An interesting volume, written in 1924, regarding the problems of changing the outlook of Russians, in their everyday lives, according to the then-optimistic/hopeful tenets of the Russian Revolution.
At the time, Russia was in the process of transformation from a rural society of mostly illiterate peasants to an industrial giant, which would require a more educated and socialized workforce. In less than 20 years from the year this volume was written, Russia had successfully transformed itself into an industrial powerhouse which by 1945 managed to beat back the Nazi juggernaut. 16 years after that, Russia had also sent the first man into space.
At the time this volume was written, in 1924, one year after the end of the Civil War, the transformation of Russian society was gaining momentum. The transformation of domestic life and peoples' consciousness still was in an experimental stage. Trotsky discusses the need for communal kitchens, day-care centers, and laundry rooms. Communal kitchens (rather than one kitchen per home/apartment) and communal living quarters (communes) had already been tried and Trotsky criticized the occasional resulting slovenliness with these new living arrangements.
Trotsky wrote about the need to upgrade the status of women - he felt that communal living arrangements would free women from the daily drudgery of individual living quarters, cleaning and cooking, and individually washing laundry.
He writes that the State would not be able to instantly provide improved housing. In these essays, he says that economic realities will prevent the "Promised Land" envisioned by the new system from being implemented all at once.
Nonetheless, the amazing advances in the Soviet Union under communism, insofar as the level of education, technology/science, and in industrialization, were probably unparalleled anytime anywhere under any system. The population was transformed, seemingly miraculously, from a backward population of mostly poor, suffering, landless illiterate peasants into a modern society of educated workers, scientists, and so forth. The difference between the Russian Army's performance in WWI vs the Red Army's performance in WW2 speaks for itself.
The transformation of such a backward society into an up-to-date society meant that Russia had in about a generation (1917-1937/eve of WW2) accomplished what the capitalist-system industrialized nations accomplished in maybe 100 or 150 years.
He writes about the unfortunate widespread use of profanity in Russia at that time and calls for the adoption of civility and politeness, as well as the adoption of cultured speech. One of his recurring themes is to stress the importance of culture and refinement - that these are the goals everyone should be striving for, the unending improvement of the individual, through their own cultivation, education, enlightenment.
He touches briefly on the concept that the State must not be all-encompassing (as opposed to local councils, cooperatives, labor unions, and other local organizations). The idea is that the system then in effect would eventually result in a goal that even anarchists could endorse, that of the "withering away of the State" (although he never uses this phrase this is what he is referring to).
The reality was different, as the State in Russia became more powerful not less. The "withering away of the State" in favor of local democratic autonomy never occurred. The State mostly did not favor local autonomy, and opposition elements were rooted out and banished or executed, and democracy withered away. The State became all-powerful, paranoid and intolerant, and finally, feared and hated by many, if not most of the populace.
However, when this volume was written, in 1924, the hopes and dreams of the Revolution were quite fresh, and the Russian revolutionaries had only the year before finally defeated the White forces in the Civil War. It was now time for the Bolsheviks to show they could transform society, not just in new forms of industrial activity, in efforts to educate the masses, in improved medical care, but also even the transformation of domestic life and the transformation of the individual into a "new man" - educated, conscious, constantly striving for improvement in all aspects of their life, in addition to their communal responsibilities.
This book represents an effort to address the immense task of trying to instill these hopes and dreams in a truly immiserated and backward population - to deliver on the dreams spoken of by Lenin, who, shortly after the book was written, was to die.
Unfortunately, in the ensuing power struggle, Stalin won control of the government instead of Trotsky, or any of the other members of the leadership. Although Stalin successfully led the USSR to victory over Hitler, the paranoia of Stalin led to a period of Russian history that, despite the technological advances, perhaps mirrored the autocracy the population thought it had freed itself from when it overthrew the Tsar.
Thus, the autocratic system again began to fall apart little by little, until it finally collapsed in 1989. Unfortunately, despite the re-imposition of a capitalist economic system ("free" market) which brought about initially many ills, as well as glaring income inequalities - a situation the communist revolution was supposed to have ended forever, the country still does not seem to have an authentic democratic system of government, despite progress in that direction, as the ruling party seems to use various levers at its disposal to consolidate power and guarantee election results etc.