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The Prophet Armed: Trotsky 1879-1921

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Leon Trotsky would seem to most people today, simply by nature of having been a Communist and a founder of the Soviet Union, an utter irrelevance. Fifty years ago, when Deutscher published this volume of his chronicle Trotsky's life this was not the case. Trotsky was more libeled by Stalin's Soviet Union and the sycophantic Communist Parties of the Third International than any dissident has ever been by any regime. Deutscher took it upon himself to save the founder of the Red Army from an oblivion that he did not deserve, and place him in the pantheon of twentieth century giants where he belonged. The fact that his book is still in print after half a century shows that in the eyes of some portion of the reading public he succeded.

This first volume deals with Trotsky's genesis from a bookish and brilliant student to a commited revolutionary and his successful part--second only Lenin--in leading the Soviet Union to victory against the forces of reaction. The years of Trotsky's life in exile; as the flamboyant leader of the St. Petersburg Soviet during the 1905 revolution; his violent and polemical disagreements with Lenin on socialist doctrine in the years before the Bolshevik seizure of power; and the often overlooked Trotsky who was a great critic of art and literature are all recounted with utter beauty. This biography reads like the best fiction because of Deutscher's unbelievable control over the English language--he did not begin using the language on a regular basis until after his thirteith year.

Overall, for anyone interested in the beginning of that great experiment gone awry that has rightfully been consigned ash heap of history--Soviet socialism--this book is an absolute must. The Trotsky who was responsible for birthing the Soviet Union rightfully appears to the reader, especially in light of the state's collapse in 1991, as one who would have ensured that it would still exist today in a form that would have made the priveleged and the exploiters of the world quack with a fear that the murderous Stalinists never dreamed of--and without all the murder. Oh Brave world that never was!!

Firstly, it's necessary to keep in mind that Deustscher was not trying to write a biography of Trotsky- if by that is meant an account of his life for its own sake- nor was he trying to write a history of the Russian Revolution and its leaders as a self-contained account. Deutscher's goals where twofold: to vindicate Trotsky's early opposition against Lenin's conception of the revolutionary party as well as his later opposition to Stalin's policies _in the long run_ and at the same time to acknowledge the necessity of Leninism and Stalinism _in the short run_. However objectionable such a view is today, Deutscher's political dialogue with Trotsky's ghost is superbly argued and documented, and anyone, no matter one's political views, will finish reading this work feeling one knows more about the subject than beforehand. In all the languages this work was translated (and I remember the ruckus produced in Brazil by the 1960s Portuguese trans.) it played havoc with accepted Left commonplaces.

There are many faults in this new Verso edition: first, its paperback binding is atrocious (after a first read, I have already a couple of loose pages); secondly, there lacks an introduction that sets the work in perspective 50 years after its publication, as well as a glossary of unusual terms for today's conservative age (such as comissar, soviet, etc.) and, perhaps, some short biographies of the smaller characters,with dates of birth and decease, positions held, whereabouts, etc.However, the work can still be enjoyably read on its own, even if you miss some (admittedly small) points.

This is an excellent biography of Trotsky, and, despite the fact it takes up 3 books, it makes up excellent reading and gives one understanding of not just the life of Trotsky, but the reason for many of the peculiar changes that happened in the USSR in it's early days. It leaves the reader quite well informed, and one gets to meet quite a few revolutionaries through the book, including Zasulich, Axelrod, Plekhanov, and Parvus. Get it!

For nearly all its existence since Lenin's death in 1924 Trotsky (aka Lev Davidovich Bronstein) was Satan in the Bolshevik's manichean view of the world. Most of the purges of the 1930s were allegedly meant to cleanse Soviet society and its key institutions (the Communist Party, the unions, the Red Army, the intelligentsia) of the Trotskyte taint that, like some sort of Original Sin, pervaded the proletarian dictatorship. Stalin tried to erase Trotsky from the history of the Revolution. He even erased Trotsky's physical attributes, not just by killing him in 1940, half a world away, but by obliterating his likeness wherever it might have been found.

