 First German edition of Trotsky's Terrorismus und Kommunismus: Anti-Kautsky, published in Hamburg in August 1920. | |
| Author | Leon Trotsky |
|---|---|
| Original title | Терроризм и Коммунизм |
| Language | Russian |
| Genre | Political Philosophy, Marxism |
Publication date | 1920 |
| Publication place | Soviet Union |
| Media type | Print. |
| ISBN | 978-1844671786 |
Terrorism and Communism: A Reply to Karl Kautsky German: Terrorismus und Kommunismus: Anti-Kautsky; Russian: Терроризм и Коммунизм, Terrorizm i Kommunizm) is a book by Soviet Communist Party leader Leon Trotsky. First published in German in August 1920, the short book was written against a criticism of the Russian Revolution by prominent Marxist Karl Kautsky, who expressed his views on the errors of the Bolsheviks in two successive articles, Dictatorship of the Proletariat, published in 1918 in Vienna, Austria, followed by Terrorism and Communism, published in 1919.
Trotsky's book, the first English edition of which bore the title The Defense of Terrorism, dismisses the notion of parliamentary democracy to govern Soviet Russia and defends the use of force against opponents of the revolution by the dictatorship of the proletariat and working class masses.