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Life & Times
Trotsky
Born Lev Davidovich Bronshtein, Leon Trotsky (1879-1940) assumed his name in order to escape the work camps of Siberia in 1898. Born to a Russian-Jewish family in the Ukraine, he became the leading spokesman of the Russian Revolution, the founder of the victorious Red Army of 1918-21, and did more than anyone to create the early Soviet State. Yet despite being identified as Lenin’s obvious successor, Trotsky was out-maneuvered by Stalin. In the years that followed, he developed the first systematic critique of Stalin’s dictatorship.
In 1929, he and his wife were forced out of Russia, moving from Turkey to France, and finally to Mexico, where he was brutally assassinated by a Spanish communist in 1940. Through a series of books including The History of the Russian Revolution, My Life, and The Revolution Betrayed, Trotsky established the possibility of a democratic socialism and the theory of permanent revolution, identifying the struggle against bureaucracy and complacency. Reputed to have been friends at one point with the Mexican revolutionary artists, Frida Kahlo and Diego Rivera, his influence resonates beyond the political development of the twentieth century.
In 1929, he and his wife were forced out of Russia, moving from Turkey to France, and finally to Mexico, where he was brutally assassinated by a Spanish communist in 1940. Through a series of books including The History of the Russian Revolution, My Life, and The Revolution Betrayed, Trotsky established the possibility of a democratic socialism and the theory of permanent revolution, identifying the struggle against bureaucracy and complacency. Reputed to have been friends at one point with the Mexican revolutionary artists, Frida Kahlo and Diego Rivera, his influence resonates beyond the political development of the twentieth century.
191 pages, Paperback
First published July 1, 2004
51 people want to read
About the author
David Renton
53 books18 followersDavid "Dave" Renton is a British academic historian and barrister.
He was born in London in 1972. His great aunt was the marxist historian, Dona Torr. His grandfather was the shoe designer Kurt Geiger. One uncle was an activist in Equity, the actors' trade union, while another was the Conservative MP Tim Renton, Baron Renton of Mount Harry. He was educated at all-boys private boarding school Eton College where he became a member of the Labour Party. He then studied history at St John's College, University of Oxford.
Renton received his PhD from the University of Sheffield for a thesis on fascism and anti-fascism in Britain after the Second World War ( The attempted revival of British Fascism: Fascism and Anti-Fascism, 1945-51 ) that was turned into the book Fascism, Anti-Fascism and the 1940s . He also became an academic historian and sociologist, teaching at universities including Nottingham Trent, Edge Hill and Rhodes University and Johannesburg University in South Africa.
Since 2009 Renton has practised as a barrister at Garden Court Chambers in London and has represented clients in a number of high-profile cases, especially concerning trade union rights and the protection of free speech.
He was for twenty-two years (1991-2013) a member of the Socialist Workers Party (SWP) and he has published over twenty books on fascism, anti-fascism, and the politics of the left.
He was born in London in 1972. His great aunt was the marxist historian, Dona Torr. His grandfather was the shoe designer Kurt Geiger. One uncle was an activist in Equity, the actors' trade union, while another was the Conservative MP Tim Renton, Baron Renton of Mount Harry. He was educated at all-boys private boarding school Eton College where he became a member of the Labour Party. He then studied history at St John's College, University of Oxford.
Renton received his PhD from the University of Sheffield for a thesis on fascism and anti-fascism in Britain after the Second World War ( The attempted revival of British Fascism: Fascism and Anti-Fascism, 1945-51 ) that was turned into the book Fascism, Anti-Fascism and the 1940s . He also became an academic historian and sociologist, teaching at universities including Nottingham Trent, Edge Hill and Rhodes University and Johannesburg University in South Africa.
Since 2009 Renton has practised as a barrister at Garden Court Chambers in London and has represented clients in a number of high-profile cases, especially concerning trade union rights and the protection of free speech.
He was for twenty-two years (1991-2013) a member of the Socialist Workers Party (SWP) and he has published over twenty books on fascism, anti-fascism, and the politics of the left.
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Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews
March 3, 2020
Very interesting. One of the few characters from the revolution who died with a clear conscience. He predicted all the problems with a Soviet dictatorship long before they happened (hence his unpopularity with Stalin)
Edit: Trotsky, like all the Bolsheviks, was capable of turning a blind eye to unspeakable barbarism and cruelty. Not as bad as Stalin, but certainly no clear conscience. I wonder how things would have turned out if he had taken over from Lenin.
Edit: Trotsky, like all the Bolsheviks, was capable of turning a blind eye to unspeakable barbarism and cruelty. Not as bad as Stalin, but certainly no clear conscience. I wonder how things would have turned out if he had taken over from Lenin.
October 14, 2016
Good little book about Trotsky. Helped to create the state, lost the state, vilified and hunted by the state, killed by the state.
Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews