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Trotsky in New York, 1917: A Radical on the Eve of Revolution
Lev Davidovich Trotsky burst onto the world stage in November 1917 as co-leader of a Marxist Revolution seizing power in Russia. It made him one of the most recognized personalities of the Twentieth Century, a global icon of radical change. Yet just months earlier, this same Lev Trotsky was a nobody, a refugee expelled from Europe, writing obscure pamphlets and speeches, barely noticed outside a small circle of fellow travelers. Where had he come from to topple Russia and change the world? Where else? New York City.
Between January and March 1917, Trotsky found refuge in the United States. America had kept itself out of the European Great War, leaving New York the freest city on earth. During his time there—just over ten weeks—Trotsky immersed himself in the local scene. He settled his family in the Bronx, edited a radical left wing tabloid in Greenwich Village, sampled the lifestyle, and plunged headlong into local politics. His clashes with leading New York socialists over the question of US entry into World War I would reshape the American left for the next fifty years.
Between January and March 1917, Trotsky found refuge in the United States. America had kept itself out of the European Great War, leaving New York the freest city on earth. During his time there—just over ten weeks—Trotsky immersed himself in the local scene. He settled his family in the Bronx, edited a radical left wing tabloid in Greenwich Village, sampled the lifestyle, and plunged headlong into local politics. His clashes with leading New York socialists over the question of US entry into World War I would reshape the American left for the next fifty years.
396 pages, Hardcover
Published September 13, 2016
19 people are currently reading
644 people want to read
About the author
Kenneth D. Ackerman
13 books52 followersKen Ackerman, a writer and attorney in Washington, D.C., is a 25-year veteran of senior positions in Congress, the executive branch, and financial regulation.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 32 reviews
December 24, 2022
“Leon Trotsky remains one of the great tragic figures of the 20th Century… a powerful orator who could sway a large crowd and move it to tears, a historian whose literary talents made it impossible to ignore his work, and a political analyst who interpreted events and foresaw the future with the passion of an Old Testament prophet.” ~Tariq Ali
Trotsky was a man who blurred distinctions. He is sometimes referred to as a communist and sometimes as a socialist. He was both a pacifist and a revolutionary. On the one hand he found sanctuary in capitalist America, on the other hand he campaigned for its overthrow. Trotsky was distrustful of authority, especially policemen, and yet he was a key architect of Stalinist Russia, one of the most brutal authoritarian regimes of its day.
Kenneth D. Ackerman’s Trotsky in New York, 1917 is perhaps poorly titled. Ackerman’s scope is much more comprehensive than Trotsky’s three month exile in America. But it was those three months, January to March, that were pivotal - not only for Trotsky, but also for the affirmation of socialism as an ideology. Speaking metaphorically, it was the eye of the storm.
“I did not leave a party of crooks to join one of lunatics.” ~Louis Boudin, on the split Socialist Party Convention, 1917
In spite of the advent of people like James Baldwin and (much later) Bernie Sanders, socialism in America would never regain the momentum it had prior to the first world war. From a capitalist point of view socialism, and by extension communism, always inevitably descends into totalitarianism. After all, it was socialistic philosophy that gave rise to the Stalinism that, in the end, led to Trotsky’s imprisonment and eventual assassination.
At his core, Trotsky believed that any oppressive regime could be overthrown by an organized and motivated will of the people. That made him a danger to dictators and oligarchs and autocrats everywhere. Whatever one’s opinion of him may be, Trotsky was, to paraphrase Ackerman, an irrefutable agent of change in a world that craved stability.
Trotsky was a man who blurred distinctions. He is sometimes referred to as a communist and sometimes as a socialist. He was both a pacifist and a revolutionary. On the one hand he found sanctuary in capitalist America, on the other hand he campaigned for its overthrow. Trotsky was distrustful of authority, especially policemen, and yet he was a key architect of Stalinist Russia, one of the most brutal authoritarian regimes of its day.
Kenneth D. Ackerman’s Trotsky in New York, 1917 is perhaps poorly titled. Ackerman’s scope is much more comprehensive than Trotsky’s three month exile in America. But it was those three months, January to March, that were pivotal - not only for Trotsky, but also for the affirmation of socialism as an ideology. Speaking metaphorically, it was the eye of the storm.
“I did not leave a party of crooks to join one of lunatics.” ~Louis Boudin, on the split Socialist Party Convention, 1917
In spite of the advent of people like James Baldwin and (much later) Bernie Sanders, socialism in America would never regain the momentum it had prior to the first world war. From a capitalist point of view socialism, and by extension communism, always inevitably descends into totalitarianism. After all, it was socialistic philosophy that gave rise to the Stalinism that, in the end, led to Trotsky’s imprisonment and eventual assassination.
At his core, Trotsky believed that any oppressive regime could be overthrown by an organized and motivated will of the people. That made him a danger to dictators and oligarchs and autocrats everywhere. Whatever one’s opinion of him may be, Trotsky was, to paraphrase Ackerman, an irrefutable agent of change in a world that craved stability.
March 30, 2018
A very good study of the development of Trotsky's thought through his experiences during World War I and the February Revolution. Well researched and interesting portraits of other figures in NY's Left during this period. I enjoyed this book and found it to be well written and informative.
September 14, 2016
“Fun” and “Trotsky” are not a natural pairing, but that's what you get with Kenneth Ackerman's historical reconstruction of the wily Bolshevik's time in The Big Apple.
In a scrupulously researched book, Ackerman reconstructs Leon Trotsky's 10-week stay in New York City and makes some far-reaching claims about the importance of the layover that, at least, invite discussion.
Basically thrown out of Europe, Trotsky hit New York in 1917. The historian provides some background on the rebel's life prior to getting on that transatlantic crossing and knows a little about what happened on board as well.
As the book's subtitle – “A Radical on the Eve of Revolution” – suggests, Trotsky arrived anonymous, but would leave with his name on everybody's lips as turmoil in Russia created the opening he and Vladimir Lenin had been anticipating for years.
Ackerman relishes his twin topics and brings “Trotsky's New York” to life visually, factually, sensually.
The noisy isle crowded with Yiddish-speaking, Russian Tsar-hating Jews, the elevated trains hammering out the urban machine soundtrack to industrial Manhattan, other flavors and phantoms are successfully summonsed in this engaging text.
The author traces Trotsky's steps: his rental in a middle-class section of the Bronx; his day job at a Russian-language left-wing rag (and debates therein); his interactions with socialists both American and foreign, his associates both old world and new.
Together, in New York and Trotsky, Ackerman ably helps himself to not one, but two great historical players so that, although we're dealing with footnoted, historical nonfiction, a lively and, yes, even fun, portrait of man and place in time emerges.
We might call it “Ragtime” for communists save for the fact Ackerman hews closer to an academic style than does E.L. Doctorow in his intentionally literary turn.
The portrait of Trotsky is that of a verbal and ideological bulldog, an insolent intellectual, a man convinced of his cause's correctness, intolerant of any divergence from his recipe for violent revolution.
The author does a bang-up job of resuscitating American socialist Morris Hillquit from the dustbin of history through the replay of his policy battle with Trotsky over how the American left would respond to the country's entry into World War I.
Hillquit prevailed... barely. Ackerman suggests that in his confrontations with the milder reformist and those of his ilk in New York, Trotsky mapped the future of American left-radicalism for decades to come.
That, and other claims the author makes regarding the impact of Trotsky's stay are plausible and provide fodder for debate and further scholarship.
The book sheds a novel light on the Russian Revolution, which looms quite so large given Trotsky's decisive role and Ackerman can't resist commenting on the too-big subject. Here he falls into a bit of rote anti-communism.
It's unavoidable that the horrors of Stalin, the gulags, show-trials, pogroms, etc., be raised, but there is no consideration of what good, if any, Trotsky's efforts generated so that Ackerman short-shrifts his own subject.
How history treats us! Hillquit, a decent human being and worldly character is forgotten, but the Trotsky produced here, who wrought nothing but heartache upon those he or his ideas touched, is the historical standout.
Without a counter-discussion, Trotsky comes across as a man of multiple talents, all of which were misapplied in the creation of a sanguinary communist dictatorship. But there were many who believed in the Soviet Union and still others who lament its passing. Their take on Trotsky is missing.
Which is to say, Ackerman should have stopped where his title does: in New York. The post-Gotham section is not inconsiderable and removes the reader from a curious epoch that is the book's strength.
