This book by Leon Trotsky makes a profound analysis and evaluation of Stalinism and the Soviet burreacracy. It was written in 1936 before Trotsky was murdered in Mexico by Stalin's secret police. Trotsky's thinking prophesied the collapse of the Soviet Union 60 years before it happened. This collapse was instigated by the buffon and drunk Boris Yeltsin as his leadership has led to the 'new oligarchy' in Russia. Trotsky was a very important leader in the October Revolution and it is thought that Lenin wanted him to take the leadership rather than the tyrant Stalin. This book is very impotant reading to everyone interest in Marxist theory and the history