The Revolution Betrayed

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The Revolution Betrayed is a book by the Russian Bolshevik leader Leon Trotsky, published in 1937, analyzing and criticizing Stalinism and the post-Lenin development in the Soviet Union.

Trotsky wrote the book during his exile in Norway.

The book was originally translated into French by Victor Serge and its most notable English translation is by Max Eastman.

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The book, as a critique of Stalin, opens by praising the economic and political advance of the USSR since the death of Lenin- citing growth in electrical power, agricultural output, industry, etc.

The first few chapters examine the situation of the "Zigzags," as Trotsky described them, in the leadership of the Party. Trotsky segues into economic policy, criticizing Stalin and Bukharin's policy of moving slowly into collectivization and increased privatization of land. Trotsky then discusses labor productivity and criticizes the uselessness of the Stakhanovite movement and "shock brigades."

Trotsky then analyzes the "The Soviet Thermidor," analyzing the triumph of Stalin, the separation of the party from Bolshevism, and the rising bureaucratic stratum. He now discusses everyday life in the Soviet Union, economic inequality and the oppression of the new proletariat.

From here he discusses foreign policy and the Soviet military: The failure to defeat fascism, the re-institution of ranks and the loss of a militia, and closes by examining the future of the Soviet Union.