Leon Trotsky (1879-1940, b. Lev Davidovich Bronshtein) was a Russian Marxist revolutionary & theorist, politician, & founder & 1st leader of the Red Army. As Stalin rose, Trotsky was removed from power, expelled from the Communist Party, deported & assassinated on Stalin's orders.
Most of this book was written & revised by Trotsky by '40, but the rest was put together by an editor after his murder.
He begins with biography. Stalin originally was a theology student, but "decidedly lost all taste for theology" (15) & led a "double life" for about five years (25). During the October Revolution, "Others did the fighting; Stalin supervised them from afar" (103). In power, Stalin removed from circulation, counterfeited & substituted new material (particularly about himself) for publications such as Pravda (199). Trotsky's name was deleted from revised publications such as Lenin's Works (227). He suspects that Stalin may have taken steps to advance Lenin's final illness, despite the "monstrosity of such suspicion" (372). He concludes that "Stalin remains a mediocrity" (393). He observes with satisfaction that "The vengeance of history is more terrible than the vengeance of the most powerful General Secretary. I venture to think that this is consoling" (383).--Steven H. Propp (edited)