Leon Trotsky. A Revolutionary's Life

238 Pages·2012·1.21 MB·English

by  Joshua Rubenstein

leon trotsky

Leon Trotsky
A Revolutionary’s Life
JOSHUA RUBENSTEIN
NewHavenandLondon
Frontispiece:LeonTrotskyinMexico,c.1940.PhotographbyAlexanderH.Buchman.
PublishedwithassistancefromthefoundationestablishedinmemoryofAmasa
StoneMatheroftheClassof1907,YaleCollege.
Copyright©2011byJoshuaRubenstein.Allrightsreserved.
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inanyform(beyondthatcopyingpermittedbySections107and108ofthe
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PrintedintheUnitedStatesofAmericabyMaple-Vail,York,PA.
LibraryofCongressCataloging-in-PublicationDat
Rubenstein,Joshua.
LeonTrotsky/JoshuaRubenstein
p. cm.—(Jewishlives)
Includesbibliographicalreferencesandindex.
isbn978-0-300-13724-8(cloth:alk.paper) 1. Trotsky,Leon,1879–1940.
2. Communists—Russia—Biography. I. Title.
HX312.T75R832011
947.084092—dc22
[B] 2010053718
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Thispapermeetstherequirementsofansi/nisoz39.48-1992
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10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1
Nothinggreathasbeenaccomplishedinhistory
withoutfanaticism.
—LeonTrotsky
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contents
Preface,ix
1.TheYoungRevolutionary,1
2.TheRevolutionof1905,25
3.AnIndependentMarxist,55
4.TheRevolutionof1917,83
5.OutofPower,135
6.Exile,155
Epilogue,203
NoteonSources,211
Acknowledgments,215
Index,217
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preface
Leon Trotsky hauntsourhistoricalmemory.Apreem-
inent revolutionary figure and a masterful writer, Trotsky led
an upheaval that helped to define the contours of twentieth-
century politics. While still a teenager, he threw himself into
the antitsarist underground and from that time on never re-
nouncedhiscommitmenttorevolution.Heorganized,wrote,
distributed pamphlets and essays, faced Siberian exile, aban-
doned his first wife and daughters—all for the purpose of op-
posing a deeply conservative monarch. But when he realized
hisdreamandfoundhimselfagainstalloddsandexpectations
amongthoseinchargeofatriumphantrevolution,headopted
theverymethodsoftheregimethathadoncehoundedhim.
UnlikesomeofTrotsky’sotherbiographers,mostnotably
IsaacDeutscher,Ididnotexplorehislifeasanadmirerorafol-
lower,nordidIseektosavagehimforhispersonalfailings,real
or alleged, as I believe Robert Service sought to do in his re-
ix