Customer Reviews

Art and Revolution: Writings on Literature, Politics, and Culture

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With razor-sharp insight and wit, Trotsky points to the necessity for art to exist free from political and social agendas, as well as from the shackles, the stereotypes, the dark ignorance of reactionary class rule. These are not at all contradictory goals. Trotsky declares boldly in these articles that artistic truth must be based not on any particular literary school or dogma but on "the immutable faith of the artist in his own inner self." In this collection Trotsky debates Stalinists, appreciates Tolstoy, Essenin, Gorky, and Jack London, and slam-dunks Winston Churchill's pretentious writings. Must reading for activists who seek to advance their understanding of the arts as well as for writers and artists seeking to understand how their work relates to society. If not available from Amazon, booksfrompathfinder will have it--click on "new and used" near the top of the page.

Throw out all the misconceptions that you have drawn from Stalinism the worst antiMarxism there is, about Marxists and culture. This is the real deal. This collection gives the real Marxist view of culture, particularly in the major excerpts of Trotsky's Literature and Revolution, a book edited by Lenin. Culture cannot be judged simply as propaganda, but as an organic expression of society, of humans struggling to depict reality. Culture needs freedom. This book contains not only works from the 20s, but works from the 1930s when Trotsky joined with Diego Rivera, the great Mexican muralist, and Andre Breton, the master of surrealism, in a revolutionary defense of modern culture against Stalinist and capitalism.

This is a marvelous book which brings out the deep humanistic sensibility that lay at the heart of one of the twentieth century's great socialist revolutionaries. Trotsky's writings show that Marxism is far from being a sterile set of formulas which relegate art, literature, music, love, and our emotional lives to the sidelines, in favor of economics. No, the book shows that Marxist ideas are so powerful because they can illuminate the complex connections between economic structures and the varied human creativity expressed in all forms of art. It also takes a strong stand against censorship and for freedom, not only in capitalist societies, but in post-capitalist ones, such as the Soviet Union, where Stalinists had made a mockery of artistic freedom in the name of socialism. These ideas are illustarted by a fascinating set of writings, including literary reviews, correspondence with artists like Andre Breton and analysis of the challenges facing artists and writers in the Soviet Union.