TROTSKY IN NEW YORK, 1917:
A Radical on the Eve of Revolution
Lev Davidovich Trotsky burst onto the world stage in November 1917 as co-leader of a Marxist Revolution seizing power in Russia. It made him one of the most recognized personalities of the Twentieth Century, a global icon of radical change.
Yet just months earlier, this same Lev Trotsky was a nobody, a refugee expelled from Europe, writing obscure pamphlets and speeches, barely noticed outside a small circle of fellow travelers. Where had he come from to topple Russia and change the world? Where else? New York City.
Between January and March 1917, Trotsky found refuge in the United States. America had kept itself out of the European Great War, leaving New York the freest city on earth. During his time there—just over ten weeks—Trotsky immersed himself in the local scene.
He settled his family in the Bronx, edited a radical left wing tabloid in Greenwich Village, sampled the lifestyle, and plunged headlong into local politics. His clashes with leading New York socialists over the question of US entry into World War I would reshape the American left for the next fifty years.
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Reviews of TROTSKY IN NEW YORK, 1917:
- Revolution, Internationalist Group, September 2021.
- New York Labor History Association, November 10, 2020.
- Journal of Russian American Studies, November 2018.
- Insurgent Notes: Journal of Communist Theory and Practice, March 2018.
- International Socialist Review, March 2017.
- Workers Liberty: Reason in Revolt, March 2017.
- Socialist Alternative, February 2017.
- World Socialist Web Site, October 8, 2016.
- Times of Israel, September 19, 2016
- HighwayScriberyBooks.com, September 11, 2016.
- Publishers Weekly, July 2016.
- Kirkus Reviews, June 2016.
Interviews on TROTSKY IN NEW YORK, 1917:
- Jacobin Magazine, October 26, 2016.
- Washington Independent Review of Books, with James McGrath Morris, October 25, 2016.
- NPR/WNYC, “The Takeaway, with John Hockenberry,” September 19, 2016.
- BookPleasures.com, September 13, 2016.
Blog Posts:
- The Page 99 Test: September 24, 2016.
- My Book: The Movie: September 17, 2016.
- Is UK’s Jeremy Corbyn a Trotskyist? Seriously? Huffington Post, August 23, 2016.
- HISTORY LESSON: Bernie Sanders is no Communist, and “Democratic Socialists” are as American as Apple Pie. Huffington Post, March 4, 2016.
- Trotsky and the War that Brought my family to America, March 5, 2010.
Translations:
- Grisha Ziv on Trotsky in New York, from the original Russian, 1921, from original Russian;
- Trotsky’s take on the Carnegie Hall anti-war meeting, Novy Mir, February 8, 1917, from original Russian
- Coverage of Trotsky’s arrival in New York from foreign-language press, New Yorker Volkszeitung and Forward, January 15 and 15, 1917, from original German and Yiddish.
Dear Kenneth Ackerman
I am a professor in the Netherlands writing a book about the Cold War-era double agent Boris Morros. For reasons that are too complicated to go into, I was wondering if your book deals in any detail with Trotsky’s stage career–especially a lecture in 1917 at the Capitol Theatre?
Alas, our library doesn’t have your book and I am on deadline–otherwise I wouldn’t bother you!
Thanks.
Jonathan
P.S. Years ago, writing my history of Harlem, I found your book about Boss Tweed very useful!