The Post-Soviet School of Historical Falsification
“Of course, Trotsky was an alternative to Stalin”
An interview with Professor Mario Kessler on the Trotsky biography by Robert Service
By Wolfgang Weber, May 22, 2012
This is the second part of a two-part interview with German historian Professor Mario Kessler on the 2009 biography of Leon Trotsky by Robert Service. Part one was posted on Monday, May 21. Professor Kessler is a co-signatory of a letter sent by 14 European sociologists and political scientists to the Suhrkamp Verlag publishing house raising grave reservations about its plan to bring out a German edition of Service’s book.
“Of course, Trotsky was an alternative to Stalin”
An interview with Professor Mario Kessler on the Trotsky biography by Robert Service—Part one
By Wolfgang Weber, May 21, 2012
This is the first part of a two-part interview with German historian Professor Mario Kessler on the 2009 biography of Leon Trotsky by Robert Service. Professor Kessler is a co-signatory of a letter sent by 14 European sociologists and political scientists to the Suhrkamp Verlag publishing house raising grave reservations about its plan to bring out a German edition of Service’s book.
David North speaks in defense of Leon Trotsky at Cornell University
By Tom Mackaman, May 3, 2012
Socialist Equality Party National Chairman David North spoke to an overflow crowd at Cornell University, in Ithaca, New York, in defense of Leon Trotsky against attacks by academic historians.
David North speaks in Berlin: “In Defence of Leon Trotsky and Historical Truth”
By our reporter, February 3, 2012
David North placed his exposure of Robert Service’s slanderous biography of Trotsky in a broader historical and political context.
A blow against the Post-Soviet School of Historical Falsification
By Wolfgang Weber, December 31, 2011
The letter of 14 historians to the Suhrkamp publishing house in Germany calling on it to abandon publication of Robert Service’s biography of Leon Trotsky has opened the door for an honest and thorough examination of the role of Trotsky and the rise and fall of Soviet power.
“Robert Service has written a diatribe, not a scientific polemic!”
A conversation with Professor Hermann Weber
November 28, 2011
Professor Hermann Weber spoke to the World Socialist Web Site on the reasons for his opposition to the publication by Suhrkamp Verlag of a German translation of Robert Service’s biography of Leon Trotsky.
European historians oppose publication by Suhrkamp of Robert Service’s Trotsky biography
By Wolfgang Weber, November 23, 2011
Fourteen prominent historians, political scientists and publicists from Germany and Austria have sent a letter to the German publishing house Suhrkamp opposing the publication of Robert Service’s biography of Trotsky. The letter cites “a host of factual errors,” the “repugnant connotations” of the passages in which Service deals with Trotsky’s Jewish origins, and Service’s recourse to “formulas associated with Stalinist propaganda” for the purpose of discrediting Trotsky.
“A book that fails to meet the basic standards of historical scholarship”
The American Historical Review discredits Robert Service’s biography of Leon Trotsky
By The Political Committee Socialist Equality Party (US), June 28, 2011
The American Historical Review has published a critical examination of two books: the denunciatory biography Trotsky by British historian Robert Service and In Defense of Leon Trotsky by David North, the chairman of both the Socialist Equality Party in the United States and the international editorial board of the World Socialist Web Site.
Political biography and the historical lie: An examination of Robert Service’s Trotsky
By David North, May 6, 2010
This lecture on Robert Service’s biography of Trotsky was delivered by David North, chairman of the International Editorial Board of the WSWS, at the University of Oxford on May 5.
Successful launch of In Defence of Leon Trotsky at Sydney’s Gleebooks
By our correspondent, February 4, 2010
An appreciative audience of 150 filled the upstairs auditorium of Sydney’s Gleebooks bookstore last night to hear David North launch his In Defence of Leon Trotsky: A Reply to the Falsifications of Robert Service.
WSWS chairman David North addresses Sydney book launch
In defence of Trotsky’s “immense and enduring historical significance”
February 4, 2010
David North, the chairman of the WSWS International Editorial Board and national chairman of the Socialist Equality Party (US) spoke at the launching of his book, In Defence of Leon Trotsky: A Reply to the Falsifications of Robert Service, at Sydney’s Gleebooks bookstore last night.
Historians in the Service of the “Big Lie”: An Examination of Professor Robert Service’s Biography of Trotsky
By David North, December 15, 2009
We are publishing here a lecture delivered by David North on December 13 at the Friends Meeting House in London. North is the chairman of the International Editorial Board of the World Socialist Web Site and national chairman of the Socialist Equality Party (US). The lecture develops North’s critique of Service’s falsifications, initially discussed in the review, “In the Service of Historical Falsification: A Review of Robert Service’s Trotsky: A Biography”.
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