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My Life: An Attempt at an Autobiography
Autobiographical account by a leader of the October 1917 Russian revolution, the Soviet Red Army, and the battle initiated by Lenin against the Stalinist bureaucracy.
Hardcover
First published January 1, 1929
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About the author
Leon Trotsky
1,064 books801 followersSee 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.
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.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 82 reviews
October 10, 2012
Trotskyists are one of the most reviled groups on the left...and I have been partly or wholly one my entire adult life. That said, it doesn't take a Trotskyist (or even a "TrotskyITE") to enjoy this book.
Think for a moment about living in a house with dirt floors; mud walls three feet thick in which snakes, some of them poisonous, dwell; but you have servants. This is the middle class home into which Trotsky was born.
Initially loathe to broadcast the particulars of his life, which he considered irrelevant, he was eventually coaxed into giving it up so that he could incorporate his ideas into the book. I found it fascinating.
Trotsky's life, as many know, was ended for him in exile in Mexico, after Stalin won power in the wake of Lenin's death. His own bodyguard was bought by the opposition, and planted an axe in the back of his head. (I don't consider this a spoiler, since Trotsky does not speak of it...obviously).
Give it a try, if you are fond of biographies and memoirs, and don't mind mixing in some political philosophy and Russian history. It's one hell of a ride.
Think for a moment about living in a house with dirt floors; mud walls three feet thick in which snakes, some of them poisonous, dwell; but you have servants. This is the middle class home into which Trotsky was born.
Initially loathe to broadcast the particulars of his life, which he considered irrelevant, he was eventually coaxed into giving it up so that he could incorporate his ideas into the book. I found it fascinating.
Trotsky's life, as many know, was ended for him in exile in Mexico, after Stalin won power in the wake of Lenin's death. His own bodyguard was bought by the opposition, and planted an axe in the back of his head. (I don't consider this a spoiler, since Trotsky does not speak of it...obviously).
Give it a try, if you are fond of biographies and memoirs, and don't mind mixing in some political philosophy and Russian history. It's one hell of a ride.
June 16, 2013
My Life is an eyeopening autobiography from the pen of one of the world's greatest revolutionary figures. Learn about the man behind the myth of Leon Trotsky from the man himself. Some of the stories are merely informative while others are positively inspiring, like Trotsky's daring escape by reindeer from his second Siberian exile or his wartime command of the entire Soviet Army by train. Love him or hate him, Leon Trotsky breaks down his life, trials, triumphs, and tribulations from his early childhood on the family farm to his final exile from the Soviet Union following the death of V.I. Lenin with the meticulous care of an intellectual and a journalist, two of the lesser known aspects of Trotsky's life. It's an informative read. But one that ends far too soon...like the life of Comrade Trotsky.
August 15, 2023
"The pressure of material force has always played, and still plays, a great role in humanity’s history; sometimes it is a progressive role, more often a reactionary one; its character depends on what class applies the force, and to what end. But it is a far cry from this to the belief that force can solve alt problems and overcome all obstacles. It is possible by force of arms to check the development of progressive historical tendencies; it is not possible to block the road of the advance of progressive ideas forever. That is why, when the struggle is one for great principles, the revolutionary can only follow one rule: Fais ce que dois, advienne que pourra."
October 15, 2020
I think there’s a strange kinship between Churchill and Trotsky. While the two men were the most pompous men of their age, their memoirs are strangely self-effacing. What is more the two men were fearless in battle, ruthless at times, and capable of writing brilliant book after brilliant book even while participating in great events.
September 26, 2021
اكتب كي لا تكون وحيداً
August 16, 2019
Hablando con plena sinceridad, a este libro me acerqué principalmente por los elogios impartidos por Michel Deville en su libro Viva y en menor medida por una vaga simpatía respecto la figura de Trotsky, a quien creo que todavía se le puede asignar la casilla de la dignidad en un evento tan tumultuoso como ha sido la Revolución rusa y la posterior Unión Soviética. Un hombre que ha dedicado décadas de su vida a la lucha política por la dignidad del proletariado internacional (el adjetivo es imprescindible remarcarlo tras leer este libro) y por más que en el fondo era alguien conservador, se situó en la izquierda para defender esos intereses.
Pero la verdad es que no secundo las facultades de literato que le atribuye Deville. Su escritura posee demasiada inclinación a repetir varias veces ciertos términos (cómo ahora termidoriano o epígonos) en cada página, da la sensación que sus frases son a veces demasiado extensas y que tiende a aportar información más o menos superflua. Eso sin contar su tendencia a situarse frente los hechos desnudos y evitar ese plano mítico necesario para elevar los ánimos, los espíritus, las almas e insuflarle algo de oxígeno a sus disquisiciones acerca de los numerosos congresos y juntas del partido. Ya sé que se trata de una biografía, claro, y por lo tanto esos hechos desnudos es la carne que ha de poner en el asador, sin embargo en su caso ese plano mítico claramente debería ser la revolución rusa, francesa o lo que se le hubiese ocurrido.
