Key moments in Trotsky's life? Help an A-level student?

[Class Conscious Kid]

i am currently doing my EPQ (extended project qualification) which is a little bit like a mini dissertation

anyway i chose to do mine on the life and theorys of Leon Trotsky

i have decided it into chapters on his theorys and key moments in his life. right now the theorys i will include are; Deformed and degenerated workers' state, french turn and entryism, permanent revolution, political revolution, social revolution, the united front and world revolution

what i really need help on decided which key events in his life i should do chapters on?

or any good sources that could be recomended? i have the history of the russian revolution, by Trotsky himself, which has proved very usefull

Thanks :D

[Random Precision]

Isaac Deutscher's three-volume biography (The Prophet Armed, The Prophet Unarmed, The Prophet Outcast) is pretty good as a historical source, although it often sounds more like a romantic great-man biography than a work that seriously tackles Trotsky's life and works in their historical context. For that I would turn to Tony Cliff's four-volume Trotsky.


i have decided it into chapters on his theorys and key moments in his life. right now the theorys i will include are; Deformed and degenerated workers' state,

Trotsky was not responsible for the opportunist theory of "deformed workers states", so I would not include that. For the degenerated workers state, this should be useful: http://www.marxists.org/archive/trotsky/1933/10/sovstate.htm


french turn and entryism,

I would not include this either, as he was very clear that entryism is merely a tactic.


permanent revolution,

Results and Prospects should fit you well: http://www.marxists.org/archive/trotsky/1931/tpr/rp-index.htm

I would also include a discussion of his role in the 1905 revolution, which inspired the PR, his greatest contribution to Marxist theory.


political revolution,

Kind of goes with the degenerated workers' state.


social revolution,

Eh?


the united front

For a Workers' United Front Against Fascism: http://www.marxists.org/archive/trotsky/germany/1931/311208.htm

[Joffe]

Politics: Don't forget the transitional program (1938). This is still a vital part of how his politics are worked (though updated) today.

Personal life: My life (autobiography)

I agree that Deutchers trilogy is a very good start, not only on Trotsky, but on the whole era.

[YKTMX]

what i really need help on decided which key events in his life i should do chapters on?


Difficult one.

It depends on whether you want to take more of a political or a biographical route - although, in this man's case, the two are very similar, of course.

I'd suggest something like: Bolshevik-Menshevik Split, 1905 Revolution, The War, Becomes a Bolshevik, Revolution, Civil War and his role in it, Death of Lenin, Rise of Stalin and his struggle against it, Exile, The Birth of Fascism and the War, Death.

Obviously, I don't know what kind of structure you're going for. You can weave in the relevant biographical details around this basic structure.

Good luck anyway, comrade.

[JimmyJazz]

permanent revolution

http://www.marxists.org/archive/hallas/works/1979/trotsky/ch1.htm