Trotsky
1st Edition
Published on 20. July 2006
Book
Paperback/Softback
248 pages
978-0-582-77190-1 (ISBN)
Description
Without Trotsky there would have been no Bolshevik Revolution, but Trotsky was no Bolshevik.
Providing a full account of Trotsky?s role during the Russian Civil War and concentrating on his time as an active participant in Russian revolutionary politics, rather than his ideological writings of emigration, Swain gives a very different picture of the Bolshevik Commissar of War. This radically new interpretation of Trotsky?s career spanning 1905-1917 incorporates the tense relationship between Trotsky and Lenin until 1917, and pays particular attention to the Russian Civil War and Trotsky?s military organisation and contribution to the war.
Swain argues critically that Trotsky achieved where Lenin would have failed, suggesting that Trotsky was in the main part responsible for the Bolshevik Revolution.
Providing a full account of Trotsky?s role during the Russian Civil War and concentrating on his time as an active participant in Russian revolutionary politics, rather than his ideological writings of emigration, Swain gives a very different picture of the Bolshevik Commissar of War. This radically new interpretation of Trotsky?s career spanning 1905-1917 incorporates the tense relationship between Trotsky and Lenin until 1917, and pays particular attention to the Russian Civil War and Trotsky?s military organisation and contribution to the war.
Swain argues critically that Trotsky achieved where Lenin would have failed, suggesting that Trotsky was in the main part responsible for the Bolshevik Revolution.
Reviews / Votes
Geoffrey Swain has produced a robust, highly readable and fresh look at Trotsky that provides new insights into his personality, life, career and political ideas. Trotsky comes out as a more human and rounded figure than in many other biographies but, at the same time, Swain emphasises his ruthlessness. He gives no comfort to romantics who sentimentalize Trotsky as a more restrained alternative to Stalin.Professor Christopher Read, University of Warwick
More details
Series
Language
English
Place of publication
London
United Kingdom
Publishing group
Taylor & Francis Ltd
Target group
Professional and scholarly
Dimensions
Height: 216 mm
Width: 140 mm
Thickness: 14 mm
Weight
320 gr
ISBN-13
978-0-582-77190-1 (9780582771901)
Copyright in bibliographic data and cover images is held by Nielsen Book Services Limited or by the publishers or by their respective licensors: all rights reserved.
Schweitzer Classification
Other editions
Person
Geoffrey Swain teaches at the Schoolof History at the Universityof West England, Bristol.
As of April 2006 Swain will be Alec Nove Professor of Russian and East European Studies at the Universityof Glasgow
As of April 2006 Swain will be Alec Nove Professor of Russian and East European Studies at the Universityof Glasgow
Content
Introduction
1. The Precocious Apprentice
Growing Up
The South Russia Workers? Union
For Iskra, against Lenin
The 1905 Revolution
Results and Prospects
2. Revitalising the Party
The Disintegrating Party
Vienna Pravda
The Vienna Conference
The Balkan Wars
The Interdistrict Group and Bor?ba
The First World War
3. Insurrection
Joining the Bolsheviks
The July Days
Towards October
Uprising
Brest Litovsk
Rebuilding the Army
4. Saving the Revolution
Uprising on the Volga
Sviyazhsk
Tsaritsyn
The Military Opposition
The Kolchak Offensive
Disintegration of the Southern Front
Command Crisis and Victory
5. Building a Workers? State
Labour Armies
The Polish Army
The Trade Union Debate
Gosplan
With Lenin
The German October
Show Down
6. Combating Thermidor
A Petty Bourgeois Deviation
The Lessons of October
The Dnieper Dam
Zinoviev, Kamenev and the Kulak Danger
The United Opposition
China
Show Down
7. Exile and Internationalism
Stalin?s Zig-Zag
A Coalition Central Committee
Reviving the International
Frida Kahlo
The Fourth International
Assassination
Conclusion
1. The Precocious Apprentice
Growing Up
The South Russia Workers? Union
For Iskra, against Lenin
The 1905 Revolution
Results and Prospects
2. Revitalising the Party
The Disintegrating Party
Vienna Pravda
The Vienna Conference
The Balkan Wars
The Interdistrict Group and Bor?ba
The First World War
3. Insurrection
Joining the Bolsheviks
The July Days
Towards October
Uprising
Brest Litovsk
Rebuilding the Army
4. Saving the Revolution
Uprising on the Volga
Sviyazhsk
Tsaritsyn
The Military Opposition
The Kolchak Offensive
Disintegration of the Southern Front
Command Crisis and Victory
5. Building a Workers? State
Labour Armies
The Polish Army
The Trade Union Debate
Gosplan
With Lenin
The German October
Show Down
6. Combating Thermidor
A Petty Bourgeois Deviation
The Lessons of October
The Dnieper Dam
Zinoviev, Kamenev and the Kulak Danger
The United Opposition
China
Show Down
7. Exile and Internationalism
Stalin?s Zig-Zag
A Coalition Central Committee
Reviving the International
Frida Kahlo
The Fourth International
Assassination
Conclusion