Trotsky escribió este libro en Estambul, en pleno exilio, y quizá esas circunstancias no permiten la serenidad de espíritu necesaria, pero el caso es que tampoco parece explotar las posibilidades que surgen en sus textos. Por poner un ejemplo, cuando es exiliado a Asia Central y dice que lee montones de libros de historia y economía acerca de la región. ¿Qué le sugiere todas esas lecturas? ¿Qué singularidades le llamaron la atención? ¿Qué posibilidades le encuentra y cómo lo relacionaría con el proceso histórico que él co-protagonizó? Ninguna de esas preguntas parecen importarle, pues creo que Trotsky escribió este libro para los historiadores y no para los lectores comunes, por eso deduzco que no explota ese sinfín de posibilidades y se centra más en reivindicar su figura política o limpiar su relación con Lenin. Ese empeño autojusitificativo, unido a cierto aire de soberbia, empaña la atmósfera de la lectura y terminan hartando.
A fin de cuentas, se puede decir que en verdad se trata de una autobiografía escrita contra el estalinismo, a quien ya en 1929 catalogaba de movimiento políticamente obtuso, hiper-burocráctico, grosero y de talante pandillero. Lo curioso es que desde el New York Times se celebró la defenestración de Trotsky, a quien consideraban un comunista mucho más peligroso que Stalin. Bravo por el ojo clínico del New York Times. El caso es que esa motivación entorpece al avance de la lectura y, en mi caso, a la larga, me desinfló el interés por su lectura. Hago esta diferenciación a conciencia, porque una cosa es el Trotsky escritor y otra la figura histórica.
Lo curioso es que, tal y como se comenta en el prólogo, la vida de Trotsky fue la de un personaje de novelas de aventuras. Y no se trata tanto de una versión pro-soviética de Doctor Zhivago, si no por ejemplo la historia que hay antes y después de la fallida revolución de 1905, el escritor exiliado que participa en diarios en Alemania y Francia, sus encuentros con Rosa Luxembourg y otras tantas figuras, las diferentes travesías por lo largo y ancho de Europa y América... todo ese material fue el que aprovechó Deville para su Viva, el resto, si es que uno no está muy interesado en lo que atañe a la URSS, no me parece imprescindible leerlo.
March 13, 2021
Отличный документ эпохи. Отдельно хотелось бы отметить литературный слог и словарный запас рассказчика,местами не лишённый субъективности (как и любые мемуары). Прекрасный вариант взгляда на революцию от её непосредственного участника.
July 29, 2022
2 stars*
Disappointing
Well, where to start?
The title of the book is misleading. My intention to acknowledge Trotsky's autobiography was to find out his inner motives for launching his revolutionary career and what was given him the strength to continue.
However, you won't find any answer to this question as two-thirds of the book is about bios of the third-, and fourth-rate revolutionaries; a couple of pages (!) - to his personal life with two wives and four children, and the rest filled up with some historic events, etc.
The odd thing is that he used for his family members, not a personal name, but a common name, i.e. wife, my younger son, etc. The name of the first wife who actually introduced Marxism to him, he even doesn't bother to tell.
Though, he introduced not only the full names of the comrades - bolsheviks but also their birthdays, deaths, and other boring details about their careers in the bolshevik party.
Trotsky is terribly secretive - the book lacks reveal his personality, his personal thoughts about the reasons for what he did, and where he got the ideas for his articles from.
The only glimpse was done in the begging of the book when he described his visit to his uncle - a successful entrepreneur. As Leiba Davidovich Bronstein ( original name of Leo Trotsky) mentioned: his uncle has been successful in getting surplus value practically, but he was unable to explain it theoretically. And this was a competitive advantage for Leiba in front of his uncle.
The end of the book is full of caustic criticism of Western countries that did not allow him (who dreamed of a World Revolution and flooded his own country with the blood of 12 million lives in a civil war) to settle on their territory.
Unfortunately, Trotsky "forgot" to provide juicy information about his arrival in Mexico (which gives him the go-ahead to live), where he receives shelter from Diego and immediately begins to flirt with his wife, the naive young Frida, in front of his own wife and sons.
If before I started listening to the book, I felt sympathy for L. Trotsky as a victim of the brutality of Stalin, then after that - only disgust remained. And the words of one of the Karamazov brothers come to mind: "one bastard ate another bastard."
* I read it as an audiobook in the Russian language ( https://akniga.org/trockiy-lev-moya-z...)
Disappointing
Well, where to start?
The title of the book is misleading. My intention to acknowledge Trotsky's autobiography was to find out his inner motives for launching his revolutionary career and what was given him the strength to continue.
However, you won't find any answer to this question as two-thirds of the book is about bios of the third-, and fourth-rate revolutionaries; a couple of pages (!) - to his personal life with two wives and four children, and the rest filled up with some historic events, etc.
The odd thing is that he used for his family members, not a personal name, but a common name, i.e. wife, my younger son, etc. The name of the first wife who actually introduced Marxism to him, he even doesn't bother to tell.
Though, he introduced not only the full names of the comrades - bolsheviks but also their birthdays, deaths, and other boring details about their careers in the bolshevik party.
