Ideological schisms have always been a feature of the left, but for much of the early twentieth century they could be deadly. Few revolutionary figures managed to chart such a unique course through the turbulent currents of anarchism and Bolshevism as Victor Serge.
Today, thanks to his classic memoirs and novels, Serge is highly esteemed by virtually all segments of the left. But who was this man, who led such a thrilling life on the frontlines of history? An anarchist? A Bolshevik? A Trotskyist? Or did he evolve into something else entirely?
In this comprehensive account of the life, work and political evolution of Victor Serge, Mitchell Abidor rescues his subject, in all his complexity, from the constraints of any single label. Painting a portrait of a man whose political ideas shifted continually, in response to the major events of his life, we are introduced to several Victor Serges: the youthful anarchist in Belgium and France; the leading Bolshevik in Moscow; the anti-Stalinist who faced imprisonment and expulsion from the Soviet Union.
Examining the lacunae and errors of fact in his memoirs, the hidden Serge is ultimately revealed for what he was: an unruly revolutionary of both great courage and contradictions.
Table of Contents:
Preface
1. Growing up Kibalchich
2. From Socialism to Anarchism
3. Paris
4. The Tragic Bandits
5. Man in Prison
6. Barcelona: Becoming Victor Serge
7. Serge and the Russian Anarchists
8. Kronstadt
9. The Anarchists Against Serge
10. Victor Serge Against Kibalchich
11. Why?
12. Comintern Agent in Central Europe
13. Opposition
14. Arrest
15. Orenburg and L’Affaire Serge
16. Return to the West
17. Flight from Europe
18. Liuba
19. Finally Mexico
20. Revising the Revolution
21. Anticommunist?
22. Fisticuffs
23. Final Interview
24. Epilogue
Acknowledgements
About the Author :
Mitchell Abidor is a writer and translator living in Brooklyn, New York. In addition to his many translation works, he is the author of May Made Me and I'll Forget It When I Die!: The Bisbee Deportation of 1917. Abidor is the translator and editor of Victor Serge's anarchist writings, Anarchists Never Surrender, and translated with Richard Greeman Serge's Notebooks (1936-1947).
Mitchell Abidor is a writer and translator living in Brooklyn, New York. In addition to his many translation works, he is the author of May Made Me and I'll Forget It When I Die!: The Bisbee Deportation of 1917. Abidor is the translator and editor of Victor Serge's anarchist writings, Anarchists Never Surrender, and translated with Richard Greeman Serge's Notebooks (1936-1947).
Review :
'Mitchell Abidor’s superb and assertive writing reveals the many faces of Victor Serge, a 'troublesome witness' to some of the most decisive moments of his era. This is a vivid and deeply researched account of one of the most compelling lives in modern revolutionary history'
'From anarchism to Bolshevism to anti-totalitarian socialism, Victor Serge never abandoned his passionate struggle for human freedom and a just society. Mitchell Abidor captures this rebel for all seasons in all his fascinating and tortured complexity'
'A fascinating and provocative biography of a fascinating and provocative man. Tracing Serge’s tumultuous pilgrimage from individualist anarchism to revolutionary socialism to ethical personalism, Abidor testifies to his life-long courage in 'rethinking left-wing politics''
'Mitchell Abidor’s new biography of the early 20th century radical, memoirist, and novelist best known as Victor Serge is the tale of a left-wing 'Zelig.' In Abidor’s tale we meet the leading figures of European anarchism, socialism, and communism, intellectuals as well as activist revolutionaries. Through his life of Serge, Abidor distills the history of Western revolutionary radicalism in the first half of the twentieth century'
'Mitchell Abidor’s superb and assertive writing reveals the many faces of Victor Serge, a 'troublesome witness' to some of the most decisive moments of his era. This is a vivid and deeply researched account of one of the most compelling lives in modern revolutionary history'
'From anarchism to Bolshevism to anti-totalitarian socialism, Victor Serge never abandoned his passionate struggle for human freedom and a just society. Mitchell Abidor captures this rebel for all seasons in all his fascinating and tortured complexity'
'A fascinating and provocative biography of a fascinating and provocative man. Tracing Serge’s tumultuous pilgrimage from individualist anarchism to revolutionary socialism to ethical personalism, Abidor testifies to his life-long courage in 'rethinking left-wing politics''
'Mitchell Abidor’s new biography of the early 20th century radical, memoirist, and novelist best known as Victor Serge is the tale of a left-wing 'Zelig.' In Abidor’s tale we meet the leading figures of European anarchism, socialism, and communism, intellectuals as well as activist revolutionaries. Through his life of Serge, Abidor distills the history of Western revolutionary radicalism in the first half of the twentieth century'
