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4.18 AVERAGE
4.18 AVERAGE
informative
tense
slow-paced
informative
slow-paced
challenging
informative
medium-paced
informative
medium-paced
informative
inspiring
reflective
medium-paced
It’s a pretty good analysis of what the existing power & structure was after the Russian Revolution & the civil war that followed. The latter seems to ignored in a lot of the analyses about Stalinism & I think to ignore that distorts the issue significantly. Trotsky, thankfully accounts for it. He gives clarification as to what kind of people made up the bureaucracy & why but also the major institutions that were supposed to be in control of workers & the changes imposed from above on these institutions as well as parties that ultimately would have been a threat to Stalin’s power.
There is also a fairly thorough material analysis of the Soviet system under Stalin, including it’s advances & at the expense of whom & it’s failures. All of which are important to help gain a clearer picture of just what happened.
Trotsky viewed it as a degenerated worker’s state. Some view it as state capitalist. Thus far, I’m not sure either conclusion is correct but it seems me that it wasn’t even close to anything that existed in the immediate aftermath of 1917 nor anything that it was intended to be. Forces both inside & out, contributed to what it was but it doesn’t seem to be anything approaching socialism after the civil war. (Added 7/15/2020 I was not sure either conclusion was correct but, based on further reading it seems history has proven Trotsky to be right.)
All in all, it’s a great book to help get a handle on just what happened after the Revolution & point you in the direction of what forces at play need to be understood. Definite recommend.
There is also a fairly thorough material analysis of the Soviet system under Stalin, including it’s advances & at the expense of whom & it’s failures. All of which are important to help gain a clearer picture of just what happened.
Trotsky viewed it as a degenerated worker’s state. Some view it as state capitalist. Thus far, I’m not sure either conclusion is correct but it seems me that it wasn’t even close to anything that existed in the immediate aftermath of 1917 nor anything that it was intended to be. Forces both inside & out, contributed to what it was but it doesn’t seem to be anything approaching socialism after the civil war. (Added 7/15/2020 I was not sure either conclusion was correct but, based on further reading it seems history has proven Trotsky to be right.)
All in all, it’s a great book to help get a handle on just what happened after the Revolution & point you in the direction of what forces at play need to be understood. Definite recommend.
really interesting insights on the socio-political-economic state of the USSR after lenin. Can get a little bogged down by statistics and making lots of repetitive points, but it all goes to serve the purpose of the book.
This is also my first in my year of trying to read one book a week! The goal is to become literate, find a love of reading, and to learn. So in with the review, i’ll also be putting blurbs of what i learned.
WHAT I LEARNED: About social, economic, political, labor relations and what that actually can look like in a not capitalist world. And how different things can be, without actually being all that different.
1/52
This is also my first in my year of trying to read one book a week! The goal is to become literate, find a love of reading, and to learn. So in with the review, i’ll also be putting blurbs of what i learned.
WHAT I LEARNED: About social, economic, political, labor relations and what that actually can look like in a not capitalist world. And how different things can be, without actually being all that different.
1/52
Detailed examination of the state of the Soviet Union at the time. Trotsky link this analysis of the political and economic realities of the USSR back with core Marxist theory.
The definitive analysis of how humans wreck their own lives. From foreign intervention to the thuggery of Stalin and his supporters. How governments end up in the hands of those most unsuited to govern.
A story told by the Greeks and repeated by the idealists of today.
A story told by the Greeks and repeated by the idealists of today.
The definitive analysis of how humans wreck their own lives. From foreign intervention to the thuggery of Stalin and his supporters. How governments end up in the hands of those most unsuited to govern.
A story told by the Greeks and repeated by the idealists of today.
A story told by the Greeks and repeated by the idealists of today.