First Published in English: 1941. Edited and translated from Russian by Charles Malamuth.
Online Version: Marxists Internet Archive, 2009.
Transcribed/HTML Markup: Martin Falgren & David Walters in 2009.
Copyleft: This work is in the Public Domain under the Creative Commons Common Deed. You can freely copy, distribute and display this work; as well as make derivative and commercial works. Please credit the Encyclopedia of Trotskism On-Line as your source, include the url to this work, and note any of the transcribers, editors & proofreaders above.
Table of contents
Special Note by the Editor-Transcriber of this Work
Chapter II: “Professional revolutionist”
Chapter III: The first revolution
Chapter IV: The period of reaction
Trotsky’s Stalin biography is an important historical document. Unfortunately Trotsky was not able to complete the book himself – he was assassinated by the Spanish stalinist in Ramón Mercader – and the incomplete manuscript was edited and translated by Charles Malamuth.
The first seven chapters of the book were near completion by Trotsky's own hands. The rest was mainly fragments which Malamuth had to put together to finish the book. The latter part of the book has been critizised for reflecting Malamuths views more than Trotsky's. However that problem doesn't apply to the first part of the book, which we publish here.
See the interesting review by John G. Wright, A Biography of Stalin for more facts and information about the publication of this book.
Last updated on: 7 September 2009