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"In the 1930s, Trotsky, with a handful of followers, attempted to block the path of Stalin's relentless hurricane of betrayal and murder. His epic defence of the soul of the Revolution against its bureaucratic executioners was a torchlight in the storm. In one of the very greatest modern biographies, Isaac Deutscher redeems the legacy of this astonishing revolutionary and humanist thinker." -- Mike Davis "This is the critical voice the velvet revolution faded out. The republication of Deutscher's classic trilogy is good news for a new generation who want to know what went wrong with communist-style socialism." -- Sheila Rowbotham ""He has told the story more accurately and with fuller detail than ever before. His book is compulsory reading for anyone interested in the history of Soviet Russia and of international communism."" -- A.J.P. Taylor ""Mr. Deutscher is an exceedingly vivid writer with a sense of style, and a warm understanding sympathy for his hero; this makes him a first rate biographer."" -- Times Literary Supplement ""The three volumes of Deutscher's life of Trotsky ... were for me the most exciting reading of the year. Surely this must be counted among the greatest biographies in the English language."" -- Graham Greene
Book Description
Few political figures of the twentieth century have aroused as much controversy as the Russian revolutionary Leon 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. Originally published in 1954, Deutscher's magisterial three-volume biography was the first major publication to counter the powerful Stalinist propaganda machine. In this definitive biography Trotsky emerges in his real stature, as the most heroic, and ultimately tragic, character of the Russian Revolution.
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Customer Reviews
Most helpful customer reviews
Trotsky was Right
Feb 28 1999
Format:Hardcover
This is a fascinating book detailing the fall from grace of the Soviet Union's number 2 man in the revolution: Leon Trotsky. After Lenin's death, Stalin, Zinoviev, and Kamenev, the ruling triumverate, did all that they could to eliminate this popular figure from the political arena. Deutscher does a great job illuminating one of the the major ideological conflicts in the Soviet Union during the 1920's: socialism in one country advocated by Stalin and permanent revolution supported by Trotsky. Deutscher's arguments make a strong case for Trotsky's position, since without a communist revolution in a more industrially advanced country, Soviet socialism faced the danger of becoming heavily bureaucratic and deformed. The other major difference between Stalin and Totsky was about the course of inustrialization in the Soviet Union. Trotsky warned about the danger of the New Economic Policy (NEP) slowly restoring capitalism in Russia. In Stalin's battle for power with Trotsky, he originally supported the NEP and a slow course of industrialization. When he finally defeated Trotsky (which begins the final book of Deutscher's trilogy) he almost completely stole Trotsky's program of rapid industrialization for the USSR. The question that the reader is left with is: would idustrialization in the USSR have been more peaceful under Trotsky than Stalin? Would we be talking about millions of dead Soviet citizens today and would the communist movement around the world still be a factor if Trotsky, not Stalin, would have won the power struggle in the 1920's. It's obvious that Deutscher is a big supporter of Leon Trotsky. Its hard not to be: he almost single handedly organized the Red Army with no military background which repelled foreign intervention during the Russian Civil War. He was matched only by Lenin as the supreme Marxist intellectual of the time. A supreme orator, he was the consumate revolutionary and internationalist. This trilogy is by far the best Trotsky biography to date. Any one interested in the Russian revolution or the Communist movement must read these books.
Brian Wayne Wells, Esquire, reviews "Prophet Unarmed"
May 10 1998
Format:Hardcover
This is the second volume of a three-volume sympathetic biography of the great Russian revolutionary, Leon Trotsky by Isaac Deutscher. This is Deutscher's most famous work.
In this second volume the author gets about telling the story that he really wants to tell. Rather than a balanced tale of the life of Trotsky, the author really want to concentrate on the conflict between him and Joseph Stalin. This volume is where that tale begins in earnest.
Nonetheless, Deutscher's style of writing grabs the reader's interest and holds her/him to the subject. This is a worthy addition to any library of any reader interested in Soviet history.