Trotsky is terribly secretive - the book lacks reveal his personality, his personal thoughts about the reasons for what he did, and where he got the ideas for his articles from.
The only glimpse was done in the begging of the book when he described his visit to his uncle - a successful entrepreneur. As Leiba Davidovich Bronstein ( original name of Leo Trotsky) mentioned: his uncle has been successful in getting surplus value practically, but he was unable to explain it theoretically. And this was a competitive advantage for Leiba in front of his uncle.
The end of the book is full of caustic criticism of Western countries that did not allow him (who dreamed of a World Revolution and flooded his own country with the blood of 12 million lives in a civil war) to settle on their territory.
Unfortunately, Trotsky "forgot" to provide juicy information about his arrival in Mexico (which gives him the go-ahead to live), where he receives shelter from Diego and immediately begins to flirt with his wife, the naive young Frida, in front of his own wife and sons.
If before I started listening to the book, I felt sympathy for L. Trotsky as a victim of the brutality of Stalin, then after that - only disgust remained. And the words of one of the Karamazov brothers come to mind: "one bastard ate another bastard."
* I read it as an audiobook in the Russian language ( https://akniga.org/trockiy-lev-moya-z...)
February 26, 2022
I may have read this some fifty years ago, when I was studying politics and the Russian Revolution and before I began keeping track accurately of my reading, but if so I didn't remember much of what I would have expected to have remembered. Of course, the earlier chapters about his childhood and pre-revolutionary adolescence are only of biographical interest, but from then on there is much of political and historical importance. The chapters on the 1905 and 1917 revolutions are naturally less clear than his books on those subjects, and there are occasional differences of detail, given that this book was written largely from memory under less than ideal research conditions during his exile in Turkey. Given the time and place it was written, there is a feeling throughout the book of its being essentially a defense against the charges of the Stalinists.
The most interesting chapters are on the disputes within the Social-Democratic parties between the two revolutions and the attitudes towards the First World War; the period of the Civil War (I hadn't fully realized how close the revolution came to being defeated on several occasions); and the period of Lenin's last illness and death, when the Stalinist conspiracy took power in the party and the state. While there is much that is inspiring in the book, at the end it was definitely depressing, despite Trotsky's attempt to remain optimistic about the temporary nature of the setback. Reading it in hindsight, after all of Stalin's betrayals, Trotsky's assassination, the Second World War, the failure of the parties of the Fourth International to ever gain major influence, let alone accomplish a revolution either in Russia or the West, and the ultimate collapse of the Soviet Union and restoration of capitalism, it is obvious that the Stalinist Thermidor has been a long-lived catastrophe for the entire world. I finished this as the tanks of Putin's capitalist Russia were entering Kyiv (Kiev), to the hypocritical and basically empty condemnation of the Western imperialists.
This was the Pathfinder Press edition with an introduction by Joseph Hansen about the exile in Mexico and Trotsky's assassination, and a brief chronology of Trotsky's life after 1929.
The most interesting chapters are on the disputes within the Social-Democratic parties between the two revolutions and the attitudes towards the First World War; the period of the Civil War (I hadn't fully realized how close the revolution came to being defeated on several occasions); and the period of Lenin's last illness and death, when the Stalinist conspiracy took power in the party and the state. While there is much that is inspiring in the book, at the end it was definitely depressing, despite Trotsky's attempt to remain optimistic about the temporary nature of the setback. Reading it in hindsight, after all of Stalin's betrayals, Trotsky's assassination, the Second World War, the failure of the parties of the Fourth International to ever gain major influence, let alone accomplish a revolution either in Russia or the West, and the ultimate collapse of the Soviet Union and restoration of capitalism, it is obvious that the Stalinist Thermidor has been a long-lived catastrophe for the entire world. I finished this as the tanks of Putin's capitalist Russia were entering Kyiv (Kiev), to the hypocritical and basically empty condemnation of the Western imperialists.
This was the Pathfinder Press edition with an introduction by Joseph Hansen about the exile in Mexico and Trotsky's assassination, and a brief chronology of Trotsky's life after 1929.
February 2, 2018
La autobiografía de León Tortsky a mi gusto es una joya, no sólo por la gran forma en que esta escrita, sino por sus múltiples lecturas que se puede hacer de ella. Puede ser un pequeño libro de historia de los acontecimientos que llevaron a la revolución rusa de 1917 hasta la consolidación de la URSS, desde uno de sus principales participantes (algo bastante atípico). Como una respuesta política de Trotsky a sus detractores, con amplias pruebas, y en especial a Stalin que lo persiguió en el exilio hasta México. Hasta una como una gran epopeya. La vida de Trostky es sin duda sorprendente, una gran aventura romántica. Nacido en Ucrania, hijo de granjeros, se convirtió en uno de los más notables personajes del siglo XX, al ser parte fundamental de la revolución que daría nacimiento a la URSS. Tuvo escapatorias épicas de la prisión en Siberia, vivió en grandes ciudades de Europa (no necesariamente por elección), fue autodidacta, un escritor prolífico, un teórico-político muy activo, comandante de las fuerzas armadas, perseguido político. Conoció sin número de personas a lo largo de su vida, a muchas de las cuales honra, y dejó una huella perdurable en el mundo. Independientemente de si uno esta o no de acuerdo con sus ideales políticos se le debe de dar el crédito como uno de los grandes forjadores de la historia del siglo XX.
