Trotsky, Stalin, and Socialism

As attempts to reform the Soviet system under the banner of perestroika are clouded by mounting uncertainty, there has been a resurgence of interest within the Soviet Union and around the globe in the forces, ideas and circumstances that contributed to the Stalinist inheritance. The investigation of possible historical alternatives to that system and the early debates over the meaning of "socialism" and its variants have become vital concerns in the Soviet Union today. This book offers a selection of the writings of Robert V. Daniels on the formative period of the Soviet political and economic system. The focus of the essays is on the two commanding personalities that dominated the Soviet scene after Lenin - Trotsky, the flamboyant theorist, and Stalin, the vindictive pragmatist.