Paperback
Trotsky: The Eternal Revolutionary
By Dmitri Volkogonov, Translated by Harold Shukman
‘Absorbing… I now place Volkogonov’s great biographical triptych [Stalin, Lenin, Trotsky] at the top of my reading list on the Russian revolution.’
Niall Ferguson, Sunday Times
Following Stalin (1991) and Lenin (1994), Dmitri Vokogonov completes his grand trilogy of biographies of the giants who dominated the history of the Soviet Union.
A dynamic and inspiring public speaker, military hero of the Russian civil war, and a brilliant organiser and theorist, Trotsky also played a large part in advocating the system of state terror which was ultimately to lead to the nightmare of Stalinism. Widely regarded as Lenin’s likely successor, he was outmanoeuvred by his implacable enemy, Stalin, expelled from the Communist Party, exiled, and finally murdered in Mexico in 1940 by Stalin’s agents.
‘Volkogonov is the first historian to have had access to the enormous archives in Moscow adn to make full use of his opportunity… there’s plenty for hte general reader in Harold Shulman’s admirable translation.’David Floyd, Daily Telegraph -
‘In every part of his narrative Volkogonov has deployed previously unknown detail, often in striking and illuminating fashion.’Robert Conquest, New Republic -