March 30, 2020
Four and a half stars, really, hand on heart, though this is certainly anything but a dull, anecdote-laden political biography. The points knocked off, or my reservations about the book, are that there is a fair bit of point-scoring going on here, against Stalin, primarily (and understandably) masquerading as telling the whole truth and nothing but the truth.
But having said that, Trotsky's story takes some beating and think what you will of his politics, which can be fairly wilfully opaque sometimes, in that squabbling over (and out of) exact meaning politicians do so well, this is a special story which takes us from a rural, mud-walled hut in the middle of nowhere to the centre of some of the most important world-shaping events to have ever occured. We are lying on the floor, too tired to sleep, with Lenin at the height of revolution; we are faced with Stalin's smiling "friendship", so easy to see through but so awfully, horribly hard to escape. We live on a train for two years and flee Siberia on reindeers. We address crowds of thousands and so on and son on.
Trotsky can write. He wanted to be a writer and that, in the end, is the book's saving grace.
But having said that, Trotsky's story takes some beating and think what you will of his politics, which can be fairly wilfully opaque sometimes, in that squabbling over (and out of) exact meaning politicians do so well, this is a special story which takes us from a rural, mud-walled hut in the middle of nowhere to the centre of some of the most important world-shaping events to have ever occured. We are lying on the floor, too tired to sleep, with Lenin at the height of revolution; we are faced with Stalin's smiling "friendship", so easy to see through but so awfully, horribly hard to escape. We live on a train for two years and flee Siberia on reindeers. We address crowds of thousands and so on and son on.
Trotsky can write. He wanted to be a writer and that, in the end, is the book's saving grace.
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March 31, 2025Сложно давать оценку этому произведению. Троцкий - это выдающаяся личность эпохи, ученый человек, философ, умеющий писать и излагать свои мысли, который никогда не переставал трудиться, учиться и развиваться.
Человек который верен своему принципу «Делай что должен, и будь, что будет».
Написано хорошо, но читается не легко. Иногда сухо, иногда бурно и интересно. Конечно, написано очень субъективно, автор верит в абсолютную правоту своих действий и в абсолютную неправоту действий своих противников, нет выводов и принятия ответственности за множественные кровопролития учиненные большевиками, также многие детали его жизни, особенно частной, были опущены. Например, у Троцкого были две жены, а в книге этого не указано. Последняя глава позабавила наивностью - как большевик и революционер, неутомимый борец за идею перманентной революции во всем мире дивился что вся Европа и США отказывались давать ему право убежища. Впечатление осталось неоднозначное.
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«Давление материальной силы всегда играло и продолжает играть большую роль в истории человечества; иногда оно играет прогрессивную роль, чаще — реакционную; его характер зависит от того, какой класс применяет силу и с какой целью. Но от этого далеко до убеждения, что силой можно решить все проблемы и преодолеть все препятствия. Силой оружия можно задержать развитие прогрессивных исторических тенденций; но невозможно навсегда преградить путь продвижению прогрессивных идей. Поэтому, когда борьба идет за великие принципы, революционер может руководствоваться только одним правилом: Fais ce que dois, advienne que pourra.»
Последняя фраза на французском языке переводится как «Делай, что должен, и будь, что будет».
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«- - Скажите мне, -- спросил Склянский, -- что такое Сталин?
Склянский сам достаточно знал Сталина. Он хотел от меня определения его личности и вместе объяснения его успехов. Я задумался.
-- Сталин, -- сказал я, -- это наиболее выдающаяся посредственность нашей партии.»
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«Рабочий класс России, под руководством большевиков, сделал попытку перестроить жизнь так, чтобы исключить возможность периодических буйных помешательств человечества и заложить основы более высокой культуры. В этом смысл Октябрьской революции. Разумеется, задача, поставленная ею, не разрешена; но эта задача по самому существу рассчитана на ряд десятилетий. Более того, Октябрьскую революцию нужно брать как исходную точку новейшей истории человечества в целом.»
«Но через ряд десятилетий, а затем и столетий новый общественный режим будет оглядываться на Октябрьскую революцию так же, как буржуазный режим оглядывается на немецкую реформацию или французскую революцию. Это так ясно, так неоспоримо, так незыблемо, что даже профессора истории поймут это, правда, лишь через изрядное количество лет.»
Человек который верен своему принципу «Делай что должен, и будь, что будет».
Написано хорошо, но читается не легко. Иногда сухо, иногда бурно и интересно. Конечно, написано очень субъективно, автор верит в абсолютную правоту своих действий и в абсолютную неправоту действий своих противников, нет выводов и принятия ответственности за множественные кровопролития учиненные большевиками, также многие детали его жизни, особенно частной, были опущены. Например, у Троцкого были две жены, а в книге этого не указано. Последняя глава позабавила наивностью - как большевик и революционер, неутомимый борец за идею перманентной революции во всем мире дивился что вся Европа и США отказывались давать ему право убежища. Впечатление осталось неоднозначное.
