An Appeal to the Toiling, Oppressed and Exhausted Peoples of Europe

Whether calling for an end to the capitalist system, addressing the crowds after the Russian Revolution, or attacking Stalin during his years of exile, Trotsky’s speeches give an extraordinary insight into a man whose words and actions determined the fates of millions. Throughout history, some books have changed the world. They have transformed the way we see ourselves – and each other. They have inspired debate, dissent, war and revolution. They have enlightened, outraged, provoked and comforted. They have enriched lives – and destroyed them. Now Penguin brings you the works of the great thinkers, pioneers, radicals and visionaries whose ideas shook civilization and helped make us who we are.

Leon Trotsky (1879 – 1940) was a Ukrainian-born Bolshevik revolutionary and Marxist theorist. He was one of the leaders of the Russian October Revolution, second only to Lenin. Expelled from the Communist Party and deported from the Soviet Union in the 1920s he was eventually assassinated in Mexico by a Soviet agent.