Product Description

This book by Leon Trotsky makes a profound analysis and evaluation of Stalinism and the Soviet burreacracy. It was written in 1936 before Trotsky was murdered in Mexico by Stalin's secret police. Trotsky's thinking prophesied the collapse of the Soviet Union 60 years before it happened. This collapse was instigated by the buffon and drunk Boris Yeltsin as his leadership has led to the 'new oligarchy' in Russia. Trotsky was a very important leader in the October Revolution and it is thought that Lenin wanted him to take the leadership rather than the tyrant Stalin. This book is very impotant reading to everyone interest in Marxist theory and the history of Russia. A Collector's Edition.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #1228616 in Books
• Published on: 2007-06
• Original language: English
• Binding: Hardcover
• 252 pages

Customer Reviews

Excellent description of Stalinism
This book is a classic of the 20th century, for the excellent job it does of describing what the Soviet Union was, as well as predicting what it might become. Trotsky describes it as a state halfway between Socialism and Capitalism, which could be either transformed to the former through worker action or perverted into the latter by counter-revolutionaries. As we see from the USSR, it is indeed the latter that prevailed. There are a lot of great questions which Trotsky anwers authoritatively. Get this book!!

The origins of Stalinism
Considering that the Soviet Union has fallen apart, that Leningrad has changed back to St. Petersburg, and that "communism" is discredited in the eyes of the pundits of the world, why would anyone want to read a book about the Soviet Union published in 1937? I'll tell you why. Because this book explains like no other book I've ever read what actually happened in the Soviet Union between the original Bolshevik Revolution and its total degeneration under the Stalinist bureaucracy; and WHY it happened. With plenty of concrete detail, it explains that Stalin and his henchmen took over the Russian Revolution NOT because revolutions are always bound to fail; and not because people are inherently corrupt; or that socialism is doomed. But because of a specific set of historical circumstances that faced the young Soviet workers' state and overwhelmed it. From this situation came Stalin and his fake version of Marxism, which Trotsky does a great job of blowing apart. For anyone who believes that there must be a better way than the dog-eat-dog system of capitalism that we live in, read this book!

Essential reading for understanding the post-Lenin USSR
This is Trotsky's masterpiece work taking apart Stalinism piece by piece is his analysis of how Stalin betrayed the socialist revolution in Russia. If you want to know why the USSR has not been 'revolutionary' in the past 70 years.... here are your answers...