The Life and Death of Leon Trotsky

Leon Trotsky was a leading participant in Russia’s 1917 Revolution and its steps toward building the world’s first proletarian dictatorship. As a military strategic he ruthlessly quenched the Kronstadt revolt against the Bolshevik dictatorship in a sea of blood. Also he ordered the oppression of Social Revolutionary farmer revolts and the repression of the Maknovist anarchist in the Ukrain. A few years later he became a prime target and scapegoat during Stalin’s bloody rise to power, which multiple headed dictatorship with single headed dictatorship. There have been many biographies of this remarkable man, but none provides as much insight into Trotsky’s experience as both a leader of, and outcast exile from, the Russian Revolution. Written by two of his closest collaborators, this book provides an invaluable picture of a great revolutionary and the world-historic events in which he took part. Victor Serge, a dedicated revolutionary and distinguished novelist, worked closely with Natalia Sedova, a veteran Bolshevik and widow of Trotsky, to re-create Trotsky’s life and ghastly death at the hands of an assassin. Serge was as of the twenties of the Twentieth Century a hard core supporter of Leon Trotsky, so do not expect too much criticism about Trotsky.