The period from 1923 to 1927 was marked by a major conflict between Trotsky and Stalin, centered around the future of the Russian Revolution and the Communist International. The period ended with Trotsky's exile and the consolidation of the bureaucracy. In 1927, Trotsky referred to his opponent as the "gravedigger of the revolution."

How did Stalin, a figure rarely mentioned in the major events of 1917, triumph over Trotsky, the leader of the revolution and the Red Army, the great orator and theoretician?

The answer to this question lies not in personal ability, but in class struggle. The ebb of history moved away from the revolutionary tradition, weakening the working class - both in Russia and internationally. Just as great leaders are forged in the heights of the struggle, defeat and degeneration reveal the mediocrity that represents the subjugation and prejudice of the old order.

However, Trotsky's defeat was by no means inevitable. Three major explosions of the movement - in Germany in 1923, in Britain in 1926, and in China in 1927 - all offered the opportunity to reverse the course of history through working-class victories.

In the third volume of his political biography of Trotsky, Tony Cliff maps out these struggles - as well as the battles fought within Russia itself - to show how the political positions of the great revolutionary, while validated at every step, tragically could not be implemented in practice during that period.