There were some people who once called themselves “Trotskyists,” but unlike Trotsky were rather critical of Lenin. Trotsky considered himself a pupil of Lenin. If they now appear to have now embraced Lenin, it’s not because they’re moving in a revolutionary direction, but because of the opposite—they’ve embraced him because they’ve embraced almost everyone and everything, to be able to attract people indiscriminately to an unclear opportunist political line. Lenin and Trotsky are good, but maybe Chomsky is better, or Jill Stein, the anti-science candidate…. They will not embrace any leaders of a living revolution: Cuba! And they will not look to the working class. But for whatever reason, it is good this has been published….
I can’t say anything specific about this edition, but I have read both the books contained in it. There is no good biography of Lenin, although Krupskaya’s ‘Reminiscences of Lenin’ comes close. Almost everything else was written either by Stalinists or anti-communists, who frequently tell the same lies, one putting a plus where the other puts a minus. This is not a biography, but it is important writings by a revolutionary who, after years of staying aloof from the Bolsheviks, in 1917 became one of Lenin’s closest collaborators, and was the most important of those who defended Lenin’s ideas after his death.
‘On Lenin’ was written rapidly after Lenin’s death and contains various vignettes of Lenin at different points in his life after the revolution. ‘The Young Lenin’ was written for a commercial publisher in 1933, although it was lost, and it didn’t get published until 1972. Trotsky had hoped to write a full-length biography of Lenin, but other priorities and then his assassination by Stalinists prevented that.
For reading Lenin, the 3-vol Selected Works is a good place to start, although among my favorites are 'Lenin’s Struggle for a Revolutionary International,' which presents Lenin amidst both his collaborators and opponents in the years 1907–16, and 'Lenin’s Final Fight,' which gives the writings of the last year of Lenin’s political life. Among other things, it’s about evaluating the New Economic Policy, defending the state monopoly on trade, fighting bureaucracy and great Russian chauvinism. He also called for the replacement of Stalin as general secretary. '3 Study Guides on Lenin's Writings' could be quite useful.
Trotsky’s important books for understanding Stalinism are 'The Revolution Betrayed' and 'In Defense of Marxism: Against the petty-bourgeois opposition in the Socialist Workers Party.' He demonstrated that Stalinism was not merely the cult of an individual—it was whatever policies represented the interests of a privileged bureaucracy, who clung to the theory of “socialism in one country” because the spread of world revolution could only undermine their power.
Other of his important works are 'History of the Russian Revolution' and 'My Life.'
And if you’re looking for a living revolution, which you should be, start with 'Dynamics of the Cuban Revolution,' by Joseph Hansen, former secretary to Trotsky in Mexico. Then read 'Women in Cuba: Making a Revolution Within the Revolution' and 'Cuba and Angola: Fighting for Africa's Freedom and Our Own.' There are lots more I could recommend….
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Two important Trotsky pieces in one volume
There were some people who once called themselves “Trotskyists,” but unlike Trotsky were rather critical of Lenin. Trotsky considered himself a pupil of Lenin. If they now appear to have now embraced Lenin, it’s not because they’re moving in a revolutionary direction, but because of the opposite—they’ve embraced him because they’ve embraced almost everyone and everything, to be able to attract people indiscriminately to an unclear opportunist political line. Lenin and Trotsky are good, but maybe Chomsky is better, or Jill Stein, the anti-science candidate…. They will not embrace any leaders of a living revolution: Cuba! And they will not look to the working class. But for whatever reason, it is good this has been published….I can’t say anything specific about this edition, but I have read both the books contained in it. There is no good biography of Lenin, although Krupskaya’s ‘Reminiscences of Lenin’ comes close. Almost everything else was written either by Stalinists or anti-communists, who frequently tell the same lies, one putting a plus where the other puts a minus. This is not a biography, but it is important writings by a revolutionary who, after years of staying aloof from the Bolsheviks, in 1917 became one of Lenin’s closest collaborators, and was the most important of those who defended Lenin’s ideas after his death.‘On Lenin’ was written rapidly after Lenin’s death and contains various vignettes of Lenin at different points in his life after the revolution. ‘The Young Lenin’ was written for a commercial publisher in 1933, although it was lost, and it didn’t get published until 1972. Trotsky had hoped to write a full-length biography of Lenin, but other priorities and then his assassination by Stalinists prevented that.For reading Lenin, the 3-vol Selected Works is a good place to start, although among my favorites are 'Lenin’s Struggle for a Revolutionary International,' which presents Lenin amidst both his collaborators and opponents in the years 1907–16, and 'Lenin’s Final Fight,' which gives the writings of the last year of Lenin’s political life. Among other things, it’s about evaluating the New Economic Policy, defending the state monopoly on trade, fighting bureaucracy and great Russian chauvinism. He also called for the replacement of Stalin as general secretary. '3 Study Guides on Lenin's Writings' could be quite useful.Trotsky’s important books for understanding Stalinism are 'The Revolution Betrayed' and 'In Defense of Marxism: Against the petty-bourgeois opposition in the Socialist Workers Party.' He demonstrated that Stalinism was not merely the cult of an individual—it was whatever policies represented the interests of a privileged bureaucracy, who clung to the theory of “socialism in one country” because the spread of world revolution could only undermine their power.Other of his important works are 'History of the Russian Revolution' and 'My Life.'And if you’re looking for a living revolution, which you should be, start with 'Dynamics of the Cuban Revolution,' by Joseph Hansen, former secretary to Trotsky in Mexico. Then read 'Women in Cuba: Making a Revolution Within the Revolution' and 'Cuba and Angola: Fighting for Africa's Freedom and Our Own.' There are lots more I could recommend….