Most Helpful Customer Reviews on Amazon.com (beta)
Amazon.com:
8 reviews
15 of 17 people found the following review helpful
Trotsky was Right
Feb 27 1999
Format:Hardcover
This is a fascinating book detailing the fall from grace of the Soviet Union's number 2 man in the revolution: Leon Trotsky. After Lenin's death, Stalin, Zinoviev, and Kamenev, the ruling triumverate, did all that they could to eliminate this popular figure from the political arena. Deutscher does a great job illuminating one of the the major ideological conflicts in the Soviet Union during the 1920's: socialism in one country advocated by Stalin and permanent revolution supported by Trotsky. Deutscher's arguments make a strong case for Trotsky's position, since without a communist revolution in a more industrially advanced country, Soviet socialism faced the danger of becoming heavily bureaucratic and deformed. The other major difference between Stalin and Totsky was about the course of inustrialization in the Soviet Union. Trotsky warned about the danger of the New Economic Policy (NEP) slowly restoring capitalism in Russia. In Stalin's battle for power with Trotsky, he originally supported the NEP and a slow course of industrialization. When he finally defeated Trotsky (which begins the final book of Deutscher's trilogy) he almost completely stole Trotsky's program of rapid industrialization for the USSR. The question that the reader is left with is: would idustrialization in the USSR have been more peaceful under Trotsky than Stalin? Would we be talking about millions of dead Soviet citizens today and would the communist movement around the world still be a factor if Trotsky, not Stalin, would have won the power struggle in the 1920's. It's obvious that Deutscher is a big supporter of Leon Trotsky. Its hard not to be: he almost single handedly organized the Red Army with no military background which repelled foreign intervention during the Russian Civil War. He was matched only by Lenin as the supreme Marxist intellectual of the time. A supreme orator, he was the consumate revolutionary and internationalist. This trilogy is by far the best Trotsky biography to date. Any one interested in the Russian revolution or the Communist movement must read these books.
6 of 7 people found the following review helpful
Lacks a presentation worthy of its content
May 17 2005
Format:Paperback|Amazon Verified Purchase
Any reprint of this classic work is better than none. And of course Deutscher grasps the gist of the matter as Trotsky's "middle" period is concerned : the fact that he was unable to lauch a decided bid for power aganst Stalin when he had still a chance to do so, but then managed to recover enough influence - almost solely by means of his intellectual acumen - to wage a brilliant but doomed in advance defensive political campaign in the late 1920s. Be as it is, if marxism is going to recover from the long reactionary eclipse of the last 30 years, it will have to pay attention to musch of what Trotsky said and wrote in the period covered by this work.
Exactly because of that, I've to complain about the quality of this new Verso edition. Typos abound; the cover is good, but the paper used for the regular pages is of low quality - a highly absorbing, and I suppose perhaps of high acidity, variety of paper, something I discovered when my copy was exposed to humidity and became soaked like a sponge. Also, there lacks and introductory essay and a glossary. Frankly, I think Verso should value more having this work in its publishing list.
Exactly because of that, I've to complain about the quality of this new Verso edition. Typos abound; the cover is good, but the paper used for the regular pages is of low quality - a highly absorbing, and I suppose perhaps of high acidity, variety of paper, something I discovered when my copy was exposed to humidity and became soaked like a sponge. Also, there lacks and introductory essay and a glossary. Frankly, I think Verso should value more having this work in its publishing list.
4 of 5 people found the following review helpful
Brian Wayne Wells, Esquire, reviews "Prophet Unarmed"
May 10 1998
Format:Hardcover
This is the second volume of a three-volume sympathetic biography of the great Russian revolutionary, Leon Trotsky by Isaac Deutscher. This is Deutscher's most famous work.
In this second volume the author gets about telling the story that he really wants to tell. Rather than a balanced tale of the life of Trotsky, the author really want to concentrate on the conflict between him and Joseph Stalin. This volume is where that tale begins in earnest.
Nonetheless, Deutscher's style of writing grabs the reader's interest and holds her/him to the subject. This is a worthy addition to any library of any reader interested in Soviet history.
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