This book, published fifty years ago, tried to counter the Stalinist plot against Trotsky by vindicating his key role in the 1905 and 1917 revolutions, in the Civil War and in the establishment of the Red Army and the Soviet state. The author partially succeeds. Here we see Trotsky in all his glory, as perhaps he would have liked to be remembered, as a child prodigy who from humble rural beginnings quickly found his way in the world, as a professional revolutionary, as a brilliant polemist and orator, who even as a young man was seen as worthy counterpart to Lenin, and far above the rest of the Party, as a good hearted man who tried to promote harmony within the Party and failed at it, as a cultured, civilized "westernizer", much more appealing than the brutal Stalin, who came straight from the "log cabin" of czarist barbarism. He also came up with many good ideas, such as Lenin's New Economic Policy. Deutscher also gives us some of the darker sides to Trotsky's scintillating personna. He was proud and haughty, but brittle. He was abusive to others, often unnecessarily. He often let abstractions and daydreams take the place of reality. And he came up with many bad ideas, such as War Communism and the Militarization of Labor.

But, given Deutscher's profile (he was a Trotskyte) the book is often a competent whitewash. The author shares Trotsky's (and the Bolshevik's) worldview to a great extent, and sees the October Revolution as a worthy action. Mostly, he takes Trotskyte and Bolshevik motives as justification for their actions. He portrays opponents (such as the White Guards and nationalist Ukrainians and Poles) as illegitimate. Nowhere does the awfulness of Soviet rule, and the brutality of the Bolshevik leaders come through, except perhaps in their remarkably abusive writings. To find such bitchiness nowadays one would have to refer to the academic world, where the nastiness is commensurate to the irrelevance of that which is being discussed.

Also, the book is often not very readable as history. The author will often refer to future or past events in a single page, without indication of the precise dates, which makes this a hard book to read for someone not familiar with the October Revolution.

Having said this, a good reason to read this book is that it is beautifully written, and that the author really does get very close to his subject, which is mostly a negative in that he lacks perspective, but does bring the advantage of great liveliness which makes this a very good read. This reminds me of Preston's life of General Franco. Preston hated his subject and was unable utterly to develop any empathy with him, so the book was fairly arid and not insightful. Deutscher has the opposite defect: he gets too close, as perhaps does Nicholas Farrell to Mussolini. The ideal would be like Kershaw's Hitler or Short's Mao: far enough to look the monster in the eye, but not close enough to kiss him.

At this book's end, Trotsky is at the apex of his power, from which he would begin to slip during Lenin's final year. But this is better left to volume II, which I also hope to review.

So read the book, but don't take Deutscher at his word. Complement this with Volkogonov's Trotsky. And with Trotsky's own voluminous writings, which are often very amusing (particularly his biography of Stalin).

This is the first volume of Isaac Deutscher's defining biography of Leon Trotsky, the great Russian revolutionary and one of the founders of the Soviet State. This three-volume work remains Isaac Deutscher's great opus.

Covering the years from his birth in 1879 until the opening stages of Trotsky's struggle with Kamenev, Zinoviev and Stalin for leadership of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union, this volume is an exciting entre into the three-volume series.

Isaac Deutscher, obviously, believes in what he writes about. He has a great deal of interest in explaining the details of the struggle that developed between Stalin and Trotsky. Consequently this first volume may give somewhat short shrift to the most productive period of Trosky's life while the author manuveres to tell the story he really wants to tell in the secon and third volumes.

This first of 3 volumes in Deutscher's biography is an astonishing and captivating achievement. Deutscher weaves together character study, drama, and historical narrative to give an authoritative account of Trotsky's life and the Russian Revolution from Trotsky's birth up through the quickening bureaucratization of Soviet Russia in 1921.

Deutscher's deft handling of the facts, personalities, ideas, and situations of the time is simply unparallelled, and makes for a tremendously enjoyable and informative read.

Essential material for anyone exploring the question of where socialism went wrong in the 20th century.

A very readable biography. The material on his childhood and youth is well selected; the account of the fractured political situation in 1919-21 is especially well covered. The last chapter on how Trotsky was lead to betray his own principles is worth comparing to more recent assessments of his actions. Includes a map of regions held by non-Bolshevik forces in 1919-20, very detailed index. 540 pages.

Isaac Deutscher is the only one capable of writing such a great book about one of Russias' greatest man. This book is made up of three parts, three components. The Prophet Unarmed, The Prophet Armed, and the Prophet Outcast are combined to create a monumental book on a monumental man.

Not only a great overview of Trotsky, a great resource about the ideas, debates and people that formed this century and.

Isaac Deutscher is the only one capable of writing such a great book about one of Russias' greatest man. This book is made up of three parts, three components. The Prophet Unarmed, The Prophet Armed, and the Prophet Outcast are combined to create a monumental book on a monumental man.