TROTSKI CONTRE STALINE

The story of the relentless struggle between Trotsky and Stalin based on recent interviews with the best French historians of this period of Russian history. And an exceptional witness of the assassination attempt
on Trotsky and his last moments: his own grandson, Esteban Volkov.

The story of the relentless struggle between Trotsky and Stalin based on recent interviews with the best French historians of this period of Russian history: Hélène Carrère d'Encausse, Alexandre Adler, Stephane Courtois, Jean-Jacques Marie, Alexandre Sumpf, Nicolas Werth and Serge Wolikow. And an exceptional
witness of the assassination attempt on Trotsky and his last moments: his own grandson, Esteban Volkov.
Some see Trotsky as the champion of the workers of the world. Stalin, in contrast, was the new tsar, entrenched in the Kremlin with a new privileged class, the nomenklatura, a handful of bureaucrats hogging the state dachas and stores. Trotsky supposedly fought against fascism and Stalin's pact with Hitler. And the villain Stalin had killed the good guy Trotsky. In reality, Trotsky was no saint. In the relationship between the two rivals, ideological struggle and personal ambition were coupled with contempt and jealousy, which eventually turned into implacable and obsessive hatred. Trotsky, his vision as sharp as steel but too sure of himself, underestimated his rival. We witness the irresistible rise of Stalin, the man with the mysterious smile and the yellow eyes of a cat.

ALAIN FREREJEAN is the author of several books, including C'était Georges Pompidou (It was Georges Pompidou) (Fayard, 2007), Tito-Truman, Le coup d'arrêt à Staline (Stalin's standstill) (Editions de la Bisquine, 2014). With Perrin he published Churchill-Stalin, comparative biographies (2013).