Yes, following the trajectories of certain players, and Trotsky family members, in revolutionary Russia serves a purpose and provides the reader with satisfying – or mortifying – closure.
Still, the author would have lost nothing and gained a more cohesive “whole” by sticking with his attractive, almost stylized account and cutting Trotsky loose at the New York piers; letting him float off into a history left for books written and unwritten alike.
In a scrupulously researched book, Ackerman reconstructs Leon Trotsky's 10-week stay in New York City and makes some far-reaching claims about the importance of the layover that, at least, invite discussion.
Basically thrown out of Europe, Trotsky hit New York in 1917. The historian provides some background on the rebel's life prior to getting on that transatlantic crossing and knows a little about what happened on board as well.
As the book's subtitle – “A Radical on the Eve of Revolution” – suggests, Trotsky arrived anonymous, but would leave with his name on everybody's lips as turmoil in Russia created the opening he and Vladimir Lenin had been anticipating for years.
Ackerman relishes his twin topics and brings “Trotsky's New York” to life visually, factually, sensually.
The noisy isle crowded with Yiddish-speaking, Russian Tsar-hating Jews, the elevated trains hammering out the urban machine soundtrack to industrial Manhattan, other flavors and phantoms are successfully summonsed in this engaging text.
The author traces Trotsky's steps: his rental in a middle-class section of the Bronx; his day job at a Russian-language left-wing rag (and debates therein); his interactions with socialists both American and foreign, his associates both old world and new.
Together, in New York and Trotsky, Ackerman ably helps himself to not one, but two great historical players so that, although we're dealing with footnoted, historical nonfiction, a lively and, yes, even fun, portrait of man and place in time emerges.
We might call it “Ragtime” for communists save for the fact Ackerman hews closer to an academic style than does E.L. Doctorow in his intentionally literary turn.
The portrait of Trotsky is that of a verbal and ideological bulldog, an insolent intellectual, a man convinced of his cause's correctness, intolerant of any divergence from his recipe for violent revolution.
The author does a bang-up job of resuscitating American socialist Morris Hillquit from the dustbin of history through the replay of his policy battle with Trotsky over how the American left would respond to the country's entry into World War I.
Hillquit prevailed... barely. Ackerman suggests that in his confrontations with the milder reformist and those of his ilk in New York, Trotsky mapped the future of American left-radicalism for decades to come.
That, and other claims the author makes regarding the impact of Trotsky's stay are plausible and provide fodder for debate and further scholarship.
The book sheds a novel light on the Russian Revolution, which looms quite so large given Trotsky's decisive role and Ackerman can't resist commenting on the too-big subject. Here he falls into a bit of rote anti-communism.
It's unavoidable that the horrors of Stalin, the gulags, show-trials, pogroms, etc., be raised, but there is no consideration of what good, if any, Trotsky's efforts generated so that Ackerman short-shrifts his own subject.
How history treats us! Hillquit, a decent human being and worldly character is forgotten, but the Trotsky produced here, who wrought nothing but heartache upon those he or his ideas touched, is the historical standout.
Without a counter-discussion, Trotsky comes across as a man of multiple talents, all of which were misapplied in the creation of a sanguinary communist dictatorship. But there were many who believed in the Soviet Union and still others who lament its passing. Their take on Trotsky is missing.
Which is to say, Ackerman should have stopped where his title does: in New York. The post-Gotham section is not inconsiderable and removes the reader from a curious epoch that is the book's strength.
Yes, following the trajectories of certain players, and Trotsky family members, in revolutionary Russia serves a purpose and provides the reader with satisfying – or mortifying – closure.
Still, the author would have lost nothing and gained a more cohesive “whole” by sticking with his attractive, almost stylized account and cutting Trotsky loose at the New York piers; letting him float off into a history left for books written and unwritten alike.
July 26, 2017
Currently I am composing extended essay for the IB program regarding the contribution of Leon Trotsky in relation to the Russian Revolution- this being the first book source I have delved into onto of numerous databases.
I would suggest this book to anyone who has a rudimentary understanding of the Russian Revolution, because this book is simple to follow and written almost as if it was a narrative, making research way less dreadful. Ackerman truly paints a portrait and characterizes Trotsky as more than a forgotten player in the Russian Revolution and his influence in New York.