******************************************
«Давление материальной силы всегда играло и продолжает играть большую роль в истории человечества; иногда оно играет прогрессивную роль, чаще — реакционную; его характер зависит от того, какой класс применяет силу и с какой целью. Но от этого далеко до убеждения, что силой можно решить все проблемы и преодолеть все препятствия. Силой оружия можно задержать развитие прогрессивных исторических тенденций; но невозможно навсегда преградить путь продвижению прогрессивных идей. Поэтому, когда борьба идет за великие принципы, революционер может руководствоваться только одним правилом: Fais ce que dois, advienne que pourra.»
Последняя фраза на французском языке переводится как «Делай, что должен, и будь, что будет».
******************************************
«- - Скажите мне, -- спросил Склянский, -- что такое Сталин?
Склянский сам достаточно знал Сталина. Он хотел от меня определения его личности и вместе объяснения его успехов. Я задумался.
-- Сталин, -- сказал я, -- это наиболее выдающаяся посредственность нашей партии.»
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«Рабочий класс России, под руководством большевиков, сделал попытку перестроить жизнь так, чтобы исключить возможность периодических буйных помешательств человечества и заложить основы более высокой культуры. В этом смысл Октябрьской революции. Разумеется, задача, поставленная ею, не разрешена; но эта задача по самому существу рассчитана на ряд десятилетий. Более того, Октябрьскую революцию нужно брать как исходную точку новейшей истории человечества в целом.»
«Но через ряд десятилетий, а затем и столетий новый общественный режим будет оглядываться на Октябрьскую революцию так же, как буржуазный режим оглядывается на немецкую реформацию или французскую революцию. Это так ясно, так неоспоримо, так незыблемо, что даже профессора истории поймут это, правда, лишь через изрядное количество лет.»
June 17, 2025
Excellent livre. J'avais des appréhensions au début, vu le côté imposant de l'ouvrage. Je craignais un ouvrage aride et difficile. Mais il se lit au final comme un roman, avec beaucoup de plaisir. Politiquement c'est un ouvrage riche mais plutôt vulgarisateur. On est loin d'un essai théorique, l'histoire en marche et son observation par une des grandes figures de l'époque offrent déjà énormément de leçons de façon naturelle et facilement compréhensible. Le témoignage de Trotsky ayant connu aux premières loges 2 révolutions et contre-révolutions, ayant voyagé sur plusieurs continent, ayant entretenus des relations avec de nombreux autres personnages importants du XXe siècle, tout cela est d'une très grande richesse. Seul ombre au tableau : le fait que l'éditeur n'ait pas intégré la description des 10 dernières années de la vie de Trotsky sur lequel avait écrit Alfred Rosmer.
September 26, 2024
This book has a moral power that is matched by no other.
July 7, 2023
Anyone interested in the ethics and psychology of revolution should read this book.
I do not think the kind of revolution that Trotsky proposes is morally permissible, but he is generally correct in his description of the kind of society that we live in, and what (in theory) it would take to change it.
The great dilemma in all this is that the opposite—that is, defending the current order—also does not seem morally permissible. It all involves violence in some way or other, only justified in different ways, and conducted in varying degrees of invisibility. As he puts it, “If victims are generally to be permitted—but whose permission could one ask?—it is certainly victims that move humanity forward.” (pp. 581) This is the implication of traditional Marxism, as well as liberalism, conservatism, and every other baleful “-ism”—and a plain fact of secular history.
Walter Benjamin, in his Theses on the Philosophy of History (1940), evidently did not consider this acceptable, and neither do I. But we cannot find a different way unless we first understand the fatal implications of a merely secular conception of history—that is, a conception that admits no salvation from outside the world. Without such an external—that is, eternal—referent, we cannot help but defend evil, and once we do, a true morality of any kind becomes impossible.
I do not think the kind of revolution that Trotsky proposes is morally permissible, but he is generally correct in his description of the kind of society that we live in, and what (in theory) it would take to change it.
The great dilemma in all this is that the opposite—that is, defending the current order—also does not seem morally permissible. It all involves violence in some way or other, only justified in different ways, and conducted in varying degrees of invisibility. As he puts it, “If victims are generally to be permitted—but whose permission could one ask?—it is certainly victims that move humanity forward.” (pp. 581) This is the implication of traditional Marxism, as well as liberalism, conservatism, and every other baleful “-ism”—and a plain fact of secular history.
Walter Benjamin, in his Theses on the Philosophy of History (1940), evidently did not consider this acceptable, and neither do I. But we cannot find a different way unless we first understand the fatal implications of a merely secular conception of history—that is, a conception that admits no salvation from outside the world. Without such an external—that is, eternal—referent, we cannot help but defend evil, and once we do, a true morality of any kind becomes impossible.
