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(See also “Leon Trotsky and the Post-Soviet School of Historical Falsification”) €€€Trotsky: A Biography Robert Service Harvard University Press Cambridge, Massachusetts, 2009 The Specter of Leon Trotsky €€€In 1955 James Burnham, the … Despite his gifts and unquestionable dedication to the cause, there was little in the man to admire. Even with Trotsky's brilliance, he was ultimately, much like his former comrades, far too willing to allow an ill defined end to justify some pretty horrifying means. In moments where the book explores his charisma in public visible life, Trotsky glitters glamorously. To see what your friends thought of this book, It was interresting to read both a biography of Staline and Trotsky. Service's biography is replete with curiously mean-spirited commentary on Trotsky's relationships with his parents, wives and children. Even as we approach the 20th anniversary of the demise of the Soviet Union, it's legacy is still hotly debated. Here is a great and highly readable, extremely opinionated account of the life of one of the most venerated communist heroes of the twentieth century. Review: Trotsky: A Biography. It follows that, if your write the biography of an enemy, you should write it as if you were taking revenge. He possessed a rhetorical flourish that cut down his enemies with a stroke of the pen. For the rest of us, the history nuts or the student of modern history, this is the biography to get. He not only led very successfully the October Revolution but also the Red Army to victory in the Civil War as the Commissar of Foreign Affairs. Many politicians, journalist and other was trotskyst when they were young. This is an entertaining biography of one of the (flawed) giants of the 20th century. Here it is an university work. Goodreads helps you keep track of books you want to read. Probably the best biography of Trotsky available, but not for the timid or the merely curious; those who do not want to know every available detail of Trotsky's life, but only an overview, best look elsewhere. Trotsky was instrumental in the creation of the secret police services during the Red Terror, which would later claim a higher body count than the Nazi SS (and also killed more communists than Hitler). Trostsky, Robert Service's debunking biography, proves that being Stalin’s great enemy does not make Trotsky in any way a good man, says Simon Sebag Montefiore in a review first published in 2009. The reality is very different, as this masterful and compelling biography … Trotsky didn't believe in "constructive criticism", and was equally vengeful against his enemies as Stalin. He approved of using terror on "class enemies" during the Civil War and supported the 1921 repression of the radical Kronstadt sailors, who had demanded that the Bolsheviks create a more inclusive workers' state. There are no discussion topics on this book yet. Again, for me at least, the most interesting aspect was Service's analysis of Trotsky's marxism. Leon Trotsky is the paradigmatic revolutionary. I don't think the Soviet Union however would have been that much different under Trotsky after the death of Lenin. Trotsky Item Preview remove-circle Share or Embed This Item. When it doesn't have one it makes one. International Reviews Theory & History. Some information in it may no longer be current. Even more so than Lenin, Trotsky's connection to 'the source' seems to have been idiosyncratic, to say the least. To admit that Trotsky was as much of a tyrant and cold blooded killer as his compatriots in that fateful year is to admit that the entire Marxist enterprise was incapable of efficiently producing anything other than corpses, and to be forced to confront Marxism's responsibility for creating Stalin. Professional revolutionary at work: Trotsky reads international communist papers while in Turkey . Welcome to The Globe and Mail’s comment community. Obviously there was several character flaws in David Bronstein that inevitably must appear in any true study of the man. © Copyright 2021 The Globe and Mail Inc. All rights reserved. It was interresting to read both a biography of Staline and Trotsky. Here it is an university work. Personally, he avoided self-negation precisely by not deviating from the cause, but one can't help to feel that his purpose and talents were compromised. And does the failure of the Soviet experiment discredit all of the nobler aims which the human impulse towards socialism or collectivism may lay claim? Overall the cast was set for the Soviet Union during the creation of the "dictatorship of the proletariat". The disastrous dilettante . In the end, though, the great contribution of Service's trilogy of biographies is to further demonstrate that individual leaders can indeed change the course of history. The chapters are similarly sized, each offering a detailed chunk of Trotsky's life , without being bogged down with minutia, yet still offering more than enough information to satisfy the reader. Leon Trotsky checks both boxes. A Soviet Union under Trotsky would thus probably have been spared the Stalinist cult of personality and the Great Terror. Even more so than Lenin, Trotsky's connection to 'the source' seems to have been idiosyncratic, to say the least. Just maybe this shows he is doing a good job of providing all the necessary complexities and nuances for such interesting historical figures. Yet Trotsky's first wife, Alexandra, a revolutionary herself, supported his decision, and Trotsky maintained regular contact with her and his two daughters, Nina and Zina, afterward. Martin Luther King Jr. once said, “We are not makers of history. His reaction to the Kronstadt rebellion was heavy handed and hypocritical. Service focuses more on Trotsky's intellectual development, rather than on the more exciting elements of his life. Kick back with the Daily Universal Crossword. Robert Service is a British academic and historian of modern Russia and the Soviet Union. Even as we approach the 20th anniversary of the demise of the Soviet Union, it's legacy is still hotly debated. Perhaps more seriously, it leads him to overstate Trotsky's sins in two key realms: his family life and his similarities to Stalin. 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