My Life

My Life was originally published in 1930 by Charles Schribner’s Sons, NY. Transcription and HTML markup for the Trotsky Internet Archive by David Walters in 1998.

Readers should note that the translation uses a form of written English combining both the British and the United States styles of English. This on-line version of My Life stays loyal to the literary structure, spelling and grammar of the original version published in 1930 from which it was transcribed.

The photos used on the table of contents below are available along with other photos in the Trotsky Internet Archive Photo Gallery.

Download PDF of My Life.

Foreword
Preface to the Norwegian Edition (1935)
I. Yanovka
II. Our Neighbors and My First School
III. Odessa: My Family and My School
IV. Books and Early Conflicts
V. Country and Town
VI. The Break
VII. My First Revolutionary Organization

VIII. My First Prisons
IX. My First Exile
X. My First Escpape
XI. An Immigrant for the First Time
XII. The Party Congress and the Split
XIII. The Return to Russia
XIV. The Year 1905

XV. Trial, Exile, Escape
XVI. My Second Foreign Exile: German Socialism
XVII. Preparing for a New Revolution
XVIII. The Beginning or The War
XIX. Paris and Zimmerwald
XX. My Expulsion From France
XXI. Through Spain

XXII. New York
XXIII. In A Concentration Camp
XXIV. In Petrograd
XXV. Concerning Slanderers
XXVI. From July to October
XXVII. The Deciding Night
XXVIII. “Trotskyism"in 1917

XXIX. In Power
XXX. In Moscow
XXXI. Negotiations at Brest-Litovsk
XXXII. Peace
XXXIII. A Month at Sviyazhsh
XXXIV. The Train
XXXV. The Defense of Petrograd
XXXVI. The Military Opposition
XXXVII. Disagreements Over War Strategy

XXXVIII. The Transition to the New Economic Policy,
and My Relations With Lenin
XXXIX. Lenin’s Illness
XL. The Conspiracy of the Epigones
XLI. Lenin’s Death and the Shift of Power
XLII. The Last Period of Struggle Within the Party
XLIII. The Exile
XLIV. The Deportation
XLV. The Planet Without a Visa