March 23, 2024
Truly inspirational
January 8, 2025
Es una experiencia fascinante conocer la vida de cerca de León Trotsky. Algunos capítulos sobre estrategia militar son más espesos, pero es prácticamente como leer una novela política.
January 8, 2017
Trotsky's brilliance is on full show throughout, and this is ram-packed of political insight and inspiration, though read as a curiosity or as literature it has its shortcomings.
The early part is cleverly stylised, and Trotsky lets his literary instincts fly a little as he pieces together reminiscences of his early life. It's also really interesting to read his judgement of his young self and his origins. These are the most personal pages of the book.
As the story moves toward Trotsky's political career, the tone becomes more polemical. Luckily, Trotsky is a great polemicist and there was an evident necessity for some polemic in this book. Nevertheless, I couldn't help but wish that Trotsky had maintained some of the personal tone and stylistic creativity of the early parts rather than moving in the direction of political memoir which is leavened with only occasional glimpses into his personal life. The content and tone of the whole thing, though, is inevitably and necessarily dictated by the needs of the moment and the mortal pressure of the Stalinist counterrevolution, and so all these exclusions and changes are quite understandable.
What is left is a unique vision into the world of European socialism in its most tumultuous, tragic, and heroic period. Trotsky's recollections of the revolution, civil war, and degeneration are pure gold, giving insight into the real role played by the famous and hidden characters of the revolution, and providing a more concrete look at what a degeneration in a revolutionary party looks and feels like. All of this is told by a brilliant writer and a genuinely profound mind. As such, this is an invaluable, if somewhat frustrating, book.
The early part is cleverly stylised, and Trotsky lets his literary instincts fly a little as he pieces together reminiscences of his early life. It's also really interesting to read his judgement of his young self and his origins. These are the most personal pages of the book.
As the story moves toward Trotsky's political career, the tone becomes more polemical. Luckily, Trotsky is a great polemicist and there was an evident necessity for some polemic in this book. Nevertheless, I couldn't help but wish that Trotsky had maintained some of the personal tone and stylistic creativity of the early parts rather than moving in the direction of political memoir which is leavened with only occasional glimpses into his personal life. The content and tone of the whole thing, though, is inevitably and necessarily dictated by the needs of the moment and the mortal pressure of the Stalinist counterrevolution, and so all these exclusions and changes are quite understandable.
What is left is a unique vision into the world of European socialism in its most tumultuous, tragic, and heroic period. Trotsky's recollections of the revolution, civil war, and degeneration are pure gold, giving insight into the real role played by the famous and hidden characters of the revolution, and providing a more concrete look at what a degeneration in a revolutionary party looks and feels like. All of this is told by a brilliant writer and a genuinely profound mind. As such, this is an invaluable, if somewhat frustrating, book.
August 29, 2020
This is a difficult and monotonous read because I am not familiar with Russian history, geography, political structure, and culture. The beginning chapters took some time to get acquainted with as I had to read a few peripheral articles to give me a historical context. Somewhere past halfway into the book, I wasn’t engaged in the storyline and I was reading the words so I can finish the book.
Trotsky was one of the central figures in the Bolshevik revolution, who gave us insights into the early intrigues and struggles within the communist government. He wrote this book while he was in exile in 1929 so he gave us a limited view of his interactions with Lenin and other Soviet political party members and his Marxist ideology. I wonder what he would have written about himself up to his assassination in 1940 and not just up to 1929.
While reading this book I was curious as to how can a person have such a different, well-structured childhood to become a revolutionary and political theorist. Even in his book, there’s a line that stood out to me “Ideas are handed down from generation to generation, although, like grandmother’s pillows and covers, they reek of staleness. Even those who are obliged to change the substance of their opinions force them into ancient moulds.” It brought me back to The Tipping Point by Malcom Gladwell, if there’s one single event or series of incremental changes when we look in retrospect of our lives that altered our paths.
“There is no evil without good.”
Trotsky was one of the central figures in the Bolshevik revolution, who gave us insights into the early intrigues and struggles within the communist government. He wrote this book while he was in exile in 1929 so he gave us a limited view of his interactions with Lenin and other Soviet political party members and his Marxist ideology. I wonder what he would have written about himself up to his assassination in 1940 and not just up to 1929.
While reading this book I was curious as to how can a person have such a different, well-structured childhood to become a revolutionary and political theorist. Even in his book, there’s a line that stood out to me “Ideas are handed down from generation to generation, although, like grandmother’s pillows and covers, they reek of staleness. Even those who are obliged to change the substance of their opinions force them into ancient moulds.” It brought me back to The Tipping Point by Malcom Gladwell, if there’s one single event or series of incremental changes when we look in retrospect of our lives that altered our paths.
“There is no evil without good.”
February 7, 2022
I don't give this 5(maybe 4.5) stars because of how I feel about Trotskys politics. I give a high rating because Trotsky's story - to which this is missing the last 10ish years of - is quite phenomenal. In fact the way L.D writes this you almost feel optimistic that the Left Opposition will suddenly overtake the Stalin faction following Lenin's illness and death as L.D conveys his emotions and personal optimism of the time in such a way - even though we all know the ending. In some respects Trotsky's own bias shows - he undeniably downplays Stalin's role in the October Revolution and that's to be expected and I don't blame him to be fair.
