Trotsky Biography

'Thatcher's Trotsky is based on meticulous scholarship. It contains a lucid and compelling exposition of highly complex ideas, and is original in its own right. Thatcher can be congratulated for producing a first-class contribution to our knowledge of Trotsky.' - Robert B. McKean, Head of History at Stirling University


Leon Trotsky has aroused strong passions, and historians love and hate him in equal measure. This new biography provides a full account of his political life, based upon a wealth of primary sources, including previously unpublished material.
Ian D. Thatcher paints a new picture of Trotsky's standing in Russian and world history. Key myths about Trotsky's heroic work as a revolutionary, especially in Russia's first revolution of 1905 and the Russian Civil War, are thrown into question. Although Trotsky had a limited understanding of crucial contemporary events such as Hitler's rise to power, he was an important thinker and politician, not least as a trenchant critic of Stalin's version of communism.