Victor Serge (; 1890–1947), born Victor Lvovich Kibalchich (russian: Ви́ктор Льво́вич Киба́льчич), was a Russian revolutionary

Marxist Marxism is a left-wing to far-left method of socioeconomic analysis that uses a materialist interpretation of historical development, better known as historical materialism, to understand class relations and social conflict and a dialecti ...

, novelist, poet and historian. Originally an

anarchist Anarchism is a political philosophy and movement that is skeptical of all justifications for authority and seeks to abolish the institutions it claims maintain unnecessary coercion and hierarchy, typically including, though not necessar ...

, he joined the

Bolsheviks The Bolsheviks (russian: Большевики́, from большинство́ ''bol'shinstvó'', 'majority'),; derived from ''bol'shinstvó'' (большинство́), "majority", literally meaning "one of the majority". also known in English ...

five months after arriving in

Petrograd Saint Petersburg ( rus, links=no, Санкт-Петербург, a=Ru-Sankt Peterburg Leningrad Petrograd Piter.ogg, r=Sankt-Peterburg, p=ˈsankt pʲɪtʲɪrˈburk), formerly known as Petrograd (1914–1924) and later Leningrad (1924–1991), i ...

in January 1919 and later worked for the

Comintern The Communist International (Comintern), also known as the Third International, was a Soviet-controlled international organization founded in 1919 that advocated world communism. The Comintern resolved at its Second Congress to "struggle by ...

as a journalist, editor and translator. He was critical of the

Stalinist regime Stalinism is the means of governing and Marxist-Leninist policies implemented in the Soviet Union from 1927 to 1953 by Joseph Stalin. It included the creation of a one-party totalitarian police state, rapid industrialization, the theo ...

and remained a revolutionary Marxist until his death. He is best remembered for his '' Memoirs of a Revolutionary'' and series of seven "witness-novels" chronicling the lives of Soviet people and revolutionaries and of the first half of the 20th century.

Works available in English

Fiction

* ''The Long Dusk'' or ''Last Times'' (1946) Translator:

Ralph Manheim Ralph Frederick Manheim (April 4, 1907 – September 26, 1992) was an American translator of German and French literature, as well as occasional works from Dutch, Polish and Hungarian. He was one of the most acclaimed translators of the 20th cen ...

; New York : The Dial Press. Translation of ''Les dernier temps'', Montreal 1946. * ''The Case of Comrade Tulayev'' (1967) Translator: Willard R. Trask; New York : New York Review of Books Classics. Translation of ''L'Affaire Toulaev''. Paris 1949. * ''Birth of our Power'' (1967) Translator: Richard Greeman; New York : Doubleday. Translation of ''Naissance de notre force'', Paris 1931. * ''Men in Prison'' (1969) Translator: Richard Greeman; Garden City, NY: Doubleday. Translation of ''Les hommes dans le prison'', Paris 1930. * ''Conquered City'' (1975) Translator: Richard Greeman; Garden City, NY: Doubleday. Translation of: ''Ville conquise'', Paris 1932. * ''Midnight in the Century'' (1982) Translator: Richard Greeman; London : Readers and Writers. Translation of ''S'il est minuit dans le siècle'', Paris 1939. * ''Unforgiving Years'' (2008) Translator: Richard Greeman; New York : New York Review of Books Classics. Translation of ''Les Années sans pardon'', Paris 1971.

Poems

* ''Resistance'' (1989) Translator: James Brooks; San Francisco: City Lights. Translation of ''Résistance'', Paris 1938.

