Stalin: An Appraisal of the Man and His Influence

Stalin: An Appraisal of the Man and His Influence

Author	Leon Trotsky
Publication date	1946

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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Stalin: An Appraisal of the Man and His Influence is a political biography of Joseph Stalin, written by Leon Trotsky between 1938 and 1940. The book was never finished due to Trotsky's assassination in August 1940 although copious draft manuscripts for concluding chapters survived, allowing editors to complete the work.

The Russian manuscript was translated and edited by language professor and Trotskyist political sympathizer Charles Malamuth. Originally scheduled for publication in the second half of 1941, the book was printed but then abruptly withdrawn from distribution for political reasons due to American entry into World War II. The book finally was released in 1946 when the political relationship between the United States and Soviet Union became frosty. It was subsequently published in French and Spanish in 1948, and in Russian in 1985.

In 2016, an authorized revised second edition was published. British writer Alan Woods deconstructed the original manuscript and reassembled the pieces in as comprehensive a manner as possible, resulting in the addition of 100,000 words. An American edition of the lengthy tome was published in 2019.