This book is a must if Russian history is anything of interest to you, and I cannot begin to thank my theory of knowledge teacher for recommending me to begin with this book. It is way more than a time like, but a woven and interesting story that sparked my interest more. Granted, if you are writing a research paper like me, it's evident that you will need more sources regardless of the beautiful writing- it's not an encyclopedia.
I would suggest this book to anyone who has a rudimentary understanding of the Russian Revolution, because this book is simple to follow and written almost as if it was a narrative, making research way less dreadful. Ackerman truly paints a portrait and characterizes Trotsky as more than a forgotten player in the Russian Revolution and his influence in New York.
This book is a must if Russian history is anything of interest to you, and I cannot begin to thank my theory of knowledge teacher for recommending me to begin with this book. It is way more than a time like, but a woven and interesting story that sparked my interest more. Granted, if you are writing a research paper like me, it's evident that you will need more sources regardless of the beautiful writing- it's not an encyclopedia.
January 11, 2024
This is an engaging read, and Ackerman stays mostly impartial and you can project your own biases onto the situation. Case in point one reviewer says the books tries to make Trotsky a victim of the chaos he created, and another says this book is anti-Trotsky liberal historicist garbage. The former comment is more justified, the author definitely plays around with the idea that Trotsky would have been better than Stalin, maybe the communist experiment would have turned out better. I mean what could be worse than Stalin, but the facts show it would have been hell under Trotsky too with his theory of the militarization of labor and perpetual revolution. He killed plenty of imperfect allies when he had the chance. So to say he’s the most tragic victim of communist Russia – um, no.
But mostly the book isn’t about that, it’s about Trotsky’s ten weeks in NYC. He was so insufferable, to seek refuge somewhere, be treated well, and then just take advantage of people and create chaos. Basically set into motion the downfall of the American Socialist party by undermining their effort to become a legitimate and lawful party, because Trotsky just wanted lawlessness and revolution. A main character here is Morris Hillquist, the founder of the Socialist Party, who is the only one who made any sense, and Trotsky just roles in and undoes a lifetime of work.
The chapters are all over the place – you’ll get one giving a broad history of a major communist figure, and then get a chapter about how Trotsky’s son got lost in the city for three hours. That was kind of a throwaway chapter, except Ackerman imagines Trotsky’s common-law wife thinking: “What an odd place, this America. Strangers in the street stepped up to help. The policemen were nice. They treated her like a welcome neighbor and treated her son like their new best friend. Would Russia be anything like this?” Oh sweetheart.
But mostly the book isn’t about that, it’s about Trotsky’s ten weeks in NYC. He was so insufferable, to seek refuge somewhere, be treated well, and then just take advantage of people and create chaos. Basically set into motion the downfall of the American Socialist party by undermining their effort to become a legitimate and lawful party, because Trotsky just wanted lawlessness and revolution. A main character here is Morris Hillquist, the founder of the Socialist Party, who is the only one who made any sense, and Trotsky just roles in and undoes a lifetime of work.
The chapters are all over the place – you’ll get one giving a broad history of a major communist figure, and then get a chapter about how Trotsky’s son got lost in the city for three hours. That was kind of a throwaway chapter, except Ackerman imagines Trotsky’s common-law wife thinking: “What an odd place, this America. Strangers in the street stepped up to help. The policemen were nice. They treated her like a welcome neighbor and treated her son like their new best friend. Would Russia be anything like this?” Oh sweetheart.
April 1, 2021
Anti-Trotsky liberal historicist garbage
January 21, 2023
A timely investigation of Lev Davidovich Bronstein, aka "Leon Trotsky", and a suspicious period of his life: the ten week sojourn in New York before he returned to Russia to spearhead the Bolshevik Revolution.
May 9, 2022
I won't say that Lenin and Trotsky are tied to each other the way Lennon and McCartney are, but the phrase rolls of the tongue with a familiarity that makes is feel as though the two worked together closely to overthrow the czar and bring the Bolsheviks to power. So it was a surprise to not only find that the two were exchanging bitter insults in the months leading up to the revolution, but that Trotsky was launching those insults from New York, where he was living in exile, though still stirring the socialist pot. This book is an interesting insight into the radical stirrings around the globe as WWI was raging, but it seems a little too glowing in its presentation of Trotsky's "power to the people" politics, especially in light of how rapidly it covers, then moves on from the tyrannical purges he and Lenin imposed once they realized they had bigger fish to fry than each other. One gets the feeling the author really wished things had worked out for Trotsky. Instead, he ended up with a fate not that dissimilar from the type the author seeks to gloss over.
