Leon Trotsky Speaks

by Leon Trotsky, Sarah Lovell

Release Date: April, 1972

Edition: Paperback

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Organizing and Defending a Revolution

Organizing and Defending a Revolution

Leon Trotsky was a participant in the most significant class battles of the 20th century. This book collects some of Trotsky's key speeches and writings from the Russian Revolution, and his effort to defend it even when persecuted by the Stalin gang that usurped power and murdered the revolution's leaders. It is a great introduction to the Russian revolution and to Trotsky's other works. Read about how the Soviet of Workers and Soldiers Deputies (Trotsky was the President) organized the insurrection; the revolutionary government's efforts to lead working people forward; how Stalin undermined the Soviet Union by seeking a pact with Hitler.

Speeches of a working class leader in action

I found a lot to be learned from this collection of talks, reports and declarations by this leader of the Russian Revolution, given in wildly different settings to different audiences, over decades of revolutionary working class struggle.

Above all, you see Trotsky appealing to, educating, and inspiring workers and peasants with an understanding of the challenges they faced and a confidence in their ability to take on unprecedented historical tasks.

His speech in a Czarist court defending the workers councils (Soviets) of the 1905 Russian revolution is of the same spirit as Nelson Mandela or Fidel Castro when they in turn were on trial by their oppressors. Read the messages and transcripts of speeches given during the whirlwind of the October Revolution in Russia-- a working class leader in day-by-day action.

And especially worth studying, Trotsky's talks to gatherings of workers, soldiers, and party members analyzing the changing relations between the major world powers and between the toiling and exploiting classes of those nations, and the different policies pursued by the new Soviet government as these circumstances changed-- you'll learn a lot about how society works and what it takes to really change it.