The six years following the October Revolution had enormous political significance not only for Russia, but for the course of humanity in the 20th century. By the end of 1917, the working class was in power in one of the largest countries in the world for the first time in history. However, by 1923, it had been decimated as a result of the civil war and economic destruction. Lenin himself warned of the danger posed by the growing power of the bureaucracy.

Leon Trotsky played a central role in these events. He built the Red Cross to defend the newly established workers' power from the invasion of imperialist armies, including the Greek army. He supported the militarization of labor for the reconstruction of the devastated economy. And immediately afterwards, he sounded the alarm about the distortions of the economy caused by the New Economic Policy and the creeping reappearance of capitalism.

Finally, Trotsky was the one to whom Lenin turned when he needed an ally in his final battle to reverse the rise of the bureaucracy and to remove Stalin from his all-powerful position as General Secretary.

The second volume of Tony Cliff's biography of Trotsky ends with a vital question: "Why did Trotsky compromise and not fulfill his agreement with Lenin in 1923 to launch a general attack against the bureaucracy and Stalin?"