Witnesses to Permanent Revolution: The Documentary Record: 21 (Historical Materialism Book Series, 21) - Hardcover

"Witnesses to Permanent Revolution provides much stimulating background material to the discussion of the prospects of the Russian revolution in the run up to the First World War. [...] to be recommended" Bill Jefferies, Marx & Philosophy, 14 March 2014 '[Es] gelingt den beiden Herausgebern mit dieser Dokumentation [...], in beeindruckender Weise zu zeigen, in welchem Umfeld und aufgrund welcher Anregungen die theorie der permanenten Revolution als Teil der marxistischen Debatten vor dem Ersten Weltkrieg entstand.' Reiner Tosstorff, Archiv fur die Geschichte des Widerstandes und der Arbeit 19 (2011) pp. 440-443. 'The publication of Witnesses to Permanent Revolution: The Documentary Record is a major event in the study of the theoretical foundations of the 1917 October Revolution. [...] Day and Gaido have produced a book that is indispensable for those who wish to understand the development of Marxist theory and revolutionary strategy in the twentieth century.' David North, World Socialist Web Site, 19 April 2010 'Since the world is again in the midst of an economic crisis, the arguments here are not without contemporary relevance, even if from today's perspective it is a polemic where everybody is right. Summing Up: Recommended.' A. Ezergailis, Choice Reviews Online, January 2010 "[Ce volume] se caracterise par la richesse du fonds documentaire reuni. Si la presentation de l'editeur, traduite ci-dessous, indique que la plupart des textes sont presentees ici en anglais pour la premiere fois, il faut signaler que la plupart sont egalement inedits en francais. De sorte que ce volume, au-dela de la volonte affichee de ses coordinateurs de donner une coherence d'ensemble a la theorie de la revolution permanente - tache dont ils s'acquittent avec grande honnetete au demeurant - comblerait quelques lacunes importantes si il pouvait etre traduit en francais." Eric, Smolny, 14 December 2010

The theory of Permanent Revolution has been associated with Leon Trotsky for more than a century since the first Russian Revolution in 1905. Trotsky was the most brilliant proponent of Permanent Revolution but by no means its sole author. The documents in this volume, most of them translated into English for the first time, demonstrate that Trotsky was one of several participants in a debate from 1903-7 that involved numerous leading figures of Russian and European Marxism, including Karl Kautsky, Rosa Luxemburg, Franz Mehring, Parvus and David Ryazanov. This volume reassembles that debate, assesses it with reference to Marx and Engels, and provides new evidence for interpreting the formative years of Russian revolutionary Marxism.