Literature and Revolution: Trotsky Versus the Poetesses

In Literature and Revolution, a classic of literary criticism and literary theory, Leon Trotsky gave attention to the work of several outstanding women writers. This article examines his critical treatment of these Russian women poets and their work. It shows that he consistently denigrated both the women and their writing by deploying conventional stereotypes and misogynist tropes, including those of the witch and of gynaecological writing. He targeted especially the women’s religious commitments and the domestic orientation of their work, portraying them as immured in a decadent and obsolescent pre-revolutionary culture. Literature and Revolution was published in 1924, before Trotsky slid from political power as a result of the ascent of Stalin, and from the time of its publication, it has remained an influential study of the relationships between political revolution and literary activity, especially, though not exclusively, on the Left. Trotsky did devote attention to the cultural production of contemporary women writers, though not as much or as seriously as that he gave to their male counterparts. It is argued that, in pursuing his ideological objectives of reorienting literature towards revolutionary values and themes, Trotsky’s analysis nevertheless worked to uphold and reinforce, rather than to challenge, existing concepts of gender difference and gender hierarchy.