In Defence of Marxism (book)

This article is part of a series about Leon Trotsky
Personal Childhood and family Train House Museum Russian political activities First exile Russian Revolution of 1905 Treaty of Brest-Litovsk Russian Civil War Trade-union debate Kronstadt rebellion Scissors Crisis Deposition Case of the Anti-Soviet "Bloc of Rightists and Trotskyites" American Committee for the Defense of Leon Trotsky Dewey Commission Assassination perpetrator Political ideology Leninism Democratic centralism Trotskyism orthodox Anti-Stalinist left Soviet democracy Worker's control Affiliations Left Opposition United Opposition Fourth International Bibliography Our Political Tasks Our Revolution 1905 The Permanent Revolution and Results and Prospects Terrorism and Communism Trotsky's Military Writings Literature and Revolution New Course Lessons of October Towards Socialism or Capitalism? Leon Trotsky on China My Life The Permanent Revolution History of the Russian Revolution The Revolution Betrayed The Stalin School of Falsification Their Morals and Ours: The class foundations of moral practice The Transitional Program Stalin: An Appraisal of the Man and His Influence Writings of Leon Trotsky The Spanish Revolution, 1931-1939 The Struggle Against Fascism in Germany In Defence of Marxism
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In Defence of Marxism is a posthumous collection of philosophical texts written by Russian revolutionary, Leon Trotsky, between 1939-40.^[1] In a series of polemical articles, Trotsky examines issues related to the class nature of the Soviet state, the philosophy of dialectical materialism and party factions in the American Socialist Workers Party.^[1]

These polemics were written due to the criticisms raised by a number of heterogeneous factions in the Trotskyist movement which included figures such as James Burnham, Max Shachtman and Martin Abern. These groups posed moral criticisms on the defence of the Soviet Union in regards to the Finnish War and increasingly rejected the theoretical basis of materialist dialectics for a socialist movement.^[1][2]