Social Democracy and the Wars of Intervention in Russia 1918-1921 (Between Red and White), by Leon Trotsky
Published by Union Books in 1991, 128 pages. Used Booklet (S4343)
This book was written by Leon Trotsky in 1922 to expose the counter-revolutionary role of Social Democracy during the war to defend the first workers' state against imperialism and capitalist restoration. Trotsky wrote this book when he was Commissar of War, just after the Bolsheviks had defeated the Mensheviks and imperialists in a vital campaign in Georgia. The Bolshevik victory caused international Social Democracy, led by the centrist Kautsky, to mount a campaign against Communism and Soviet power.......
After the overthrow of Czarism in February 1917 the Mensheviks, who had a base amongst the petty bourgeoisie and labour aristocracy in Georgia, formed a government. This government collaborated with German imperialism which sent troops against the Soviet Federation in 1918. After the defeat of Germany, White forces and the British were based in the country, and the Menshevik regime banned the Communist party and sought to stamp it out.
In May 1920 the Soviet Federation recognised the independence of Georgia. However, Georgia ruled by the Mensheviks provided the imperialists with a base for continuing operations against the Soviet Federation, so the Communist Party's Central Committee authorised moves to establish Soviet power in Georgia. The Georgian Communist Party organised an uprising and the Red Army intervened to support it.
In Between Red and White Trotsky does not merely expose the role of Georgia's Social Democrats, but the counter-revolutionary activities of their German and British counterparts who were propagandising against the Bolsheviks.
This book was written as an answer to the Social Democrats' campaign for the withdrawal of the Red Army from Georgia and its self-determination through a referendum. Trotsky exposes the Labour leaders of the day, Arthur Henderson and Phillip Snowden's wife, who spoke out for self-determination of Georgia, but would not speak up against the British Empire and for the self-determination of India and Ireland.
Condition of the booklet is generally good. The cover has one or two very minor scuffs, and some rusting along the staples, but the staple spine is intact and all pages are intact, unblemished and and tightly bound. The bottom right hand corner of the front cover has been clipped
| Condition | New |