All told I've come away from this with a new appreciation for Trotsky and his accomplishments but also with another viewpoint of what I consider to be the most interesting events of 20th century history.
All told I've come away from this with a new appreciation for Trotsky and his accomplishments but also with another viewpoint of what I consider to be the most interesting events of 20th century history.
February 6, 2020
Писательский талант у Троцкого однозначно имелся, красивые описания земель и быта удачно перетекают в описания политической борьбы. Но в книге совсем не описываются те репрессии, которые проводились Троцким и компартией, за это ставлю 1.
Насчет истории же я примерно это и представлял. Большевики летали в облаках, жили идеей и не хотели видеть реальности. Удержали власть только благодаря "земля - крестьянам", которую потом обратно и отобрали. Насчет Сталина иллюзий у меня никогда не было - подлец и проходимец - и книга это подтвердила.
Насчет истории же я примерно это и представлял. Большевики летали в облаках, жили идеей и не хотели видеть реальности. Удержали власть только благодаря "земля - крестьянам", которую потом обратно и отобрали. Насчет Сталина иллюзий у меня никогда не было - подлец и проходимец - и книга это подтвердила.
July 12, 2017
Um excelente livro pessoal e politico.
May 13, 2019
Took me a long time but I finally finished this book. This book is such a valuable source for our exploration of the Russian Revolution and the Bolshevik Party. No other leading Bolshevik produced works quite like Trotsky.
Don't let this academic tone fool you, however, Trotsky had a gift with a pen; his prose are captivating and full of interest.
Highly recommended for those interested in history or politics.
Don't let this academic tone fool you, however, Trotsky had a gift with a pen; his prose are captivating and full of interest.
Highly recommended for those interested in history or politics.
February 8, 2018
Loving Trotsky is a guilty pleasure.
November 3, 2018
I had just given birth to my daughter and asked my partner to bring a book into hospital for me to read - he bought me this... typical of him and just right for me.
November 10, 2024
Trotsky easily stands out as the finest Marxist writer of his generation, and his autobiography is no exception. For those expecting the swashbuckling tales of the October Revolution and subsequent civil war, the first third of the book can feel a bit slow, and we get way more information about his childhood than I was expecting. But after a certain point it starts to read a bit like a Russian novel, with casually endured tragedy, resigned peasants, and grown men randomly erupting into sobs. Everything is slow, everything remote. The only sign of the twentieth century is a lone mechanical grain thresher belching smoke in the shed. I got the repeated sense that the hum of the thresher came from another world, and the hum only gets louder as Trotsky moves further toward modernity: louder with the Dniester steamships, then the factories of Odessa, then the gasworks of New York City, culminating in the roar of his war train. While largely skipping over the abortive 1905 revolution, he fills in the 1910s with his numerous stays in jail (which he actually loved) and multiple escapes from Siberia. His relationship with Lenin comes to the fore again and again, as he joins and then separates with the man only to join him again in Petrograd. It truly is remarkable how many countries he managed to pass through in this preparatory phase, and a testament to the strength of the international workers’ movement that he always found the local social democratic organization and started agitating immediately. While the chapters on October are relatively short, it does give some fascinating tidbits not covered in his other books, such as the absurd lack of sleep, the fragments of conversation with Lenin, and the last-minute improvisations that led to his seizure of power. Astonishing then is the lengths he went to to avoid power as soon as he had seized it: it took repeated attempts by Lenin and the cabinet to get him to accept the all-important spheres of foreign affairs and running the army. It’s worth bearing in mind this this book was written immediately after he was exiled from the USSR, when the wounds were still quite fresh and the factional struggles very much alive. Every now and then we get a chapter that breaks the narrative and addresses the stalinist rewriting of history, but the details can come across as arcane programmatic disputes to modern readers. This is often done to establish his own claim to the ideological legitimacy of Lenin and highlight the manifold ways the contemporary Soviet administration had missed the mark. This goes beyond the mere political though, and his relationship with Lenin becomes one of the central themes of the second half of the book. No doubt some airbrushing takes place, and the differences that led to their estrangement do get glossed over a bit, but the mutual trust between them is remarkable and heartwarming. While never failing to do show deference to Vladimir Ilich’s monumental place in history, Trotsky shows the Bolshevik leader in a rare personal light, full of nervousness and warmth and even humor. They played little jokes on each other during cabinet meetings, to the extent that Lenin would convulse with barely-suppressed laughter; it’s so easy to forget the fundamentally normal humans behind the imposing black and white photographs. The civil war chapters are definitely the most exciting part of the book, and offer a glimpse at what could have been a separate work: the