The Post-Soviet School of Historical Falsification
Meeting in defense of Leon Trotsky at German Historians Conference
By our correspondents, 29 September 2012
David North, chairman of the international editorial board of the World Socialist Web Site, and Professor Mario Kessler, lecturer and researcher at the Center for Contemporary Historical Research in Potsdam, spoke at a well-attended meeting Thursday at the University of Mainz.
David North to speak on Leon Trotsky at historians meeting in Mainz, Germany
22 September 2012
On September 27 David North will speak at a public meeting entitled In Defence of Leon Trotsky during the 49th Historians Conference in Mainz.
“Of course, Trotsky was an alternative to Stalin”
An interview with Professor Mario Kessler on the Trotsky biography by Robert Service—Part two
By Wolfgang Weber, 22 May 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, 21 May 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, 3 May 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, 3 February 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, 31 December 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
28 November 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, 23 November 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), 28 June 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, 6 May 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.
WSWS chairman David North addresses Sydney book launch
In defence of Trotsky’s “immense and enduring historical significance”
4 February 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.
Successful launch of In Defence of Leon Trotsky at Sydney’s Gleebooks
By our correspondent, 4 February 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.
Historians in the Service of the “Big Lie”: An Examination of Professor Robert Service’s Biography of Trotsky
By David North, 15 December 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”.
In The Service of Historical Falsification: A Review of Robert Service's Trotsky
By David North, 11 November 2009
Trotsky: A Biography by Professor Robert Service, has been brought out with considerable fanfare. The British publisher is Macmillan. In the United States, Service’s book has been published by the Harvard University Press. What underlies this evident interest of British academics in Leon Trotsky, who has been dead for nearly 70 years?
Sri Lankan university meeting discusses Leon Trotsky & the Post-Soviet School of Historical Falsification
By our correspondents, 11 September 2008
About 40 students, lecturers and university workers took part in a discussion at Peradeniya University in Sri Lanka on August 27 on the book, Leon Trotsky & the Post-Soviet School of Historical Falsification. The meeting was organised by the university’s Philosophical Association in conjunction with the International Students for Social Equality (ISSE).
A letter on academic ethics in response to David North’s “Leon Trotsky and the post-Soviet school of historical falsification”
17 July 2007
The following letter was sent to the World Socialist Web Site in response to, “Leon Trotsky and the post-Soviet school of historical falsification: A review of two Trotsky biographies by Geoffrey Swain and Ian Thatcher”.
A letter from Professor Geoffrey Swain and a reply by David North
19 May 2007
The World Socialist Web Site invited Professors Ian Thatcher and Geoffrey Swain to reply to David North’s critical review of their biographies of Leon Trotsky. (See “Leon Trotsky and the post-Soviet school of historical falsification: A review of two Trotsky biographies by Geoffrey Swain and Ian Thatcher”) On May 10, the WSWS received a letter from Professor Swain, which we post below along with a reply by North. No letter has been received from Ian Thatcher. Click here to download the letter and reply in PDF format.
Leon Trotsky and the post-Soviet school of historical falsification
A review of two Trotsky biographies by Geoffrey Swain and Ian Thatcher
Part 4: The relevance of Trotsky
By David North, 12 May 2007
Today we publish the first part of a four-part review of two biographies of Trotsky written by Professors Geoffrey Swain and Ian D. Thatcher. The first, second and third parts can be accessed here. Click here to download the entire review in PDF.
Leon Trotsky and the post-Soviet school of historical falsification
A review of two Trotsky biographies by Geoffrey Swain and Ian Thatcher
Part 3: The method of Ian Thatcher
By David North, 11 May 2007
Today we publish the first part of a four-part review of two biographies of Trotsky written by Professors Geoffrey Swain and Ian D. Thatcher. The first, second andfinal parts can be accessed here. Click here to download the entire review in PDF.
Leon Trotsky and the post-Soviet school of historical falsification
A review of two Trotsky biographies by Geoffrey Swain and Ian Thatcher
Part 2: The study of Trotsky after the fall of the USSR
By David North, 10 May 2007
Today we publish the first part of a four-part review of two biographies of Trotsky written by Professors Geoffrey Swain and Ian D. Thatcher. The first, third and final parts can be accessed here. Click here to download the entire review in PDF.
Leon Trotsky and the post-Soviet school of historical falsification
A review of two Trotsky biographies by Geoffrey Swain and Ian Thatcher
Part 1: Seventy years since Stalin’s year of terror
By David North, 9 May 2007
Today we publish the first part of a four-part review of two biographies of Trotsky written by Professors Geoffrey Swain and Ian D. Thatcher. The second, third andfinal parts can be accessed here. Click here to download the entire review in PDF.
Starting Wednesday, WSWS to publish lecture: “Leon Trotsky and the post-Soviet school of historical falsification”
8 May 2007
Over the next four days, beginning tomorrow, the World Socialist Web Site will be publishing an essay by David North, chairman of the editorial board of the WSWS and national secretary of the Socialist Equality Party (US), entitled, “Leon Trotsky and the post-Soviet school of historical falsification: A review of two Trotsky biographies by Geoffrey Swain and Ian Thatcher.”
David North refutes falsifications of Trotsky’s life at lectures in Scotland and Wales
By our reporters, 30 April 2007
In lectures given in Scotland and Wales World Socialist Web Site editorial board chairman David North challenged the falsification of the historical role of Leon Trotsky contained in two recent biographies authored by British historians Ian Thatcher and Geoffrey Swain.
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