Non-fiction: books

*
From Lenin to Stalin
' (1937) Translator: Ralph Manheim; New York: Pioneer Publishers. Translation of ''De Lénine à Staline'', Paris 1937. * ''Russia Twenty Years After'' (1937) Translator: Max Shachtman; New York: Pioneer Publishers. Translation of ''Destin d'une révolution'', Paris 1937. Also published as ''Destiny of a Revolution''. * '' Memoirs of a Revolutionary, 1901–1941'' (2012) Translator: Peter Sedgwick with George Paizis; New York: New York Review of Books Classics. Translation of ''Mémoires d'un révolutionnaire, 1901–1941'', Paris 1951. *
Year One of the Russian Revolution
' (1972) Translator: Peter Sedgwick; London: Allen Lane. Translation of ''L'An 1 de la révolution russe'', Paris 1930. * ''The Life and Death of Leon Trotsky'' (1973) (with Natalia Sedova Trotsky) Translator:

Arnold J. Pomerans Arnold Julius Pomerans (27 April 1920 – 30 May 2005) was a German-born British translator. Arnold Pomerans was born in Königsberg, Germany on 27 April 1920 to a Jewish family. Because of growing antisemitism in Germany the family left for ...

; Garden City, NY: Doubleday. Translation of: ''Vie et mort de Leon Trotsky'', Paris 1951. * ''What Everyone Should Know About State Repression'' (1979) Translator: Judith White; London: New Park Publications. Translation of ''Les Coulisses d'une Sûreté générale. Ce que tout révolutionnaire devrait savoir sur la répression'', Paris 1926. * ''Notebooks 1936-1947'' (2019) Translators: Mitchell Abidor and Richard Greeman; New York: New York Review of Books.

Non-fiction: collections of essays and articles

* ''The Century of the Unexpected – Essays on Revolution and Counter-Revolution'' (1994) Editor: Al Richardson; special issue of '' Revolutionary History'', Vol.5 No.3. * ''The Serge-Trotsky Papers'' (1994) Editor: D.J. Cotterill; London: Pluto. * ''Revolution in Danger – Writings from Russia 1919–1921'' (1997) Translator: Ian Birchall; London: Redwords. * ''The Ideas of Victor Serge: A Life as a Work of Art'' (1997), Edited by Susan Weissman, London: Merlin Press. * ''Witness to the German Revolution'' (2000) Translator: Ian Birchall; London: Redwords. * ''Collected Writings on Literature and Revolution'' (2004) Translator and editor: Al Richardson; London: Francis Boutle.

Non-fiction: pamphlet

* ''Kronstadt '21'' (1975) Translator: not named; London: Solidarity. Sources: British Library Catalogue and Catalog of the Library of Congress.

Sources

* * Adam Hochschild ''Finding the Trapdoor: Essays, Portraits, Travels'' (Syracuse University Press, 1997), "Two Russians," pp. 65–87.

External links

Victor Serge Internet Archive
in the

Marxists Internet Archive Marxists Internet Archive (also known as MIA or Marxists.org) is a non-profit online encyclopedia that hosts a multilingual library (created in 1990) of the works of communist, anarchist, and socialist writers, such as Karl Marx, Friedrich En ...

* Bulletin of the Russian Opposition
"Victor Serge and the IVth International"
Statement criticising Serge by the editors of the Bulletin of the Russian Opposition, writing in ''Quatrième Internationale'', April 1939. Source: Victor Serge & Leon Trotsky, ''La Lutte Contre le Stalinisme''. Maspero, Paris, 1977. Translated for Marxist Internet Archive by Mitch Abidor in 2005. Retrieved April 28, 2005. * Victor Serge Papers. General Collection, Beinecke Rare Book and Manuscript Library.
An essay
on Serge by

Ben Lerner Benjamin S. Lerner (born February 4, 1979) is an American poet, novelist, essayist, and critic. He has been a Fulbright Scholar, a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize for Fiction, a finalist for the National Book Award, a finalist for the National Bo ...

in ''The New York Review of Books'' {{DEFAULTSORT:Serge, Victor 1890 births 1947 deaths Writers from Brussels Anarcho-communists Illegalists Libertarian Marxists Libertarian socialists Comintern people Belgian people of Russian descent Left communists Marxist journalists Russian–French translators Individualist anarchists Russian anarchists Russian communists Russian socialists 20th-century Russian historians Russian revolutionaries Russian people of Polish descent Soviet expellees Soviet anarchists Soviet Trotskyists Communist writers Russian Marxist writers Soviet emigrants to France Soviet emigrants to Belgium Soviet emigrants to Mexico Left Opposition