Trotsky

<p>This new biography provides a full account of Leon Trotsky's political life, based upon a wealth of primary sources, including previously unpublished material.</p><p>Ian D. Thatcher paints a new picture of Trotsky's standing in Russian and world history. Key myths about Trotsky's heroic work as a revolutionary, especially in Russia's first revolution of 1905 and the Russian Civil War, are thrown into question. Although Trotsky had a limited understanding of crucial contemporary events such as Hitler's rise to power, he was an important thinker and politician, not least as a trenchant critic of Stalin's version of communism.</p> INTRODUCTION; Chapter 1 THE YOUNG REVOLUTIONARY, 1879–1907; Chapter 2 THE FIGHT FOR UNITY, 1907–14; Chapter 3 WAR AND REVOLUTION, 1914–17; Chapter 4 DEFENDING THE REVOLUTION, 1917–21; Chapter 5 THE REVOLUTION IN DECLINE, 1921–4; Chapter 6 OPPOSITION AND DEFEAT, 1925–9; Chapter 7 AGAINST STALINISM AND FASCISM, 1929–33; Chapter 8 THE FINAL EXILE; CONCLUSION; NOTES; FURTHER READING; Index;