Art & Revolution: Writings on Literature, Politics and Culture

Art, like science, not only does not seek orders, but by its very essence, cannot tolerate them. Artistic creation has its laws – even when it consciously serves a social movement. Truly intellectual creation is incompatible with lies, hypocrisy and the spirit of conformity. Art can become a strong ally of revolution only insofar as it remains faithful to itself.

Leon Trotsky, 1938.

In these writings, one of the outstanding revolutionary leaders of the twentieth century discusses important questions of literature, art, and culture in a period of capitalist decline and working-class struggle. From the vantage point of a leader of the early Soviet republic and then its defender against the political counter-revolution led by Joseph Stalin and his supporters, Trotsky examines the place of art and artistic creation in building a new, socialist society.