Red Clydeside: A history of the labour movement in Glasgow 1910-1932

Literature

War or Revolution, 1918

Bolshevist Socialism versus Capitalistic Imperialism

by Leon Trotsky

Leon Trotsky was leader, alongside Lenin, of the Russian Revolution and also architect of the Red Army. Following Lenin's death in 1922 and Stalin's elevation to leader, Trotsky was expelled from the Communist Party by his political rival, Stalin, and deported from the USSR in 1929.

The writings of Leon Trotsky were first introduced to a British audience in booklets published by the British Socialist Party. Trotsky advocated the pursuit of socialism via revolutionary methods and refuted the notion of reformist parliamentary socialism.

This copy of 'War or Revolution' was published by the Socialist Labour Press in Glasgow and is a good example of the way in which Glasgow-based socialists disseminated and published socialist literature by international revolutionary figures during the Red Clydeside period.

Source: Gallacher Memorial Library, Glasgow Caledonian University Special Collections and Archives