Prophet Armed Trotsky 1879 1921

Few political figures of the twentieth century have aroused as much controversy as the Russian revolutionary Leon Trotsky. Trotsky’s extraordinary life and extensive writings have left an indelible mark on revolutionary conscience; and yet there was at one time a danger that his name would disappear altogether from history. Isaac Deutscher’s magisterial three-volume biography was the first major publication to counter the powerful Stalinist propaganda machine, and in this definitive work Trotsky emerges in his real stature, as the most heroic, and ultimately tragic, character of the Russian revolution.

This first volume of the trilogy, originally published in 1954, traces Trotsky’s political development: his early activities, the formation and crystallization of his distinctive and motivating idea—the permanent revolution— his long feud and final reconciliation with Lenin and Bolshevism, and his role in the October insurrection of 1917. The volume ends in the year 1921, when Trotsky, then at the climax of his power, unwittingly sowed the seeds of his own defeat.

"A first rate biographer." Times Literary Supplement

"The most exciting reading of the year. Surely this must be counted among the greatest biographies in the English language." Graham Greene

"He has told the story more accurately and with fuller detail than ever before....compulsory reading for anyone interested in the history of Soviet Russia." A.J.P Taylor, New Statesman

"In the 1930s, Trotsky, with a handful of followers, attempted to block the path of Stalin’s relentless hurricane of betrayal and murder. His epic defence of the soul of the Revolution against its bureaucratic executioners was a torchlight in the storm. In one of the very greatest modern biographies, Isaac Deutscher redeems the legacy of this astonishing revolutionary and humanist thinker." Mike Davis

"This is the critical voice the velvet revolution faded out. The republication of Deutscher’s classic trilogy is good news for a new generation who want to know what went wrong with communist-style socialism." A. J. P. Taylor

"Deutscher is an exceedingly vivid writer with a sense of style, and a warm and understanding sympathy for his hero: this makes him a first rate biographer." Sheila Rowbotham

"This is a majestic, sonorous collection, written in the stern and judging manner of the Talmudic scholar that Deutscher had been and the Marxist polymath that he became, and of Thomas Carlyle, whose study of Cromwell he so esteemed....The Prophet trilogy strives to reconcile the materialist conception of history with the importance of the 'great man,' and though the trope of prophecy armed and unarmed is taken from the sixth chapter of Machiavelli's The Prince, it would be a dull ear that did not also detect the cadences of the Pentateuch." Christopher Hitchens, The Atlantic Monthly (read the entire Atlantic Monthly review)

This first volume of the trilogy traces Trotsky’s political development.

This first volume of the trilogy traces Trotsky's political development.

Trotsky's extraordinary life and extensive writings have left an indelible mark on revolutionary conscience, yet there was a danger that his name would disappear from history. Originally published in 1954, Deutscher's magisterial three-volume biography was the first major publication to counter the powerful Stalinist propaganda machine. In this definitive biography Trotsky emerges in his real stature, as the most heroic, and ultimately tragic, character of the Russian Revolution.

This second volume of the trilogy is a self-contained account of the great struggle between Stalin and Trotsky that followed the end of the civil war in Russia in 1921 and the death of Lenin.

'\'Few political figures of the twentieth century have aroused as much controversy as the Russian revolutionary Leon Trotsky. Trotsky’s extraordinary life and extensive writings have left an indelible mark on revolutionary conscience, yet there was a danger that his name would disappear from history. Originally published in 1954, Deutscher’s magisterial three-volume biography was the first major publication to counter the powerful Stalinist propaganda machine. In this definitive biography Trotsky emerges in his real stature, as the most heroic, and ultimately tragic, character of the Russian Revolution.

This third volume of the trilogy, first published in 1963, is a self-contained narrative of Trotsky\\\'s years in exile and of his murder in Mexico in 1940. Deutscher\\\'s masterful account of the period, and of the ideological controversies ranging throughout it, forms a background against which, as he says, \\\'the protagonist\\\'s character reveals itself, while he is moving towards catastrophe.\\\' \''

Isaac Deutscher was born in 1907 near Krakow and joined the Polish Communist Party in 1926. After his expulsion in 1932, he maintained his opposition to the general drift of Comintern policy in the 1930s. He moved to London in 1939 and continued his journalistic activity until 1946, devoting the rest of his life to historical research and the writing of books and essays. His prolific output includes Stalin and The Unfinished Revolution. Isaac Deutscher died in 1967.