Russian Revolution, Trotsky, Lenin, or Stalin and dreads anything heavy-handed.
August 7, 2018
Very informative and detailed
Want to read
June 11, 2023MyNextRead
July 12, 2009
I love biographies and I love Russian history, so this book was pretty much perfect for me. This book really is just a straightforward biography of Trotsky's life without much of the author's personal commentary.
From a young age, Trotsky was incredibly smart, ambitious, well read, and an extremely skilled orator. As soon as he decided to dedicate his life to being a revolutionary, he never strayed from his beliefs (there was one year where he was a revolutionary, but NOT Marxist...but he got over that pretty quickly). Trotsky led the life of a typical political dissident at the time: He wrote a lot of pamphlets, gave a lot of speeches, participated in secret meetings, and spent a lot of time in prison. After connecting with Lenin, Trotsky's role in the Communist party is pretty well-known. He was Lenin's second in command, and played a huge part in the Revolution, as he was leader of the Red Army. After Lenin's death, however, Trotsky's life became completely different. He went from being one of the most revered in his party to one of the most hated, living the majority of his later years in exile. That's what happens when you get on Stalin's bad side...I don't want to ruin the ending for you...but I think we all know what happened in Mexico.
The author really does a great job of portraying Trotsky as a heroic figure. He recognizes that Trotsky did have blood on his hands, something that he felt necessary for the revolution, but doesn't dwell on that fact. While the author recognizes that the Communist party in Russia in large part failed, he also emphasizes what an intelligent and vitally important person Trotsky was. Trotsky's intentions were always for the greater good, even if that wasn't ultimately realized.
From a young age, Trotsky was incredibly smart, ambitious, well read, and an extremely skilled orator. As soon as he decided to dedicate his life to being a revolutionary, he never strayed from his beliefs (there was one year where he was a revolutionary, but NOT Marxist...but he got over that pretty quickly). Trotsky led the life of a typical political dissident at the time: He wrote a lot of pamphlets, gave a lot of speeches, participated in secret meetings, and spent a lot of time in prison. After connecting with Lenin, Trotsky's role in the Communist party is pretty well-known. He was Lenin's second in command, and played a huge part in the Revolution, as he was leader of the Red Army. After Lenin's death, however, Trotsky's life became completely different. He went from being one of the most revered in his party to one of the most hated, living the majority of his later years in exile. That's what happens when you get on Stalin's bad side...I don't want to ruin the ending for you...but I think we all know what happened in Mexico.
The author really does a great job of portraying Trotsky as a heroic figure. He recognizes that Trotsky did have blood on his hands, something that he felt necessary for the revolution, but doesn't dwell on that fact. While the author recognizes that the Communist party in Russia in large part failed, he also emphasizes what an intelligent and vitally important person Trotsky was. Trotsky's intentions were always for the greater good, even if that wasn't ultimately realized.
March 14, 2013
Excellent biography of the Bolshevik leader. Payne (The Life and Death of Adolf Hitler) depicts Trotsky as a brilliant man serving a horrendous cause. While he points up Trotsky's charisma, literary skill, military leadership and occasional insightfulness, Payne never loses sight of his throbbing ego, shortsightedness re: Stalin or, certainly not least, his political atrocities. Certainly he's under no illusion that Trotsky would have been better than Stalin. Probably as close to balanced a biography as Trotsky deserves.
September 30, 2015
An excellent biography of an immoral, ruthless, hypocrite. Other than being a little light on his activities during the Civil War, the amount of detail and objectivity is very good. It also provides interesting insights into the attitude and intentions of the early Bolsheviks.
October 27, 2015
Trotsky revealed
Very readable, balanced, well-organized biography of Trotsky from his childhood through his death. Gave of lots of depth to a man who truly shaped 20th century history
Very readable, balanced, well-organized biography of Trotsky from his childhood through his death. Gave of lots of depth to a man who truly shaped 20th century history
Displaying 1 - 8 of 8 reviews