Leon Trotsky’s autobiography “My Life” is now available in German available Mehring Verlag. The work is published in a German translation by Alexandra Ramm, with a new foreword by David North, chairman of the International Editorial Board of the World Socialist Web Site. The book can be pre-ordered at the discounted price of €25 until August 16. Thereafter the price will be €29.
When Leon Trotsky’s autobiography was first published in 1929, it was recognised not just as a political document but also as a literary masterpiece. In a conversation with Walter Benjamin, Bertolt Brecht described Trotsky as the “greatest living writer,” while renowned writer and journalist Emil Ludwig wrote in the Berliner Tageblatt: “A great writer has here depicted his incredible life in such a way that I cannot understand why people still read, let alone write, novels.”
To this day, the book continues to fascinate with its narrative power, its portraits, its wit and its dramatic portrayal of an era of war, revolution and exile. Trotsky depicts his life not as a private memoir, but as part of the great upheavals of the 20th century. This new edition makes accessible a work that uniquely combines literature, history and politics.
Trotsky wrote his autobiography on the Turkish island of Büyükada after being driven into exile by Stalin. He takes the reader from his childhood in rural Yanovka in Ukraine, through the Russian Revolutions of 1905 and 1917 and the formation of the Red Army, right up to the struggle against the Stalinist bureaucracy.
David North emphasises the book’s enduring relevance:
“My Life could just as well have been given the title, Our Epoch. Even after the passage of a century, the autobiography has not been overtaken by history. We are living in a world that Trotsky would understand. The technology has advanced enormously, but the problems remain the same in their essence and have grown far worse in their scale. Though the death agony of this social system has been more protracted than Trotsky might have expected, his historical prognosis retains its validity. The capitalist system must give way to socialism.”
Mehring Verlag is the leading publisher of Trotsky’s writings in German and has published other outstanding works, including “History of the Russian Revolution”, “The Revolution Betrayed” and “Portrait of National Socialism.” All books are available in the Trotsky Library.
Leon Trotsky
“My Life: An Attempt at an Autobiography”
Published in July 2026
Hardback with dust jacket
670 pages
ISBN: 978-3-88634-149-8
Order here.