The Trotsky Reappraisal

In 1988 the Director of State Archives in Moscow, Yuri Afanasyev, declared that in the vital process of re-examining Soviet history Trotsky is 'the biggest blank spot'. Leon Trotsky is certainly one of the most important, talented and enigmatic figures in twentieth-century world history. In The Trotsky Reappraisal an exciting mix of Soviet scholars and Western academics offer a pioneering reassessment of Trotsky's personality, his role in the Revolution and the ensuing civil war, and his opposition to Stalinism.
Soviet historians have been released from decades of what one Russian has called 'ignorant certainty', and are now seeking to re-examine many key questions, including the process by which Stalin eliminated opposition and consolidated his power. Such investigations lead in many directions but must include the exploration of the intellectual richness of Marxism - long concealed by Stalinist dogma. In this context, too, the reappraisal of Trotsky is overdue.