In Defence of Marxism: The Social and Political Contradictions of the Soviet Union

A Pathfinder upgraded edition. Writing in 1939-40, Leon Trotsky replies to those in the revolutionary workers movement who were beating a retreat from defense of the Soviet Union in face of looming imperialist assault. He describes how the rising pressures of bourgeois patriotism in the middle classes during Washington's buildup to enter the spreading imperialist war in Europe were finding an echo even inside the communist movement. And he explains why only a party that fights to bring growing numbers of workers into its ranks and leadership can steer a steady revolutionary course. Introductions by George Novack and Joseph Hansen, appendices by James Burnham: Science and Style: A Reply to Comrade Trotsky, Letter of Resignation from Workers Party. Notes, glossary, index. Now with enlarged type. Also available in: Spanish