Books

On Monday, 27 November, the first meeting to launch the new edition of Trotsky's masterpiece, Stalin, took place in Madrid. The event was held at the headquarters of the Friends of Unesco Club of Madrid (CAUM) in the historic Atocha street of the capital. The room was filled with about 70 people.

Stalin was the last book Leon Trotsky was writing when his murderer, Frank Jackson (AKA Ramón Mercader) took his life. On 11 November, the new, complete Mexican edition of the book was presented in front of a packed auditorium and an overspill room, at the Leon Trotsky House Museum. In an extraordinary meeting, the last, unfinished masterpiece by the legendary revolutionary and martyr of the working-class (available in English at WellRed Books) was received with great anticipation by the old militants, and with great enthusiasm by the assembled youth.

On 30 October we reported that the Spanish daily El Paíshad published a review of the new edition of Trotsky's biography of Stalin (available at WellRed Books). The review appeared prominently in the popular Sunday supplement of El País, which is read by millions of people worldwide. Today we are pleased to present an English-language translation.

On 21 August 1940, Leon Trotsky, the great revolutionary leader of the October Revolution, died in Mexico, murdered by a Stalinist agent. We publish his autobiography with forewords by In Defence of Marxism editor, Alan Woods, and Trotsky's grandson, Esteban Volkov.

 La biografía inacabada de Trotsky sobre Stalin, la edición más exhaustiva jamás publicada, completada con material inédito del archivo original:
- Restaurada meticulosamente durante un período de más de 10 años 
- Cotejada con los archivos de Harvard y las ediciones anteriores en inglés, francés, ruso y español
- 115.000 palabras más que la versión original, un 30% más
- Eliminados los añadidos y distorsiones políticas del primer editor, Charles Malamud
- Introducción de Alan Woods, editor del libro y traductor del material inédito en ruso
- Más de 1.000 páginas, 2 volúmenes

...

On the occasion of the centenary anniversary of the October Revolution, we are proud to announce a campaign for the publication of the Italian version of last work of the revolutionary Leon Trotsky, his biography of Stalin. So far, this work has only been available in incomplete editions, distorted politically by the editing of the editor of the first edition in the ‘40s, Charles Malamuth.

A growing number of scientists are becoming discontented with the old outlook. The rapid rise of the theory of Chaos and Complexity is one of the most significant developments in science at the turn of the new millennium. Many of the ideas expressed by this new trend are strikingly similar to the theories of dialectical materialism worked out by Marx and Engels over 150 years ago. A significant part of the present work is devoted to an exploration of the relationship between Marxist philosophy and the new theories. Will this encounter provide the basis for a new and exciting breakthrough in the methodology of science?

In the Cause of Labour - A History of British Trade Unionism

There are many narrative histories of the struggles of British workers. However, Rob Sewell’s book is different. This book is aimed especially at class-conscious workers who are seeking to escape from the ills of the capitalist system, that has embroiled the world in a quagmire of wars, poverty and suffering. This history of trade unions is particularly relevant at the present time. After a long period of stagnation, the fresh winds of the class struggle are beginning to blow.

Originally published by Trotsky in 1924 these essays constitute a significant contribution to the then ongoing debate in the USSR over culture and art in a Workers State. It foreshadowed a later debate over the Stalinist conception of “Socialist Realism” in the later part of the decade. This book was suppressed by the bureaucracy after Trotsky was expelled from the Communist Party of the Soviet Union in 1928.

The aim of Lessons of October was to expose how the faction within the Communist International was politically responsible for the missed opportunity and failure of the German Revolution of 1923, by bringing out the essential lessons of the October Revolution. Here Trotsky's seminal work is presented in full.

This book was written by Leon Trotsky at the height of the Russian Civil War. While it is a polemical response to German social-democrat Karl Kautsky, it is also represents the Bolshevik defence of the extraordinary means the young workers’ republic had to take in order to defend itself from the almost two dozen armies that were on its soil trying to turn back the revolution. This version keeps true to the form of the style of English used in this edition of the book, with only some spelling corrections and the contemporary title, Terrorism or Communism.

Leon Trotsky's History of the Russian Revolution to Brest-Litovsk was written at the Brest-Litovsk peace conference a mere few months after the Bolsheviks had come to power. It gives an excellent introduction to the history of the Russian Revolution.

Lenin stated that the October Revolution of 1917 could never have taken place without the previous experience of the Revolution of 1905. A study of this remarkable event is therefore of great importance for anyone who wishes to understand the dynamics of revolution in general, and not just in a particular case. In the struggle for revolutionary ideology, a place of honour is occupied by the marvellous writings of Leon Trotsky. And among these, one of the most important is 1905, which we publish here.