March 13, 2023
The attempt to make Trotsky a victim of the chaos he created is atypical of the corruption of history promoted by the coalition of tiny hats.
September 17, 2021
History is chock full of absurdities and peculiarities. Trotsky's sojourn in New York City on the eve of Russia's Communist revolution is one of these. It would not have happened had the revolution started earlier, and he might never have left the USA if the revolution had not taken place or been quickly put down. As it was, it provided a chief protagonist of the early Soviet state poignant and recent insight into the nature of the emerging democratic and capitalist behemoth of the New World. The United States, in many ways exemplified in Manhattan's bombast, would soon become the Soviet Union's nemesis and begin a zealous anti-Communist campaign that would last for most of the 20th Century.
The book appropriately ends with what ifs. So much of what took place seems so improbable - even in hindsight. Many other histories can be imagined. Oddly, one course that is not really considered involves broader acceptance of Socialism in the West. The Great War is defined by its brutal and inhumane treatment of large populations by their own leaders. British, French, German and Russian people (among others) were slaughtered in untold numbers at the direction of their leaders with so little to gain. The ascendancy of Communism in Russia, with such a brutal aspect, clearly diminished the appetite for utopian social prescriptions despite compelling justification for many to reject the status quo. Trotsky's dreams of revolution just couldn't gain traction elsewhere in Europe or North America except by conquest in WWII.
The narration of the audiobook is excellent. The book's main shortcoming is that it tells a brief story - amounting to a period of a couple of months during which Trotsky was settling with his family into a new place and cultural surroundings. Without hyperbole, it is difficult to make too much of this. In retrospect, Trotsky has cast a large shadow on his times making it tempting to ascribe great influence to his American stay. It definitely had personal relevance and perhaps a disproportionate impact on events, but these should not be exaggerated. Nevertheless, these historical oddities make a good story and great reading.
The book appropriately ends with what ifs. So much of what took place seems so improbable - even in hindsight. Many other histories can be imagined. Oddly, one course that is not really considered involves broader acceptance of Socialism in the West. The Great War is defined by its brutal and inhumane treatment of large populations by their own leaders. British, French, German and Russian people (among others) were slaughtered in untold numbers at the direction of their leaders with so little to gain. The ascendancy of Communism in Russia, with such a brutal aspect, clearly diminished the appetite for utopian social prescriptions despite compelling justification for many to reject the status quo. Trotsky's dreams of revolution just couldn't gain traction elsewhere in Europe or North America except by conquest in WWII.
The narration of the audiobook is excellent. The book's main shortcoming is that it tells a brief story - amounting to a period of a couple of months during which Trotsky was settling with his family into a new place and cultural surroundings. Without hyperbole, it is difficult to make too much of this. In retrospect, Trotsky has cast a large shadow on his times making it tempting to ascribe great influence to his American stay. It definitely had personal relevance and perhaps a disproportionate impact on events, but these should not be exaggerated. Nevertheless, these historical oddities make a good story and great reading.
July 13, 2017
This is a well-written and engaging look at the ten weeks Leon Trotsky spent in New York City prior to the Bolshevik revolution in 1917. I realize the author was working with a limited amount of material from a small window of time, but I wish he would have ended with Trotsky's departure for Russia and not proceeded on to the revolution itself. It's not that I didn't enjoy the additional history, but it was a bit odd reading so much about other places, events, and people in a book that was supposed to focus specifically on "Trotsky in New York." Oh well. Not a big deal in the end.
August 29, 2020
A fascinating look at the short period of time that Trotsky was in New York; what lead to him coming to the US, what he accomplished while there, what that touched off, and where he went after. It even looks at some of the myths/lies that grew up around his time there, and a small look at where the Trotskyites have gone in the time after. Obviously well researched, and engaging.
October 28, 2016
Well written. Good detail about some specific moments in early 1917. But so so much that could have been found elsewhere (and probably was) that it should only appeal to those who know nothing about Trotsky.
July 9, 2019
A Surprisingly enjoyable blend, both anecdotal and historical.
