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Trotsky's Comintern Conspiracy: The Case of Osip Pyatnitsky
384 pages, Paperback
First published September 7, 2024
4 people want to read
About the author
Grover Furr
28 books146 followersGrover Furr (Dr. Grover Carr Furr III) is an American professor of Medieval English literature at Montclair State University who is best known for his revisionist views regarding the Soviet Union and Joseph Stalin.
He has researched and published extensive material on Soviet history (with an emphasis on the Stalin period) and on academic Sovietology from a critical perspective, for over four decades. Furr is a critic of anglophone and Western historiography of the USSR and of what he calls "the anti-Stalin paradigm" (a critique to which much of his bibliography attends).
He has researched and published extensive material on Soviet history (with an emphasis on the Stalin period) and on academic Sovietology from a critical perspective, for over four decades. Furr is a critic of anglophone and Western historiography of the USSR and of what he calls "the anti-Stalin paradigm" (a critique to which much of his bibliography attends).
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September 27, 2024
This book opens a window into the Trotskyite current among leftists. We see that Trotskyites are not really concerned with socialism. Pyatnitsky was at the center of networks connecting the exiled Trotsky with Zinoviev and Bukharin in the Soviet Union, the German military spy service, and other foreign powers. They were set on toppling the Soviet regime and replacing it with one headed by Trotsky and company. But Pyatnitsky and company do not spell out their socialism or communism. On the contrary, they admit to each other that they will restore capitalism in order to get German help, which they need to ... put Trotsky in power.
Today, too, for all their disputes, Trotskyites care little about socialism and communism. They postpone it by insisting socialism can never succeed in one country, even a big one like Germany. We must wait until all or most of the globe is on the eve of a “world revolution,” that is, forever. Trotskyites argue fiercely about trade unions, presidential elections, and such, but they almost never tie issues to the problems and practice of socialist revolution – the central work of real communists.
The book is devoted to establishing basic historical facts. Presenting evidence tracked down in various archives, Bobrov and Furr prove that Pyatnitsky and crowd did conspire. Since conspirators do not write down their conspiracy, the authors lay out the dense tangle of confessions by many persons. One person’s testimony can be questioned, but no police agency could manufacture these confessions as a consistent whole. Every week in the U.S., juries hear disparate witness and establish guilt beyond a reasonable doubt.
The organization of chapters could be more inviting. It helps to get the big picture first, then put the details in place. I recommend that you begin with the conclusion (chapter 15); then chapter 13; chapters 3 to 12; chapter 14; and finally chapters 1 and 2.
Today, too, for all their disputes, Trotskyites care little about socialism and communism. They postpone it by insisting socialism can never succeed in one country, even a big one like Germany. We must wait until all or most of the globe is on the eve of a “world revolution,” that is, forever. Trotskyites argue fiercely about trade unions, presidential elections, and such, but they almost never tie issues to the problems and practice of socialist revolution – the central work of real communists.
The book is devoted to establishing basic historical facts. Presenting evidence tracked down in various archives, Bobrov and Furr prove that Pyatnitsky and crowd did conspire. Since conspirators do not write down their conspiracy, the authors lay out the dense tangle of confessions by many persons. One person’s testimony can be questioned, but no police agency could manufacture these confessions as a consistent whole. Every week in the U.S., juries hear disparate witness and establish guilt beyond a reasonable doubt.
The organization of chapters could be more inviting. It helps to get the big picture first, then put the details in place. I recommend that you begin with the conclusion (chapter 15); then chapter 13; chapters 3 to 12; chapter 14; and finally chapters 1 and 2.
Displaying 1 of 1 review