History of the Russian Revolution

by Leon Trotsky

Release Date: December, 1980

Edition: Paperback

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Facinating!

This book provides a very unique perspective into the Russian Revolution. Written by Leon Trotsky himself, it is an excellent way to get first hand information on the events of the revolution. Furthermore, it is very interesting to read how a leader of the revolution viewed the event after several years. Trotsky is an excellent writer, and his book is very detailed. My one warning is that if you don't know much about the Russian Revolution to begin with you may get somewhat confused because of the great amount of detail in this book.

Trotsky's History of the Russian Revolution is written in the third person - just as a historian would write it - not in a first person narrative. After reading the book for a while, I sometimes even forget that it was written by Trotsky. Then, when some bizarre interpretation appears, I think - "What is this? Who wrote this book?" only to realize that, obviously, the book is written by Trotsky and would naturally be biased!

Even if you don't read the entire book, just reading some of the passages can give you a very facinating perspective into the revolution. After all, Trotsky was one of the most important leaders during the revolution. It is not often that a revolutionary leader has time to record the events he lived through. Luckily for us, Trotsky did write an account of the Russian Revolution, an event that has clearly had immense influence on world history! So, I would totally recommend this book - read it, and see what Trotsky himself has to say!

Not so much history, as it is literature.

The great physicist Albert Einstein (who belonged to the Social Democratic party in Austria by the way), when reading about Trotsky's plight during the 1930's, undoubtedly came across his one lasting, and most pertinent contribution to literature, which is the three-volume History of the Russian Revolution. The Russian Revolution began in March of 1917, and ended in the month of October (November in the present calender system), in the very same year. What happened during this several month long interval is debatable, even eighty years after the event, but there is not a single individual who took part in the event that is more qualified to tell it's story, than the "author" of the Bolshevik Revolution, Lev Davidovich Trotsky.

One would think that since Trotsky was expelled from the country he essentially "founded", that he would write with major personal biases, against the party in power, but reading the nearly 1300 pg. book, one realizes this just isn't the case. His description of the Provisional Government and the individuals who belonged to it are almost essential to understanding the Russian Revolution (perhaps more pertinent than when it was published). The historians Richard Pipes and Orlando Figes, who have written long and informative studies of the Russian Revolution, overlooked many of the figures of the Provisional Government, such as Miliukov, Prince Lvov, and the Mensheviks Tseretelli, Martov, and Dan, in their works, and focused mainly on the major Bolshevik figures such as Lenin, Kamenev, Zinoviev, and Stalin.

In contrast to Figes and Pipes, Trotsky comprehensively studies almost "everybody" who participated in the Revolution. Trotsky describes the ebbs and flows of each party that was in opposition to Bolshevism, such as Miliukov's and Lvov's Kadet Party (Consitutional Democrats), Kerensky's Socialist Revolutionary party, and Dan's, Martov's (although he was swept into the "dust bin" of history long before the revolution; thought of as the founder of Menshevism, Yuli Martov never actually controlled the movement beacuse of his battle with tuberculosis, and his "lazy" demeanor), and Tseretelli's Mensheviks.

In addition to providing brief profiles of the prominent figures in 1917 Russia, Trotsky provides a masterful analysis of Russia's development from 1500 to 1900. Because Russia never developed any sort of economic or social systems of their own; they borrowed ideas mainly from their neighbours Germany, China, and Rome; a process which he referred to as "combined development."

An example of "combined development", is Russia's capitalist development during the nineteenth century. The nation's of Britain, Germany, and America, went through their capitalist development much earlier than Russia, and referred to this period as the Age of Industrialization. However, because Russia chose the course of capitalism much later, this didn't mean it's course would have been exactly the same as America's, Germany's, or Britain's. Because Russia could borrow many of the ideas, and equipment, that was not available to three colonial powers (US, Germany, Britain), when they were going through the Age of Industrialization, Russia's development went much smoother and easier.

Conversely, prominent literary critics such as Edmund Wilson and Irving Howe felt Trotsky's 'History of the Russian Revolution', was a literary masterpiece, and Trotsky, who was extremely critical of everything he wrote (although it is equal to his 'history', in my mind, Trotsky felt his autobiography was one of the worst books he ever wrote), also thought it was his best work. So I would strongly recommend you find yourself a copy of 'History of the Russian Revolution', because you can't quite put up an argument against figures as large as Howe, Wilson, and Trotsky!