In Defence of Leon Trotsky

As the academic year begins in Australia and New Zealand, the International Students for Social Equality (ISSE) will be holding meetings in March on “In Defence of Leon Trotsky”.

The ISSE meetings will discuss and promote the recently published book, "In Defence of Leon Trotsky", by David North, chairman of the international editorial board of the World Socialist Web Site and national chairman of the Socialist Equality Party in the United States.

In Defence of Leon Trotsky is a powerful refutation of a recent publication, Trotsky: A Biography, by Oxford University history professor, Robert Service. Service’s biography attempts to falsify the life, ideas and personality of the most outstanding revolutionary figure of the twentieth century. It follows two other biographies of Trotsky, written by British historians Ian Thatcher and Geoffrey Swain and published in the past few years, which similarly attack Trotsky and falsify the historical record and legacy of the 1917 Russian Revolution. The aim of all three works is to blacken Trotsky’s name and turn young people away from a serious study of the internationalist and socialist program and perspective for which he fought.

We encourage all students and young people to help advertise and attend this important ISSE meeting. We append below links to David North’s essays and speeches in reply to Robert Service.

In The Service of Historical Falsification: A Review of Robert Service's Trotsky (http://www.wsws.org/articles/2009/nov2009/serv-n11.shtml)

Historians in the Service of the “Big Lie”: An Examination of Professor Robert Service’s Biography of Trotsky (http://www.wsws.org/articles/2009/dec2009/serv-d15.shtml)

In defence of Trotsky’s “immense and enduring historical significance” (http://www.wsws.org/articles/2010/feb2010/dnor-f04.shtml)