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.