March 25, 2020
I enjoyed this book immensely -- well written, well organized and fascinating, it tells about Leon Trotsky's ten weeks in New York from mid-January to the end of March 1917, before he and his family left their apartment in the Bronx to go to Russia and join the Revolution. We meet a truly interesting and diverse array of people along the way, including various left wing activists who held positions in the Socialist Party or edited or wrote for left-wing newspapers such as the Forward and the New York Call. Trotsky himself worked and wrote for Novy Mir in a building on St. Marks Place that apparently still stands. Supremely confident, as always, Trotsky inserted himself into socialist activities and politics in New York, challenging its leadership and disrupting the beliefs of many party members. The author contends -- and he may be right -- that Trotsky's work at that time changed the course of socialist politics in this country as he argued strenuously that American socialists should not support the developing pro-war movement but should instead actively resist in ways that, if followed, would have landed many of them in jail. On the other hand, Morris Hillquit, the official leader of the Socialist Party, advocated working within the system, running for office, getting elected and changing the system from inside rather than by means of revolution from outside. The split between Hillquit's more traditional views and Trotsky's revolutionary approach was not healed, creating a schism in the party which the author says was never resolved, forever weakening the party and preventing it from becoming a more powerful force in mainstream American politics. I do not know much about the history of socialism in America so I cannot offer a critique of this but the book makes a persuasive argument for this view. My only real criticism of the book is that, in my opinion, it does not focus enough on Trotsky's writings during this period, especially the articles he wrote for Novy Mir. I would have liked to know more about the views he was espousing in print and the reaction to them among both the left-wing and the mainstream media. However, I still liked and valued the book enough to give it five stars and I stand by that rating.
October 20, 2018
Trotsky lived in the Bronx? Well of course he did. Did you think it would be freakin' Stalin?
Of course it's Trotsky who came to the Big Apple. With his pince-nez and groomed goatee, he's an NYC hipster just 100 years before his time. If he hit these shores now, he'd live in Brooklyn.
Okay, that's way off. Trotsky would still have landed in the Bronx, or maybe Queens. He was a man of convictions, after all. A man of the people. As he did in 1917, he'd gravitate toward the radical working class. How would that work in today's wealthy New York? Well, here in my Queens neighborhood, we just ousted the Democratic pretender for a real, honest-to-goodness socialist. Probably not radical enough for Trotsky, but you take what you can get.
But here's where Trotsky's influence led us down the garden path. Morris Hillquit, a name now lost to history, was a contemporary of Trotsky's and a moderate socialist that believed it was best to operate within the system. He was the Bernie Sanders of his day. Trotsky, and the team he assembled in the scant ten weeks of his NYC occupation shat all over that. If it wasn't revolutionary, it wasn't worth shit.
The Trotsky influence had a definitive hand in defeating a more rational American Socialism. Here's a Russian radical in the midst of American democracy. Trotsky thought to destroy it from the outside. Hilllquit (and Eugene Debbs) thought we could make change from the inside. Offend the American public too much and they'll push you away. Guess who won. The Trotskyists. And so the crackdown on socialism began. It lingers to this day.
Ackerman's book is a pretty good bio of Trotsky and his 10 weeks in NYC, but it's really more about his milieu. I say you should read it. But who am I?
Of course it's Trotsky who came to the Big Apple. With his pince-nez and groomed goatee, he's an NYC hipster just 100 years before his time. If he hit these shores now, he'd live in Brooklyn.
Okay, that's way off. Trotsky would still have landed in the Bronx, or maybe Queens. He was a man of convictions, after all. A man of the people. As he did in 1917, he'd gravitate toward the radical working class. How would that work in today's wealthy New York? Well, here in my Queens neighborhood, we just ousted the Democratic pretender for a real, honest-to-goodness socialist. Probably not radical enough for Trotsky, but you take what you can get.
But here's where Trotsky's influence led us down the garden path. Morris Hillquit, a name now lost to history, was a contemporary of Trotsky's and a moderate socialist that believed it was best to operate within the system. He was the Bernie Sanders of his day. Trotsky, and the team he assembled in the scant ten weeks of his NYC occupation shat all over that. If it wasn't revolutionary, it wasn't worth shit.
