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In Defense of Leon Trotsky (epub)

In Defense of Leon Trotsky (epub)

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By David North
 
 
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Leon Trotsky (1879-1940) – the leader of the Russian Revolution and Stalin’s unyielding opponent – remains an immensely controversial figure seventy years after his assassination in Mexico City. In this penetrating analysis and comprehensive refutation of three recently-published biographies of Leon Trotsky by well-known British historians -- Professors Robert Service, Ian Thatcher and Geoffrey Swain -- David North raises troubling questions about the state of contemporary historical
scholarship.

(digital e-pub version)

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Leon Trotsky (1879-1940) – the leader of the Russian Revolution and Stalin’s unyielding opponent – remains an immensely controversial figure seventy years after his assassination in Mexico City. In this penetrating analysis and comprehensive refutation of three recently-published biographies of Leon Trotsky by well-known British historians -- Professors Robert Service, Ian Thatcher and Geoffrey Swain -- David North raises troubling questions about the state of contemporary historical scholarship.

In the June 2011 edition of the prestigious American Historical Review historian Bertrand Patenaude gives North’s book high praise: “A careful examination of North’s book shows his criticism of Service to be exactly what Trotsky scholar Baruch Knei-Paz, in a blurb on the back cover, says it is: ‘detailed, meticulous, well-argued and devastating.’”

Scott McClemee, a columnist for Inside Higher Education, writes, "I can only suggest that any research library that has added Service’s book to its collection should consider acquiring David North’s as well.”

Exposing recent efforts to denigrate Trotsky’s historical role by falsifying history, North insists that their aim is to forestall a resurgence of interest in the great revolutionist at a time when millions of people are becoming disenchanted with capitalism. North reviews the decisive and often overlooked impact of Trotsky’s theory of Permanent Revolution on the events of October 1917. He challenges today’s historians to once again turn serious and honest attention to Trotsky’s life and ideas.
(digital e-pub version)
Author David North
Publisher Mehring Books
Publication Date 2010
Pages 194
Publication Type Book (digital)
ISBN 978-1-893638-32-7
ChapterPage
Introduction 1
1. Lessons from history: the 2000 elections and the new "irrepressible conflict" 7
2. The Iraq war, the Democratic Party and the campaign of Howard Dean 37
3. Militarism and social polarization in contemporary America 63
4. After the 2004 election: the political challenges confronting the American working class 95
Appendix I: Ronald Reagan (1911-2004): an obituary 119
Appendix II: Reflections on the 40th anniversary of the Kennedy assassination 131
Endnotes 141
Index 143

David North is the chairman of the international editorial board of the World Socialist Web Site. He is the author of numerous books, articles, and lectures on questions relating to contemporary US and international politics, European and Soviet history, and the history of the Trotskyist movement, including The Crisis of American Democracy; Marxism, History and Socialist Consciousness; Leon Trotsky and the Post-Soviet School of Historical Falsification; and The Heritage We Defend

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