"As its first and most daring theorist, and later its most penetrating left-wing critic, Leon Trotsky will for ever be associated with the fate of the Russian Revolution. Yet little of real substance has ever been written about his genuine but unfinished contribution to Marxist thought in the twentieth century. This volume seeks to fill that vacuum through a critical assessment of his views on political economy, the party, revolution, philosophy and culture. This book also contains a number of brief but incisive essays on the turbulent history of the Left Opposition, as well as a lively and iconoclastic discussion of the way his ideas have been interpreted - and misinterpreted - by both friends and enemies alike. The last section of the volume brings to the English-speaking world previously untranslated material by Trotsky on his mature reflections on the world economy in the interwar period. Neither crude polemic nor simple-minded hagiography, The Ideas of Leon Trotsky fills a major gap in our understanding of one of the most controversial thinkers of our age."--BOOK JACKET.Title Summary field provided by Blackwell North America, Inc. All Rights Reserved