The Third International After Lenin, Book Two Part 3

What it is

This is a long written work by Trotsky, published in 1929 and part of his book on the Third International after Lenin. The excerpt in the archive comes from the part titled Strategy and Tactics in the Imperialist Epoch, Part Three, which discusses the period of right-centrist down-sliding in communist parties. The text on Wikisource names Luxemburg and calls her the most profound and talented expression of one approach. Trotsky wrote this as an analysis decades after her death, so it is a later interpretation rather than her own words.

Why it matters

Trotsky was a leading Bolshevik and a rival of Stalin. His book judges communist politics in the 1920s, and his treatment of Luxemburg shows how revolutionaries of his generation argued over her legacy. The text also refers to Stalin and to party leaders such as Maslow and Ruth Fischer, linking Luxemburg to a wider debate about communist strategy.

Look closer

• Why would a later writer analyse a figure who had already died?
• How does Trotsky describe the parties and leaders he is criticising?
• Which voices or events does this book leave out of its account of Luxemburg?