Customer Reviews

Introducing Trotsky & Marxism

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I am familiar with Tariq Ali from his work with the New Left Review, so when I saw his name on the spine of this slim volume in a bookstore, I picked it up and took a look. Well, actually, I read the whole thing right there - it's a quick read, only ~170 pages long with most pages dominated by illustrations. While reading I was surprised by the amount of information that Ali was able to convey in such a short volume, and how he was able to boil down some complex issues (such as the Treaty of Brest-Litovsk) and summarize them with only a few lines of text.

"Introducing Trotsky and Marxism" is basically a short (and sympathetic) biography of Lev Davidovich "Trotsky" Bronstein, a major figure in the Russian Revolution and the leader of the Communist opposition to Stalin after Lenin's death. In an effort to make this a simple introduction, Ali focuses mainly on Trotsky's actions, without spending much time considering his beliefs or philosophy. Marxism is addressed mainly in its relation to Trotsky's "Theory of Permanent Revolution," which deviated from Marxist dogma by claiming that a Socialist revolution could occur in Russia before that country developed democratic organs and went through its Bourgeois/Capitalist "stage of development." This Theory of Permanent Revolution is one of the only theoretical issues addressed by Ali, and his discussion of it is one of the book's weaker sections.

Like the rest of the "Introducing..." series, this book has illustrations on nearly every page, a mix of old photographs and cartoons drawn by Phil Evans. The text is often interwoven with these illustrations, so that they actually add some substance to the book. They make "Introducing Trotsky and Marxism" a quick and easy read - and an amusing one too. Many of the cartoons are tongue-in-cheek, such as one that reproduces "The Last Supper" with characters from the Central Committee of the Bolshevik Party. At the end of the book is a useful glossary of the people and organizations that play a role in Trotsky's life and the Russian Revolution.

Of course, with all these illustrations this book is incredibly short and over-simplified, and can only give a superficial account of Trotsky's life and his influence on the world. Don't expect too much from it; it is appropriate for middle school and high school students, or those who only have an hour or so to learn about Trotsky. Readers who want a more thorough treatment should look at Isaac Deutscher's three-volume biography of Trotsky ("The Prophet"), Orlando Figes's history of the Russian Revolution ("A People's Tragedy"), or (naturally) the works of Trotsky himself ("The Revolution Betrayed" being the most famous).

While ordering other books in the Icon/Totem "Introducing" Series, I became interested in Trotsky upon reading the book's description. Actually, my interest in Trotsky does predate this; I'd read George Orwell's "Animal Farm," wherein one leader of the animals (the pigs) was driven out by the pig who became dictator. Critics have suggested the pig who got driven out was Trotsky and the pig who became dictator of the farm yard was Stalin.

I couldn't have asked for a better introduction to the subject of Leon Trotsky. This is a marvellous book which outlines Trotsky's history, gives personal/biographical information, and touches adequately on salient points relative to. I probably would have had to have read 2 or 3 books to get the working knowledge of Trotsky (and his times, causes, etc.) that I got from reading just this one book: Introducing Trotsky.

I hope you enjoy it and get as much benefit from it as I have.

When history and political movements are taught in the west and the subject is communism and the Bolshevik revolution, the emphasis is on the actions and thoughts of Marx, Engels, Lenin and Stalin. It is a rare occasion when Leon Trotsky is mentioned in any capacity other than his being the target of Stalin's loyalists, who referred to their enemies as practitioners of Trotskyism.
This is historically unjustified, as Trotsky was clearly the most intellectually gifted of the Bolshevik leaders, it was his effective organization of the Red Army that allowed the revolution to survive when it was being besieged from all sides. While this book is constructed using cartoons and occasionally humorous text, it still manages to teach a great deal about the Bolshevik revolutionary movement in the Russian Empire and the role that Leon Trotsky played in it. It cannot serve as a primary source, but it will prove valuable as a secondary and more lighthearted resource in courses covering communism and the Stalinist state.