''Literature and Revolution'' () is a work of

literary criticism A genre of arts criticism, literary criticism or literary studies is the study, evaluation, and interpretation of literature. Modern literary criticism is often influenced by literary theory, which is the philosophical analysis of literature's ...

from the Marxist standpoint written by

Leon Trotsky Lev Davidovich Bronstein ( – 21 August 1940), better known as Leon Trotsky,; ; also transliterated ''Lyev'', ''Trotski'', ''Trockij'' and ''Trotzky'' was a Russian revolutionary, Soviet politician, and political theorist. He was a key figure ...

in 1924. By discussing the various literary trends that were around in Russia between the revolutions of 1905 and 1917, Trotsky analyzed the concrete forces in society, both progressive as well as reactionary, that helped shape the consciousness of writers at the time. In the book, Trotsky also argued that since the dawn of civilization, art had always borne the stamp of the ruling class and was primarily a vehicle that expressed its tastes and sensibilities. Nonetheless, he went on to argue against the seemingly obvious conclusion that after a proletarian revolution, the proletariat as a ruling class should, therefore, strive to create its own proletarian art. To illustrate this, he points out that the bourgeoisie as a class had time and resources to form its culture long before the bourgeois revolutions in Europe in the 19th century, while the proletariat, by its position in society, is deprived not only of culture but primarily of the material means to attain it. Therefore, unlike previous revolutions in history, the proletariat takes power not to install itself as a ruling class forever and hence create its own distinct culture but to create a society in which the existence of classes is materially impossible. Therefore, the task of the proletariat in power with respect to art after seeing to the more pressing needs of daily life (one must not forget Russia was a war-torn backward country) is to assimilate all the cultural achievements of the past and lay the foundations for a truly classless and human culture and art in the future. Trotsky's conviction of the heights human beings can reach once the fetters of oppression are thrown asunder is illustrated by the following quote from the book:

Scholarly evaluation

In a comprehensive survey of Trotsky’s political thought, political scientist Baruch Knei-Paz argued that Trotsky’s writings on cultural matters as evident in ''Literature and Revolution'' "were undoubtedly amongst the most informed and enlightened within the

Bolshevik The Bolsheviks, led by Vladimir Lenin, were a radical Faction (political), faction of the Marxist Russian Social Democratic Labour Party (RSDLP) which split with the Mensheviks at the 2nd Congress of the Russian Social Democratic Labour Party, ...

leadership". Yet, Knei-Paz added that an underlying limitation of Trotsky’s analysis was that he premised the overall legitimacy of art on the basis of a political criteria.

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External links

''Literature and Revolution''
on 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 Enge ...

, translated by Rose Strunsky Lorwin {{Leon Trotsky Communist books 1924 non-fiction books Works by Leon Trotsky Books of literary criticism Books about revolutions

Scholarly evaluation

See also

Notes

Further reading

External links