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Isaac DeutscherOutstanding historian and publicist
Date of Birth: 03.04.1907
Country:  Italy |
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Biography of Isaac Deutscher
Isaac Deutscher, an eminent historian and publicist, was born in a religious Jewish family in the town of Hshanuv near Krakow in Western Galicia. He started his education studying with a Hasidic rabbi but later became an atheist. Deutscher gained recognition as a young promising poet, publishing his poems in Polish literary publications from the age of 16. His poems, written in Yiddish and Polish, focused on Polish and Jewish history, mythology, and mysticism, aiming to bridge the gap between the two cultures. He also translated from Yiddish, Latin, German, and ancient Hebrew into Polish. Deutscher studied history, philosophy, and literature at Jagiellonian University in Krakow. At the age of 18, he moved from Krakow to Warsaw and enrolled in Warsaw University, where he studied philosophy and political economy. During this time, Deutscher became a Marxist and joined the banned Polish Communist Party as an editor of the party press.
Political Activism and Exile
In 1931, Deutscher visited the Soviet Union and received an offer from Moscow State University to become a professor of the history of socialism and scientific communism. However, he declined the offer and returned to underground work in Poland. In 1932, he strongly criticized Stalin's policies within the leadership of the Comintern. Particularly, Deutscher condemned the theory and practice that considered social democracy as "social fascism" and the primary enemy of the communist movement, recognizing it as one of the main reasons for the German Communist Party's defeat in the struggle against Hitler. In his article "The Threat of Barbarism in Europe" (1933), Deutscher advocated for the formation of a united front between communists and social democrats against Nazism.
As Deutscher joined the ranks of Trotskyists, he was expelled from the Polish Communist Party (officially for "exaggerating the threat of Nazism"). Although he became one of the prominent Polish Trotskyists, he distanced himself from official Trotskyism from 1938, disagreeing with Trotsky's decision to establish the Fourth International. In April 1939, shortly before the German occupation of Poland, Deutscher emigrated to London. While in London, he perfected his English language skills and wrote articles for a Polish Jewish immigrant newspaper, as well as becoming a correspondent for the influential publication "The Economist." As a member of the Polish Socialist Party, he also briefly joined the Trotskyist Revolutionary Workers League while in exile.
Career and Contributions
In 1940, Deutscher volunteered for the Polish army in Scotland but was soon interned as a dangerous subversive element. After his release in 1942, he returned to "The Economist" as an expert on the Soviet Union and European politics, and he also began writing for "The Observer." After the war, Deutscher broke ties with political Trotskyism (while remaining a supporter of Trotsky) and focused on academic work. He extensively researched the Soviet Union and the communist movement, particularly Stalinism. Deutscher wrote an extensive political biography of Stalin titled "Stalin: A Political Biography," where he explored the real origins and development of Stalin as a revolutionary, politician, and individual, unlike many "Stalinologists." He examined the genesis of Stalinism, its objective and subjective causes, and offered insights on ways to overcome Stalinism as a distortion of Marxist-Leninist theory. His biography of Stalin established Deutscher as a leading specialist on the history of the Russian Revolution.
Deutscher's major work was a three-volume study on Leon Trotsky, titled "The Prophet Armed" (1954), "The Prophet Unarmed" (1959), and "The Prophet Outcast" (1963). This trilogy, published in London between 1954 and 1963, was based on a thorough study of Trotsky's archive at Harvard University, as well as materials from the secret departments of the archive handed over to Deutscher by Trotsky's widow Natalia Sedova (1882-1962). A condensed Russian translation of parts of the second and third volumes, done by the American historian N.N. Yakovlev, was published in Moscow in 1991 under the title "Trotsky in Exile." The complete translation of all three volumes was published in 2006 by "Centrpoligraf" publishing house.
After completing the biographies of Stalin and Trotsky, Deutscher planned to begin a study on Lenin but unfortunately did not have the opportunity to do so.
Deutscher also authored the book "Russia After Stalin" (1953), as well as numerous historical and sociological studies and articles. After the war, he actively advocated Marxist humanism, evident in his philosophical essays such as "On Socialist Man."
