Sunday, May 30, 2021

Trotsky: a Biography by Robert Service

Here's Bach's Cello Suite.


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This is a thorough yet engaging biography of the man who might have been, but never was the leader of the Soviet Union.

I have heard pro-communists say that Communism would have worked under Trotsky and the Soviet Union would have achieved its Marxist goals if the crazy, paranoid Stalin hadn't made it to power.

Those people should read this book. Trotsky was every bit as ruthless and inhumane in his tactics in his tireless efforts to create a "Communist Utopia" as Stalin was. The difference was Stalin had more people on his side.

What fascinated me was Service's description of Trotsky's single-mindedness. His entire life was consumed in making a Soviet. He had no conscience about destroying a country, including starving out the people he claimed to be fighting for.

He wanted liberty from the aristocracy, but he did not want anyone to have freedom from him.

Due to his general lack of diplomacy, he succeeded in alienating even those who might have sided with him.

While in Mexico there were many artists and poets and philosophers from Europe, Mexico, and America who saw what they wanted to see in him and made him a poster boy for their cause.

These people were not enough to get him into power, primarily because they were armchair socialists, more concerned with mimicking the fashionable prattle of the day about socialism than actually doing anything to undermine their personal wealth.

Frida Kahlo became quickly bored with him, as she did with all her lovers, and she and her husband Diego Rivera, never practiced what they preached. They were contemporary virtue signalers.

In America H.L. Mencken wanted to donate much of his library to Trotsky, something Trotsky wasn't interested in. Other supporters were John Dewey, (of the decimal system fame, not to mention doing his best to integrate Marxist values into the American educational system-do you wonder why our young people voted for Bernie Sanders?)

In the end, Stalin got him, but I don't know if Trotsky cared. He was slowly disintegrating, bit by bit, anyway. I think the end, as gruesome as it was (why a pick ax, for peter's sake?) must have come as a relief. 

 

I've been preparing a slide show for my mother's memorial service.  This is a favorite.  A young mother trying to keep track of her three children.  I'm the oldest.

 


 

7 comments:

mudpuddle said...

touching picture... i didn't know all that about Trotsky: interesting...

Sharon Wilfong said...

Hello Mudpuddle

I think it is a fair biography and certainly informative. I'm glad to finally get a time line of someone who played a key role in history.

Thank you about the photo. It's funny I never realized how young my mother looked once upon a time.

Debbie Nolan said...

Sharon what a wonderful photo of your mom and kids. Those old pictures take us back to when time seemed sweeter and more innocent (not sure they were). Just think our parents were dealing with the fear of communism even back then and in reality I am thinking as a nation we are moving that way quickly today. Thank you for sharing the book on Trotsky.

Sharon Wilfong said...

HI Debbie,

Thank you. Looking back I realize my mother was really pretty. Of course when you're young she's just your mom.

I vaguely remember those times and living on military installations, we were very aware of the Vietnam war and the refugees.


There will be wars and rumors of wars. People prefer to believe in a man made institution than trust God.

Blessings!

Carol said...

Lovely photo, Blondie. 🙂 We have a political situation here with the same old story though not with the potential for the dire consequences that happened in Russia - someone decides that they are the one for the job and bumps their rival off. Theres no end to the arrogance of man.
Have you decided what to do about your blog? A friend told me you can transfer all your content to another blog e.g. Wordpress - free but you can change to a paid w/press easily later on that eliminates ads.
Im just too lazy to make any move at present.

Sharon Wilfong said...

Hi Carol,

Thank you. My mother was a blondie.

That's interesting to know such a thing happened in Australia. I'll have to look up the particulars. Of course we have the Clintons and the trail of "suicides" that follow them everywhere they go.

As for my blog. I've been reading up on it and it seems the best thing to do would be to go to Wordpress because it has a built in subscription option. So I wouldn't have to add one.

Of course it means having to notify everyone and hope they'll follow me over to the next blog, but apparently that will happen anyway no matter what we do.

Carol said...

There's a way to put a redirect notice on your old blog. I don't know if you can transfer your email contacts over, though.