Trotsky in New York, 1917

A Radical on the Eve of Revolution

De: Kenneth D. Ackerman

Narrado por: Stefan Rudnicki

Lev Davidovich Trotsky burst onto the world stage in November 1917 as coleader of a Marxist Revolution seizing power in Russia. It made him one of the most recognized personalities of the 20th century, a global icon of radical change. Yet just months earlier, this same Lev Trotsky was a nobody, a refugee expelled from Europe, writing obscure pamphlets and speeches, barely noticed outside a small circle of fellow travelers. Where had he come from to topple Russia and change the world? Where else? New York City.

Between January and March 1917, Trotsky found refuge in the United States. America had kept itself out of the European Great War, leaving New York the freest city on earth. During his time there - just over 10 weeks - Trotsky immersed himself in the local scene. He settled his family in the Bronx, edited a radical left wing tabloid in Greenwich Village, sampled the lifestyle, and plunged headlong into local politics. His clashes with leading New York socialists over the question of US entry into World War I would reshape the American left for the next 50 years.

©2016 Kenneth D. Ackerman (P)2016 Blackstone Audio, Inc.

loved it!

I'm not personally a fan of Trotskyism but this is a great and entertaining book. I really enjoyed learning about his interactions with other famous revolutionaries or reformers of the time, Emma Goldman, Eugene V Debs, Hilquit, ect. I had no idea Trotsky was so connected to the American left at the time.

An unexpected link between Russia and USA

Coming from Russia, I knew quite a lot about Trotskiy and his role in the revolution, but I was surprised to learn about his time in USA and the influence he had here. I feel the author inflated the extent of his influence on the socialist movement in the USA (perhaps understandable, since the book is devoted to Trotskiy), but I’m curious not to learn more about it from other sources now.

So many avenues

Such a complete description of this major time in our history. The connections, names and stories all come to life and bring such a clear picture to the mess that was the Russian revolution. 10/10

Meaty, original, and thought provoking

The typical biographies of Trotsky end up focusing on his impact on the Russian revolution and his long-term battle with Stalin. This detailed examination of his very lively three months in the US + New York City in early 1917, and his torturous adventures with devious UK, Canadian, US, and Russian government agents during his trip back to post-Tsarist Russia in April 1917, is captivating. We are asked to imagine not only what Russia and the rest of Europe might have been like without his forceful presence, but also whether he might not have had a dire impact on US radicals of that period — deflecting so many of them into a lifelong fascination with Bolsheviki-type methods and attitudes that until very recently has doomed the socialist critique of American society to the political underground.

Good but a lot of fillers

This is worthwhile, but there is a lot of what has has to be speculation about what Trotsky thought. or did. The book is best at the beginning and the end.