Leon Trotsky: My Life
December 19, 2007 by kirstyjane
“This book is not an objective photograph of my life,” Trotsky writes in his foreword to My Life, “but a component of it. In these pages I am continuing the struggle to which my whole life is devoted… Recounting events, I analyse and appraise them; telling my story, I defend myself, and even more frequently attack.”
When he wrote these words in 1929, Trotsky was fifty years old. He had left his old name of Lev Bronstein behind twenty-seven years ago, and in that interval he had escaped from Siberia twice, been imprisoned a number of times by a number of governments, met Lenin, fallen out with Lenin, fallen back in with Lenin, led the Petrograd Soviet, founded the Red Army, won the Civil War, produced a vast quantity of journalism, theory and even literary criticism and finally, after years of struggle against the rising Stalinist faction, found himself stripped of all power and exiled from the USSR. Once Lenin’s friend and equal, he was now reviled. His views, integral to the formation of Bolshevik and then Soviet policy, no longer had any expression. His face was being excised from pictures, his words from pages. His allies were dead, exiled or surrendered. These are the circumstances in which he began to write his memoirs.
My Life is primarily a very carefully constructed testimony. Trotsky’s life and reputation were at stake. His story had to be watertight, explaining away his class origins (his parents were landowners), smoothing over his early conflicts with Lenin and ensuring that his religious and ethnic origins were not prominent. Every action had to be accounted for, every wrong step justified.
As a student of Trotsky,* I spend a lot of my time studying this testimony in depth, particularly the first few chapters concerning the author’s childhood and youth. And even though my job is to sit there and pick them apart – and lament the almost total lack of contemporary sources that prevents me from blowing holes in them altogether – those chapters are my favourite part. My Life as a whole is an engaging read, whether you are layman or specialist. Trotsky’s language is beautiful, and the text is full of the fiery denunciations and rapier wit for which he is justly famous. But those first chapters are unique in Trotsky’s oeuvre. Although he is careful to stick to the programme, the bulk of the narrative is almost purely personal. We hear about first books and first toys and games of hide and seek in the barns; we hear about the grievances of the farm workers, accidents, deaths. All the little joys and the little tragedies of a farm on the steppe are laid out for us from a child’s eye perspective. It’s an astonishing contrast with the high flown rhetoric of the rest of the book, and it’s endearing; even more so because Trotsky does not hesitate to turn his own wit on himself. In one passage we see young Bronstein returning home from school in his fancy uniform and trying to wield a scythe:
“I can feel the mocking eyes of the swarthy, dirty binder woman on me, and I hurry to escape the rows of wheat, sweat streaming from beneath my cap with its heraldic badge.
‘Go eat cakes with your mama,’ says the sneering voice of [the farm boy] Mutuzok, behind me.”
We’re left in no doubt: even in the eyes of his adult self, Lyova Bronstein was just a little pretentious. (Incidentally, that dandyish streak never left Trotsky; even his prison photos show him in a suit, with immaculately trimmed goatee.)
I’ll admit, before I ramble on further, that the intricacies of Trotsky’s personality are probably not as fascinating to you as they are to me. You might even wonder why you ought to read this book at all, since it’s so unreliable as a historical document. Anyway, who in this day and age cares about the personal grievances of some arrogant, rather bitchy revolutionary intellectual who’s been dead for almost seventy years? It’s an excellent question, and as often as I hear it I’ve never been able to come up with the one answer that would put it to rest. But I will say that if you want an insight into the workings of an extraordinary personality in even more extraordinary times, or if you simply want to read a compelling story told in exquisite language, My Life should be your first port of call. You may love it, you may hate it, but you will have heard one of the most distinctive voices of the twentieth century.
My Life is available in translation from Pathfinder Press. The translations in this review are mine.
* Not a Trotskyist. This a common mistake, and it leads to me being introduced at social events to people who yell at me in great detail.
Strangely enough, the other night I was watching a programme about Russia and ended up on the internet reading up about Lenin and The Russian Revolution. Yes, I “did” the Russian Revolution at school but these things always seem more interesting to me now than they did at the time. I ended up reading a big chunk of Trotsky’s writing which seemed - in the translation - highly complex and flowery and rather tough-going to wade through. I imagine that translation is a key thing with a topic such as this. What do you think of the translation issue here and do you have particular translations you recommend?
Yes, I won’t deny it, Trotsky is very flowery. He’s so flowery it’s contagious; it’s even hard to write about him without going crazy on the adjectives. Can you remember which text the piece you read was taken from? His political theory stuff can be very dense, although some works - like The Revolution Betrayed - are just stunningly clear and simple despite the highfaluting language. Generally, in his mature works, the more florid side of his writing actually makes it a powerful experience. It’s very oratorical writing; of course, he was a great orator.