The Trotsky influence had a definitive hand in defeating a more rational American Socialism. Here's a Russian radical in the midst of American democracy. Trotsky thought to destroy it from the outside. Hilllquit (and Eugene Debbs) thought we could make change from the inside. Offend the American public too much and they'll push you away. Guess who won. The Trotskyists. And so the crackdown on socialism began. It lingers to this day.
Ackerman's book is a pretty good bio of Trotsky and his 10 weeks in NYC, but it's really more about his milieu. I say you should read it. But who am I?
February 19, 2025
Leon Trotsky spent only a few weeks in New York, but he had an impact, at least in his own mind and in the writings of friends. And certainly in the judgment of the author, Mr. Ackerman. In fact, the only real flaw in the book is that the author is sort of a Trotsky fan boy.
Everywhere Trotsky goes he becomes the center of attention. Some of this is backed up by sources, especially newspaper accounts. But a lot seems to be the author choosing to accept the most hagiographic interpretation, reinforced by Trotsky’s own rampant self regard. Perhaps the most irritating of these is a sort of afterward where Ackerman argues Trotsky would probably not have been as ruthless as Stalin. Yet nearly every Trotsky from New York shows his love of a fight and detestation of compromise. He just didn’t have his Nagant yet.
But there is a lot of interesting and useful information on the world of NY Socialists. And on the hodgepodge that was NY city in 1917. Just filter for excessive love of the “hero”.
Everywhere Trotsky goes he becomes the center of attention. Some of this is backed up by sources, especially newspaper accounts. But a lot seems to be the author choosing to accept the most hagiographic interpretation, reinforced by Trotsky’s own rampant self regard. Perhaps the most irritating of these is a sort of afterward where Ackerman argues Trotsky would probably not have been as ruthless as Stalin. Yet nearly every Trotsky from New York shows his love of a fight and detestation of compromise. He just didn’t have his Nagant yet.
But there is a lot of interesting and useful information on the world of NY Socialists. And on the hodgepodge that was NY city in 1917. Just filter for excessive love of the “hero”.
November 16, 2024
This book is more about American socialists and their ecology that today continues from the local politics. It’s an answer for how Trotsky could have reacted to present “leftists” in the US, Democrats. Imaginably, Trotsky made Bolshevik followers in America, yet the majority of them were wiped out after the 1917 Revolution. What was left for America was the millionaire socialists who Trotsky contradicted. Besides, what made those Bolshevik refugees smoothly or successfully return to Russia? The Kerensky regime helped during the war due to the public pressure from people created by the February Revolution. Today, this book is more meaningful than ever to understand what a “leftist” is.
June 30, 2018
This book started off fun. Trotsky rides the subway! Trotsky rents furniture! But mostly, he just made a bunch of speeches. It was interesting to see what he was up to for two months in New York, but the answer is "not much, just hanging out until the Revolution." It turns out Leon Trotsky was a jerk. I always knew he was a mass murder, but he doesn't seem like a nice or fun guy. Not sure why he is called the "good Communist" by many. He closed newspapers, killed social democrats, and signed off on most of the awful things the Bolsheviks did.
April 8, 2024
A Trotsky-shaped window into the American left on the eve of entry into World War I. Pretty fascinating micro history, that gets into a lot of interesting political questions.
I found some of the author's dependance on speculation (the room could have had stacks of paper all around, e.g.) annoying and unnecessary and was disappointed at some of the interesting rabbit trails he didn't go down, but these are the quibbles of someone who probably spends too much time thinking about the craft of biography.
I found some of the author's dependance on speculation (the room could have had stacks of paper all around, e.g.) annoying and unnecessary and was disappointed at some of the interesting rabbit trails he didn't go down, but these are the quibbles of someone who probably spends too much time thinking about the craft of biography.
December 2, 2016
Attention level waxed and waned but overall a good read. Well written, mostly good flow, liked author's style. Interesting it's 100 years later already...
October 19, 2017
An informative and engaging account of a man, a movement, and an era.
November 26, 2019
This book is wonderful. Excellent scenes of New York in 1917, a clear analysis and very precise writing. Highly recommended!
October 20, 2020
Interesting recounting of a time when socialism was a real and open presence in New York, just before it was tested in Russia and everything turned to ashes.
June 15, 2021
I gained insights into the man and his ideology. It is a wonder that he stuck to his ideology after its utter failure.
