Their Morals and Ours [Paperback]

Leon Trotsky (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: January 1, 1973

Participating in the revolutionary workers movement "with open eyes and an intense will--only this can give the highest moral satisfaction to a thinking being," Trotsky writes. He explains how morality is rooted in the interests of contending social classes. With a reply by the pragmatist philosopher John Dewey and a Marxist response to Dewey by George Novack.

Product Details

• Paperback: 126 pages
• Publisher: Pathfinder Press; 5th edition (January 1, 1973)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0873483197
• ISBN-13: 978-0873483193
• Product Dimensions: 8 x 5.2 x 0.3 inches
• Shipping Weight: 2.4 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (8 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,067,212 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

9 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A spectacular polemic on the dangers of liberal morality, May 18, 1999

By A Customer

This review is from: Their Morals and Ours (Paperback)

As the questions of how solve the increasing crisis of capitalim becomes more pertinant every day, an old debate must be re-hashed. Are the politics of Lesser Evilism and the Social Democratic parties of the world a viable alternative to the atrocities of the right? Is marxist ideolgy correctly associated with the horrors of Stalinist Russia and the Eastern Bloc? Do the Ends justify the Means? In this classic debate, Leon Trotsky the great revolutionary socialist, answers these questions with the fire and focus that they deserve. He and the liberal thinker, John Dewey, debate the morality of the means of liberal capitalist and socialist tactics and resolve the question of whether either or both can accomplish a moral end.

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars THEIR MORALS AND OURS, INDEED!, March 5, 2007

By 

Alfred Johnson (boston, ma) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Their Morals and Ours (Paperback)

One of the most tragic results of the Stalinization of a significant part of the international workers movement in the 20th century was the steep decline in the norms of revolutionary morality. In fact a persuasive argument can be made that the Stalinist lies, distortions and destruction of revolutionary cadre, as well as untold innocents, dragged the workers movement to a moral level below even the abysmal bourgeois hypocrisy of modern day liberalism and social democracy. But, although one would be hard pressed to refute that idea that is an argument for another day. Here, Leon Trotsky, as he had in the political struggles to defend the ideas of the socialist revolution raised his lonely voice to defend revolutionary morality against the onslaught of Stalinist falsifiers, liberal cynics, social democratic hypocrites and some of his faint-hearted intellectual former `supporters' who were beginning their rapid retreat from revolutionary politics in the run-up to World War II.

Trotsky's argument is fairly simple and straightforward. Not only do the ruling classes own the means of production and control the educational, cultural and state apparatuses but impose their concept of morality on their society. Thus it follows, in order to break the stranglehold of the ruling classes, it is necessary for revolutionaries to develop their own moral sense- outside and in counter position- to the ruling classes. That truth may not be the most profound idea that Trotsky ever uttered but in light of the rise of fascism, the Stalinist Moscow purge trials and the Stalinist destruction of the Spanish Revolution which formed the backdrop for his analysis it needed saying-and needs repeating today. No militant can hope to change society for the better if he or she does not make a clean break from bourgeois norms of morality, period.

Politics and morality obviously are not counterpoised but flow from the nature of the task. If the politics are not revolutionary then it is hard to see how the moral compass that leads to a revolutionary life would be. Again, Stalinism in its political guise as a form of international class collaborationism blurred the lines between what to a revolutionary is the norm and an `amoral' or `anti-moral' world-weary bureaucratic response. And that tension has not stopped with the defeat of Stalinism. Because leftists did not defeat Stalinism but rather it collapsed from its own internal moral decay and ineptitude that line has never been straightened out. Nowhere is this seen more clearly than today when revolutionaries use the bourgeois institutions against others in the labor movement, including other revolutionaries, to further their aims. Yes, of course we use these alien institutions when we fight the oppressors-that is part of our arsenal. No, we do not ask (really, beg) the class enemy to adjudicate disputes within the labor movement. Learn to fight the political struggle the proper way. To get the necessary foundation for that read this little book.

3 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Which Side Are You On?, September 7, 2003

By 

E. Lariscy (Los Angeles) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Their Morals and Ours (Paperback)

Which Side Are You On?

Claims to the moral high ground by ruling classes fill the pages of history through today. Their crimes against humanity are morally justified to the masses. This book delves into the class underpinnings of all moral function.

Their Morals and Ours is a valuable help to thinking through what is morality, its roots and changes. Leon Trotsky, a great Marxist and John Dewey, a great liberal pragmatist debate these questions on the eve of World War II.

Stalinism, wars, the ten commandments, strikes, taking of hostages, marriage relations, means and ends, and common sense are some of the subjects discussed. The morality of capitalism vs. the morality of the working-class struggle for liberation from capitalism are counterposed.