I am actually working on Trotsky’s earliest writings, before he’d managed to pare his style down and fix on some kind of consistent viewpoint. They are usually overlooked, which is unfortunate since they are a fascinating record of his political and literary development. But they are pretty awful to read, as you can imagine.
The standard translations out there tend in my experience to be the original contemporary translations. There seems to be little interest in re-translating Trotsky even when it comes to re-issuing one of his key works, and that’s a great shame. On the whole they are good translations, but they seem a bit clunky and dated especially if you’ve had the chance to read the Russian. (A rare chance too, if you don’t have access to university libraries or the various special collections - obviously, Trotsky’s works were no longer published in the USSR after his downfall, and copies were actively destroyed in the 1930s. His Complete Works in Russian is unfortunately incomplete as it ceased publication in 1927.)
I really would recommend “My Life” as a first introduction to Trotsky. And the bookfoxes might well enjoy “Literature and Revolution”, although it’s harder to track down. Of course, the Marxists Internet Archive at http://www.marxists.org is the easiest way to get at any of his works if you don’t mind reading them on the screen. They tend to be transcriptions of the standard translations.
Trotsky as dandy?! Brilliant detailed review. Great to have an expert eye on the subject matter.
I was particularly interested in this:
“All the little joys and the little tragedies of a farm on the steppe are laid out for us from a child’s eye perspective. It’s an astonishing contrast with the high flown rhetoric of the rest of the book…”
Your review has made me want to read more. Good stuff.
Hurrah! I get ridiculously happy when people tell me they want to read Trotsky for fun.
*does the happy dance*
Trotsky was very much the dandy. One of my former supervisors told me a story - I’ve yet to verify it, but it sounds pretty right - about Trotsky when he became Commissar of War. Of course, the new Red Army needed uniforms, so he sent out for an avant garde theatrical costumier who produced the most amazing outfits… in bright red and green. They soon discovered this was not a very good strategic idea, and the uniforms were re-designed in grey.
Thanks Kirsty for such a indepth reply. Shamefully I can’t remember the name of the piece of writing I read. His version of the Russian revolution and all about the Russian aristocracy and how they wanted to push the Tsar out themselves and their plots and intrigues and all about Rasputin and whatnot. I found it interesting for a while but then he seemed to get a bit overtaken by his own style and I seemed to be getting less info and impression of the time from it. But maybe that was my fault. I wonder if it helped to already know a lot about the history first.
I’m always interested in Trotsky through the Frida Kahlo connection of course (being into painting and that). Is that when he did a lot of writing or am I barking up the wrong tree there? Know anything about his Kahlo period?
I feel like a terrible ignoramus here.
Yes, Trotsky does rather love his own style… and it can get heavy! Knowing the background would help, undoubtedly, but his longer works can get very florid in places. Confusing even for the initiated.
Trotsky’s time in Mexico is probably one of the best documented periods of his life. And he died right in the middle of composing his biography of Stalin. (Literally so - the manuscript had to be salvaged - I’ll spare you the gruesome detail). The Kahlo connection… well, they were very close at one time, although I’m not sure that there *is* any definitive evidence about a relationship. She and Rivera finally denounced him, IIRC. This isn’t my specialist period of course, I work on the other end of his life altogether.
(Incidentally, Neruda was allegedly involved in the plot to assassinate Trotsky. It seems he was asked to procure a Chilean visa for David Siqueiros, a friend of his, who was apparently involved in the first failed assassination attempt before Ramon Mercader finally succeeded with his icepick. Neruda was very much a creature of the Komintern and of course he obeyed, although I’m not sure to what degree he was aware of the whole thing. This is a very touchy subject, as you can imagine; I’d advise you not to bring it up at parties.)
(I just want to add that I’m writing from memory here and sweating nervously as I do - all my materials are currently on the other side of the world from me. So any errors are mine!)
This sounds like an intriguing book, an autobiography with a definite flavor of it’s subject. I also noticed the segment Lisa brought up, such a difference in style & outlook would be fascinating. You’ve piqued my curiousity of Trotsky & I’d like to learn more about him now.
Truly fascinating review, thanks.
Fascinating stuff! Now I’ll have to find out more about Trotsky. As Rosy says, it never seemed quite so interesting at school.
[...] The most engaging and vivid account of Trotsky’s life although not, obviously, the most objective. First published in 1930 following his exile from the USSR, My Life is not just a reminiscence; it is Trotsky’s speech in his own defence, and it’s not exactly sparing on the attack either. The chapters about his childhood and youth are charming to read. Keep a critical eye on the text and you can see how carefully he structures his story. You can see a brief, introductory response to My Life here. [...]