January 25, 2025
Very cool to learn about Trotsky in New York. Tired textbook Cold War politics make it a drag
July 5, 2025
Interesting book
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February 21, 2017Памятный всем россиянам год не обойден и мировым вниманием. Подтверждение тому — эта книга, знакомящая читателя с малоизвестной страницей биографии ключевого героя событий столетней давности. Как известно, накануне Февральской революции Ленин сидел с Крупской в Швейцарии, а обратно в Петроград был доставлен в «пломбированном» вагоне немцами. Другой лидер грядущих октябрьских событий, Лев Троцкий, начинал год еще дальше — в Нью-Йорке, куда был последовательно изгнан французскими и испанскими властями за подрывные и пацифистские воззвания к солдатам и рабочим. Однако даже за три месяца в США Троцкий сумел оставить наследие, которое предопределило развитие американской политики на все последующие годы.
Америка встретила бунтаря с любопытством и некоторым сочувствием — он приехал с репутацией преследуемого борца за свободу слова, кроме того, американцы знали об антисемитизме в России. В стране функционировала Социалистическая партия, которая постепенно завоевывала себе позиции на политическом олимпе, тесня завсегдатаев — демократов и республиканцев. Ее единство и комфорт Троцкий разрушил, расколов социалистов по вопросу об отношении к готовящемуся вступлению США в Первую мировую. Все 10 недель в Нью-Йорке он положил на то, чтобы радикализировать партию в сторону саботажа правительства. Результатом стали раскол и репрессии со стороны властей. Социалисты Америки так никогда и не оправились от «помощи» Льва Давидовича.
Возвращение героя на родину тоже не было гладким. Англичане опасались, что его аморальная риторика разложит российскую армиию, и потому вся германская мощь обрушится на них; они решили перестраховаться и задержали пароход с Троцким в канадском Галифаксе. Однако и в лагере для интернированных Лев Давидович не сдавался, умудрившись обратить в коммунистическую веру две трети находившихся там пленных немцев, пока их испуганные офицеры не упросили канадцев посадить будущего командующего Красной армией в доменную печь, служившую карцером.
Задействованные связи вызволили Троцкого из Канады, и в мае он добрался до России.
Америка встретила бунтаря с любопытством и некоторым сочувствием — он приехал с репутацией преследуемого борца за свободу слова, кроме того, американцы знали об антисемитизме в России. В стране функционировала Социалистическая партия, которая постепенно завоевывала себе позиции на политическом олимпе, тесня завсегдатаев — демократов и республиканцев. Ее единство и комфорт Троцкий разрушил, расколов социалистов по вопросу об отношении к готовящемуся вступлению США в Первую мировую. Все 10 недель в Нью-Йорке он положил на то, чтобы радикализировать партию в сторону саботажа правительства. Результатом стали раскол и репрессии со стороны властей. Социалисты Америки так никогда и не оправились от «помощи» Льва Давидовича.
Возвращение героя на родину тоже не было гладким. Англичане опасались, что его аморальная риторика разложит российскую армиию, и потому вся германская мощь обрушится на них; они решили перестраховаться и задержали пароход с Троцким в канадском Галифаксе. Однако и в лагере для интернированных Лев Давидович не сдавался, умудрившись обратить в коммунистическую веру две трети находившихся там пленных немцев, пока их испуганные офицеры не упросили канадцев посадить будущего командующего Красной армией в доменную печь, служившую карцером.
Задействованные связи вызволили Троцкого из Канады, и в мае он добрался до России.
November 1, 2025
This starts out as a factual account of Trotsky's brief stay in New York City, which he left following the February 1917 Revolution. A good topic for a book, but the more you read, the more Ackerman reveals himself as a reactionary liar who has no interest in history except to win people away from revolutionary ideas. By the end of the book, he makes Trotsky appear essentially the same as Stalin, and revives the old "German agent" slander against Lenin and the Bolsheviks. The brief accounts of Trotsky in this period this period in both My Life: An Attempt at an Autobiography and The Case of Leon Trotsky: Report of Hearings on the Charges Made against Him in the Moscow Trials will have to do. The few pages of factual information are just there to fool you into thinking that the whole book is written that way. It's conspiracy theories galore.
December 6, 2020
It’s just amazing to see what Trotsky got up to in America. Crazy to think that Kerensky ended up here too.
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