Trotsky: A Biography

Trotsky: A Biography

The first edition cover of the book, depicting Trotsky.
Author	Robert Service
Country	United Kingdom
Language	English
Subject	Biography
Publisher	Macmillan Publishers
Publication date	2009
Media type	Print (hardback & paperback)
Preceded by	Stalin: A Biography

Trotsky: A Biography is a biography of the Marxist theorist and revolutionary Leon Trotsky written by the English historian Robert Service, then a professor in Russian history at the University of Oxford. It was first published by Macmillan in 2009 and later republished in other languages.

Having converted to the Marxist revolutionary movement in early life, Trotsky (1879–1940) had been a member of the Bolshevik Party and a significant figure in the October Revolution of 1917 which brought the Bolsheviks to power in the Russian Empire. Following the death of Vladimir Lenin, Trotsky's rival Joseph Stalin ascended to the Soviet leadership, with Trotsky fleeing into exile, where he was murdered in Mexico. Following his death, various biographers produced works studying Trotsky; Service's differs from many of these in its emphasis. He argues that Trotsky has been romanticized by western leftists for decades, instead claiming that Trotsky laid the groundwork for the Stalinist totalitarian state in the Soviet Union and that had he become Soviet leader rather than Stalin, the end result would have been very similar.

The book received a mixed reception upon publication. The mainstream British and American press was overwhelmingly positive, but reviews in peer-reviewed, academic journals were more critical, highlighting factual errors throughout the text.

Prior to the publication of Trotsky: A Biography, Service had written a number of historical studies and biographies of Russia in the period of revolution: The Bolshevik Party in Revolution 1917-23: A Study in Organizational Change (1979), A History of Twentieth-Century Russia (1997), The Russian Revolution, 1900-27 (1999), A History of Modern Russia, from Nicholas II to Putin (1998, Second edition in 2003), Lenin: A Biography (2000), Russia: Experiment with a People (2002), Stalin: A Biography (2004) and Comrades: A World History of Communism (2007).