Histomat: Adventures in Historical Materialism

'Historical materialism is the theory of the proletarian revolution.' Georg Lukács

Monday, July 27, 2009

More on Trotsky

Sorry, a bit irrelevant I know, but I was digging through some old files and, well, speaking of Trotsky, I came across this snippet on page 28 of With Trotsky in Exile by Jean Van Heijenoort which I thought ought to be shared with Histomat readers. It's about when Trotsky tried to learn to drive at some point during the 1920s.

Trotsky, when still in Russia, had expressed the desire to have a car and to drive. Joffe, a Soviet diplomat and friend of Trotsky, sent him from abroad a Mercedes, specially equipped with a powerful engine. Trotsky took the wheel and, after five hundred yards, went into a ditch. That was the end of the driving.

1 Comments:

At 3:23 pm, Blogger american left history said...

I guess old brother Trotsky never got beyond that sleigh escape experience from Siberia back in the early 1900s. Still I WOULD definitely want him on my side when the deal goes down and revolution hangs in the balance. We could always get him a rent-a-wreck. Regards, Markin

By the way Trotsky owes brother Joffe a lot more than for the dubious use of a high end automobile. His death by suicide in 1927 in protest after the "night of the long knives" Stalinist pale falling over the fate of the revolution is widely credited with giving Trotsky a final spurt to battle the Stalinist degeneration to the end. Thanks Adophe. All honor to this heroic Bolshevik.

 

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