Where Is Britain Going?

by Leon Trotsky

First Published in 1926, Where is Britain Going? focuses on the historical factors and circumstances which were to define Britain’s development in the midst of social unrest at that time. The book considers the future of Britain in an age when the working classes were being driven into confrontation with the state under the impact of the world crisis of capitalism. Writing over eighty years ago, Trotsky concentrates on the decline of British imperialism in his analysis of the Bolshevik Revolution. In a brilliant polemic that exposes all the treachery of the Labour leaders in the year before the General strike, he recalls the revolutionary traditions of the working class and draws on the historical lessons of the English Civil War and Chartism. Rejecting the parliamentary road and stripping bare the pretensions of Fabian socialism, Where is Britain going? outlines perspectives of revolution which continue to retain their validity.

Genres: Politics

178 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 1926

About the author

See also Лев Троцкий

Russian theoretician Leon Trotsky or Leon Trotski, originally Lev Davidovitch Bronstein, led the Bolshevik of 1917, wrote Literature and Revolution in 1924, opposed the authoritarianism of Joseph Stalin, and emphasized world; therefore later, the Communist party in 1927 expelled him and in 1929 banished him, but he included the autobiographical My Life in 1930, and the behest murdered him in exile in Mexico.

The exile of Leon Trotsky in 1929 marked rule of Joseph Stalin.

People better know this Marxist. In October 1917, he ranked second only to Vladimir Lenin. During the early days of the Soviet Union, he served first as commissar of people for foreign affairs and as the founder and commander of the Red Army and of war. He also ranked among the first members of the Politburo.

After a failed struggle of the left against the policies and rise in the 1920s, the increasing role of bureaucracy in the Soviet Union deported Trotsky. An early advocate of intervention of Army of Red against European fascism, Trotsky also agreed on peace with Adolf Hitler in the 1930s. As the head of the fourth International, Trotsky continued to the bureaucracy in the Soviet Union, and Ramón Mercader, a Soviet agent, eventually assassinated him. From Marxism, his separate ideas form the basis of Trotskyism, a term, coined as early as 1905. Ideas of Trotsky constitute a major school of Marxist. The Soviet administration never rehabilitated him and few other political figures.

Reviews

[Francis Todhunter · Rating 4 out of 5]

I found this very informative and widely applicable to the crisis of capitalism in 2026. it is nearly 100 years since the general strike in Britain and the struggles that the working class are facing are much the same.

trotsky is surprisingly sassy and funny at points and an unashamed but well reasoned hater.

[Tom · Rating 5 out of 5]

Essential reading to understand the background to the British general strike of 1926, and vital questions of strategy for building a socialist movement, much of which still applies today. As Trotsky says, the relatively small Communist Party "can only come to the head of the working class in the measure that the latter comes into irreconcilable antagonism with the conservative bureaucracy in the trade unions and in the Labour Party. The Communist Party can prepare for the role of leadership only by a relentless criticism of all the directing personnel of the British Labour movement, only by a day in and day out denunciation of its conservative, anti-proletarian, imperialistic, monarchistic, lackey-like role in all spheres of social life and of the class movement."

If you want to see this advice applied to the present, read the World Socialist Web Site.

[Olive Rickson · Rating 5 out of 5]

Just read this in an afternoon, chefs kiss 😗. Absolutely essential reading clearly draws out the problems of right and left reformism and the need for a revolutionary alternative that’s conscious of its tasks and not muddied in contradictions and blind faith in bourgeois democracy.

[Will Collins · Rating 5 out of 5]

Absolutely essential reading for anyone involved in the British Labour movement.

[Βενιαμίν · Rating 5 out of 5]

A witty, scathing polemic which explains all you need to know about the UK today. (Plus never would I have ever thought to see Trotsky discussing Leeds of all places)

[James · Rating 3 out of 5]

Definitely more historically important than interesting on its own. There are some exceedingly good barbs viz: British gradualism vs Trotsky's concept of revolution.