Top review from the United States
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Reviewed in the United States on March 24, 2022
I can’t say anything specific about this edition, but I have read both the books contained in it. There is no good biography of Lenin, although Krupskaya’s ‘Reminiscences of Lenin’ comes close. Almost everything else was written either by Stalinists or anti-communists, who frequently tell the same lies, one putting a plus where the other puts a minus. This is not a biography, but it is important writings by a revolutionary who, after years of staying aloof from the Bolsheviks, in 1917 became one of Lenin’s closest collaborators, and was the most important of those who defended Lenin’s ideas after his death.
‘On Lenin’ was written rapidly after Lenin’s death and contains various vignettes of Lenin at different points in his life after the revolution. ‘The Young Lenin’ was written for a commercial publisher in 1933, although it was lost, and it didn’t get published until 1972. Trotsky had hoped to write a full-length biography of Lenin, but other priorities and then his assassination by Stalinists prevented that.
For reading Lenin, the 3-vol Selected Works is a good place to start, although among my favorites are 'Lenin’s Struggle for a Revolutionary International,' which presents Lenin amidst both his collaborators and opponents in the years 1907–16, and 'Lenin’s Final Fight,' which gives the writings of the last year of Lenin’s political life. Among other things, it’s about evaluating the New Economic Policy, defending the state monopoly on trade, fighting bureaucracy and great Russian chauvinism. He also called for the replacement of Stalin as general secretary. '3 Study Guides on Lenin's Writings' could be quite useful.
Trotsky’s important books for understanding Stalinism are 'The Revolution Betrayed' and 'In Defense of Marxism: Against the petty-bourgeois opposition in the Socialist Workers Party.' He demonstrated that Stalinism was not merely the cult of an individual—it was whatever policies represented the interests of a privileged bureaucracy, who clung to the theory of “socialism in one country” because the spread of world revolution could only undermine their power.
Other of his important works are 'History of the Russian Revolution' and 'My Life.'
And if you’re looking for a living revolution, which you should be, start with 'Dynamics of the Cuban Revolution,' by Joseph Hansen, former secretary to Trotsky in Mexico. Then read 'Women in Cuba: Making a Revolution Within the Revolution' and 'Cuba and Angola: Fighting for Africa's Freedom and Our Own.' There are lots more I could recommend….
Two important Trotsky pieces in one volume
Reviewed in the United States on March 24, 2022
There were some people who once called themselves “Trotskyists,” but unlike Trotsky were rather critical of Lenin. Trotsky considered himself a pupil of Lenin. If they now appear to have now embraced Lenin, it’s not because they’re moving in a revolutionary direction, but because of the opposite—they’ve embraced him because they’ve embraced almost everyone and everything, to be able to attract people indiscriminately to an unclear opportunist political line. Lenin and Trotsky are good, but maybe Chomsky is better, or Jill Stein, the anti-science candidate…. They will not embrace any leaders of a living revolution: Cuba! And they will not look to the working class. But for whatever reason, it is good this has been published….Reviewed in the United States on March 24, 2022
I can’t say anything specific about this edition, but I have read both the books contained in it. There is no good biography of Lenin, although Krupskaya’s ‘Reminiscences of Lenin’ comes close. Almost everything else was written either by Stalinists or anti-communists, who frequently tell the same lies, one putting a plus where the other puts a minus. This is not a biography, but it is important writings by a revolutionary who, after years of staying aloof from the Bolsheviks, in 1917 became one of Lenin’s closest collaborators, and was the most important of those who defended Lenin’s ideas after his death.
‘On Lenin’ was written rapidly after Lenin’s death and contains various vignettes of Lenin at different points in his life after the revolution. ‘The Young Lenin’ was written for a commercial publisher in 1933, although it was lost, and it didn’t get published until 1972. Trotsky had hoped to write a full-length biography of Lenin, but other priorities and then his assassination by Stalinists prevented that.
For reading Lenin, the 3-vol Selected Works is a good place to start, although among my favorites are 'Lenin’s Struggle for a Revolutionary International,' which presents Lenin amidst both his collaborators and opponents in the years 1907–16, and 'Lenin’s Final Fight,' which gives the writings of the last year of Lenin’s political life. Among other things, it’s about evaluating the New Economic Policy, defending the state monopoly on trade, fighting bureaucracy and great Russian chauvinism. He also called for the replacement of Stalin as general secretary. '3 Study Guides on Lenin's Writings' could be quite useful.
Trotsky’s important books for understanding Stalinism are 'The Revolution Betrayed' and 'In Defense of Marxism: Against the petty-bourgeois opposition in the Socialist Workers Party.' He demonstrated that Stalinism was not merely the cult of an individual—it was whatever policies represented the interests of a privileged bureaucracy, who clung to the theory of “socialism in one country” because the spread of world revolution could only undermine their power.
Other of his important works are 'History of the Russian Revolution' and 'My Life.'
And if you’re looking for a living revolution, which you should be, start with 'Dynamics of the Cuban Revolution,' by Joseph Hansen, former secretary to Trotsky in Mexico. Then read 'Women in Cuba: Making a Revolution Within the Revolution' and 'Cuba and Angola: Fighting for Africa's Freedom and Our Own.' There are lots more I could recommend….
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