author only devotes so many pages to the topic because he planned to cover it in more detail as its own volume. Evidently he never got around to it. Nevertheless he offers tantalizing details about his work as War Commissar, covering in pretty good depth his leadership during the Battle of Kazan, in which he played a forward leadership role and came under fire several times. Even his celebrated war train gets a chapter of its own, and it’s pretty sick. Crisscrossing the fronts of the war, the train acquired an aura of its own, inspiring unsteady army units and striking terror into its opponents. While traversing the vastness of Russia in this capacity, the man still found time to start a separate newspaper just for the train, and distribute it to remote army detachments otherwise oblivious to the world outside Russia. After the high point of the defense of Petrograd, the ultimate tragedy of the memoir takes hold, with the slow-moving Stalinist reaction first taking the shape of “rudeness” and then a whisper campaign and the finally outright persecution. What a tragedy that Lenin dies when he did, for he seems to have been keenly aware of what was going on and begun to move against Stalin. Lenin’s death was the go-ahead for the destruction of the left within the party, yet the tactics used against the Trotskyists in the 20s seem almost quaint when compared with the later purges. While his subordinates could be disappeared, Trotsky himself could at first be isolated and harassed and frozen out (this began with Stalin’s “secret politburo”) due to his preeminent status as a war hero. Grigory Zinoviev’s subsequent break with Stalin and alliance with the left gave Trotsky all manner of juicy insights into just how insidious was the Stalin bloc’s campaign against him. Yet even when he finally gets exiled once again to Siberia, a crowd appears to try and stop the train, and even the agents sent to take him away are surprisingly polite, a far cry from the secret police yet to come. The book ends in 1930, as he waited in limbo in Istanbul, yet even then he remains oddly cheerful. Perhaps it was cope and posturing, but he presents himself as one who truly has risen above the petty politics of personality to become a man of history, unperturbable. This was such a treat to devour, as are all his works. He zigzagged from a anonymous Jewish farmer’s son to a local organizer to a wanted criminal in several countries before orchestrating the Bolshevik seizure of power and rising to “unlimited power” during the war, only to have it all slowly taken away again. And yet in that short life he played such a pivotal role in the first great experiment to take seriously the question of industrial democracy and economic planning and genuine equality for women and a world without empires. The circumstances surrounding the Russian Revolution are so exquisitely unique we very well may never get another chance like it. Thank god someone took a shot for all it was worth.
September 24, 2023
Huvitav ülevaade oktoobrirevolutsiooni olulisemast kujust Lenini järel. Trotski roll revolutsioonilise teooria kirjutamisel, 1917. aasta sündmuste korraldamisel ja organiseerimisel. Lisaks võib teda pidada Punaarmee loojaks ja kõige olulisemaks organiseerijaks. Tema tegutsemine kodusõja erinevatel rinnetel ning võime inimesi kõnedega inspireerida aitas korduvalt kaasa võitude saavutamisele.
Kriitikat ei tohi unustada - Trotski oli vägagi egoistlik ning nartsissitlik inimene. See väljendus tema enda jaoks saatuslikuna, sest osalt alahindas ta Stalini võimekust poliitiliste intriigide punumisel, teisalt pidas ta oma positsiooni pärast revolutsiooni ja kodusõja triumfe liiga kindlaks.
Väga huvitav lugemine. Kel pole aega tervet teost lugeda, soovitan kasvõi peatükke oktoobrirevolutsiooni korraldamisest Lenini surmani ja tema parteist välja heitmiseni.
Tasuta e-raamat: https://www.marxists.org/archive/trot...
Kriitikat ei tohi unustada - Trotski oli vägagi egoistlik ning nartsissitlik inimene. See väljendus tema enda jaoks saatuslikuna, sest osalt alahindas ta Stalini võimekust poliitiliste intriigide punumisel, teisalt pidas ta oma positsiooni pärast revolutsiooni ja kodusõja triumfe liiga kindlaks.
Väga huvitav lugemine. Kel pole aega tervet teost lugeda, soovitan kasvõi peatükke oktoobrirevolutsiooni korraldamisest Lenini surmani ja tema parteist välja heitmiseni.
Tasuta e-raamat: https://www.marxists.org/archive/trot...
January 21, 2025
He tardado media vida en acabarlo. Me quedé atascada a 20 páginas del final porque no quería que acabara. Es brutal, uno de los mejores libros que leí nunca. Encajas muchas cosas de la propia militancia. Es una lectura deliciosa que permite leer sin lápiz y post-its e ir recorriendo algunos de los principales eventos políticos del primer tercio del siglo XX. La capacidad de Trotsky para caracterizar a otros es sencillamente brutal.
Léanlo.
Léanlo.
July 7, 2022
Only the second best book Trotsky wrote in 1930, but still a masterwork of autobiography.
March 26, 2025
One of the most interesting people I’ve ever read about. Ostensibly a charismatic and disciplined leader, but really a cut-out revolutionist with the same jaded attitude as everyone else apart of the Soviet apparatus (even after his exile).
I’m finding a pattern among Soviet autocrat leadership: Men of world-class intellect, yet equally capable of the most naive, narrow-minded ideological dogmatism.
I’m finding a pattern among Soviet autocrat leadership: Men of world-class intellect, yet equally capable of the most naive, narrow-minded ideological dogmatism.
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