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Ross
is on page 571 of 1564
“During the month of June those people had well convinced themselves of the strong influence of the Bolsheviks on the masses, and they now simply refused to believe that a movement of workers and soldiers could have surged up over the heads of the Bolsheviks.” (Cont…)
— Aug 11, 2026 06:53AM
Ross
is on page 501 of 1564
“The throng of workers, hungry and dead-tired, scattered about on the street and in the garden, a majority immediately stretching themselves out, thinking to wait there for an answer.” (1/3)
— Aug 07, 2026 09:02AM
Ross
is on page 501 of 1564
Finished the appendices, as well as the introduction to volumes 1 and 2, which consists primarily of Trotsky responding to criticism of the first volume from a M.N. Pokrovsky, who Trotsky repeatedly clowns on, but then includes the footnote: “I did not realize he had died while I was working on this criticism. He was brilliant and I’ve heard lovely things” (paraphrase).
— Jul 30, 2026 05:46PM
Ross
is on page 482 of 1564
Appendix 1 is a pretty good essay on Russia’s unique development in its own right.
— Jul 28, 2026 10:24PM
Ross
is on page 473 of 1564
“The Bolsheviks went after the provincials. Does this look like a gang of conspirators? The delegates agreed that it did not. "In Petrograd you are the power," they conceded […], "but not in the provinces, not at the front. Petrograd cannot go against the whole country." That's all right, answered the Bolsheviks, your turn will soon come the same slogans will be raised.”
Finished vol. 1. Onto the appendices.
— Jul 28, 2026 07:27AM
Finished vol. 1. Onto the appendices.
Ross
is on page 452 of 1564
“The congress could not make up its mind to lift a hand against the State Duma […]. Its timidity before the reaction was covered up by the Menshevik orator Bogdanov with the remark that the Duma and the Soviet are ‘dead and nonexistent organizations anyway.’ Martov, with his polemical wit, answered: ‘Bogdanov proposes that we should declare the Duma dead but not make any attempt upon its life.’”
— Jul 27, 2026 09:25PM
Ross
is on page 447 of 1564
“The most dangerous of the aberrations of the revolution arises when the mechanical accountant of democracy balances in one column yesterday, today and tomorrow, and thereby impels the formal democrats to look for the head of the revolution where in reality is to be found its very heavy tail. Lenin taught his party to distinguish head from tail.”
— Jul 27, 2026 09:04PM
Ross
is on page 435 of 1564
“The press accused the militia of acts of violence, requisitions, and illegal arrests. It is indubitable that the militia did employ violence: it was created exactly for that. Its crime consisted, however, in resorting to violence in dealing with representatives of that class which was not accustomed to be the object of violence and did not want to get accustomed to it.”
Beast mode
— Jul 27, 2026 05:41PM
Beast mode
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Tayah
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Jul 25, 2026 01:33PM
i’m interested to hear any thoughts you have on this so far.
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Decided to read it based on Walter Rodney’s assessment that Trotsky’s work as a historian was unparalleled. So far, I see what he meant. I’m enjoying it a lot, and taking away a lot of very useful theoretical components based on his explanations (the theory of combined development, against spontaneity, his many examples of the ways class interests consistently determined seemingly paradoxical rhetoric and behavior). Trotsky is also just a very entertaining and skillful writer. Given the sources he had access to in exile, most personality is given to the liberals/compromisers/and imperialist socialists in power in the provisional government, at least in the first book; and this could be very boring if not for the fact that Trotsky spends a lot of that time very sarcastically presenting their own impressions of themselves, usually through letters or memoirs written after they escaped. Lenin’s entry into the narrative feels like a genuinely dramatic breath of fresh air. Rodney’s criticism that Trotsky is too spiteful towards his rivals to maintain a balanced subjectivity is also holding true for me.