Trotsky’s extraordinary life and extensive writings have left an indelible mark on revolutionary conscience; and yet there was at one time a danger that his name would disappear altogether from history. Isaac Deutscher’s magisterial three-volume biography was the first major publication to counter the powerful Stalinist propaganda machine, and in this definitive work Trotsky emerges in his real stature, as the most heroic, and ultimately tragic, character of the Russian revolution.This first volume of the trilogy, originally published in 1954, traces Trotsky’s political development: his early activities, the formation and crystallization of his distinctive and motivating idea—the permanent revolution— his long feud and final reconciliation with Lenin and Bolshevism, and his role in the October insurrection of 1917. The volume ends in the year 1921, when Trotsky, then at the climax of his power, unwittingly sowed the seeds of his own defeat.

    The Primitive Communal Mode of Production Chapter  2. The Slave-Owning Mode of Production Chapter  3. The Feudal Mode of ProductionPart Two : The Capitalist Mode of Production A. Pre-Monopoly Capitalism Chapter  4. Commodity Production. Commodities and Money Chapter  5. Capitalist Simple Co-operation and Manufacture Chapter  6. The Machine Period of Capitalism Chapter  7. Capital and Surplus-Value. The Basic Economic Law of Capitalism Chapter  8. Wages Chapter  9. Accumulation of Capital and Impoverishment of the Proletariat Chapter 10. Rotation and Turnover of Capital Chapter 11. Average Profit and Price of Production Chapter 12. Merchant Capital and Merchants’ Profit Chapter 13. Loan Capital and Loan Interest. Circulation of Money Chapter 14. Ground-Rent. Agrarian Relations under Capitalism Chapter 15. The National Income Chapter 16. Reproduction of Social Capital Chapter 17. Economic Crises B. Monopoly Capitalism-Imperialism Chapter 18. Imperialism-The Highest Stage of Capitalism. The Basic Economic Law of Monopoly Capitalism Chapter 19. The Colonial System of Imperialism Chapter 20. The Place of Imperialism in History Chapter 21. The General Crisis of Capitalism Chapter 22. The Aggravation of the General Crisis of Capitalism after the Second World War Economic Doctrines of the Capitalist Epoch Part Three : The Socialist Mode of Production A. The Transitional Period from Capitalism to Socialism Chapter 23. Main Features of the Transitional Period from Capitalism to Socialism Chapter 24. Socialist Industrialisation Chapter 25. The Collectivisation of Agriculture Chapter 26. The Victory of Socialism in the U.S.S.R. B. The Socialist Economic System Chapter 27. The Material Production Basis of Socialism Chapter 28. Social Ownership of the Means of Production-The Foundation of the Production Relations of Socialism Chapter 29. The Basic Economic Law of Socialism Chapter 30. The Law of Planned Proportional Development of the National Economy Chapter 31. Social Labour in Socialist Society Chapter 32. Commodity Production, the Law of Value, and Money, in Socialist Society Chapter 33. Wages in Socialist Economy Chapter 34. Economic Accounting and Profitability Costs and Price Chapter 35. The Socialist System of Agriculture Chapter 36. Trade in Socialist Economy Chapter 37. The National Income of Socialist Society Chapter 38. State Budget, Credit, and Currency Circulation in Socialist Society Chapter 39. Socialist Reproduction Chapter 40. The Gradual Transition from Socialism to Communism C. The Building of Socialism in the Countries of People’s Democracy Chapter 41. The Economic System of the People’s Democracies in Europe Chapter 42. The Economic System of the Chinese People’s Republic Chapter 43. Economic Collaboration between the Countries of the Socialist Camp