Russia and Bolshevism

- REVIEWSRUSSIA AND BOLSHEVISM* ALEXANDER BRADY L ITERATURE in English o.n Russia and Bo.lshevism has gro.wn vastly since the depressio.n began in 1929. Every year sees a bo.untiful crap o.f vo.lumes, ranging fro.m the few serio.us and co.mpetent stud.ies, like tho.se by Calvin Ho.o.ver and Maurice Do.bb, to. the many superficial and ephemeral impressians o.f sightseers who. spend a few weeks in Leningrad and Mo.sco.w. As western capitalism has co.me under eclipse the subject af Russia has became the Eldarada o.f the bo.o.k trade. Different fro.m the ardinary ruck o.f bo.o.ks are tho.se here selected fo.r co.mment. With ane exceptian they are written by men who. have played outstanding roles in the mo.dern drama o.f Russia; o.ne is by the man who. perhaps mo.re than any other determines the present policy o.f the U.S.S.R. The mo.st impo.rtant fact is that all o.f them throw brilliant light upo.n the social conceptio.ns and political tho.ught which either have exercised o.r no.w exercise a dominant influence in the life o.f contemporary Russia, and threaten to. affect greatly the life of western civilization. Leo.n Trotsky's History of the Russian Revolution is already securely lo.dged within a high niche in ·the Iiterature of mo.dern po.litics. Fro.m the appearance o.f the first vo.lume o.f the English translation in 1932, it was *The History of th~ Ruuian &oO/utjOl1, by Leon Trotsky, vats. I, II, a.nd III, Simon and Shuster. The Cru6fixion 0/ Lib~rly by Alexander Kerensky, John Day Company. LeniniJm, by Joseph Scalin, vots. I and II, Internation al Publishers. A HisJory of BoiJ'heoism. by Arthur Rosenberg, Oxford University Press. THE UNIVERSITY OF TORONTO QUARTERLY greeted by reviewers with unbounded praise. The Times remarked that such works appeared only once in a century . This enthusiastic welcome is readily understood. In the first place, the book is planned and written with consummate literary skill, despite occasional pages of profuseness and repeti tion. Coruscating with epigrams, it conveys the vivid drama and surging enthusiasms of the revolution. Whatever the prejudices of the reader, it compels him to share in the spirit of vigorous hope with which the principal revolutionists undertook their task. But this literary excellence is not the only significance of Trotsky's work. Within it are many elements. It is a narrative history that carries one along without effort; it is an interesting gallery of personalities, even if these are often drawn with bitterness and in a manner that is unconvincing ; it is a work on social psychology which duly re: cognizes the varied complexities of social life; above all it is a text-book on the principles of revolution, in the formulation of which Trotsky, the arch-conspirator and brilliant politician, assumes the panoply of social philosopher. It is proper to admit that Trotsky's principles are not novel. They are the principles of revolution of the MarxLeninist system, with certain features selected for special emphasis and expounded with superb power. "The fundamental forces of the historic process are classes"--such is his Marxist premise. He then proceeds to argue and to illustrate throughout three portly volumes that a revolution is a movement of the masses which transfers power from one class to another. "The most indubitable feature of a revolution is the direct interference of the masses in historic events." One need not spoil the work for the reader by tracing out the steps whereby power was transferred in Russia from the czar and the property-owners to 528 REVIEWS the proletariat-the predisposing conditions in Russia's economic and social structure, the role of the party, the special opportunities for action provided by the Great War, the correlation of suitable forces and the insurrection which eventually brought the seizure of power on October 25, 1917. Of course, Trotsky really stopped too soon. The revolution did not end in October. The struggle of classes for power has gone...