Birney, Earle 1904-1995.
Conversations with Trotsky : Earle Birney and the Radical 1930s / edited and with an introduction by Bruce Nesbitt. - Ottawa : University of Ottawa Press, 2017. - xvii, 418 p. : cov. ill. ; 21 cm. - Canadian Literature .
Includes bibliographical references (pages 379-408) and index.
"This collection presents all of Earle Birney's known published and unpublished works on Trotsky and Trotskyism for the very first time: their correspondence, a selection of Birney's letters, and his literary writings. From 1933 to 1940, Leon Trotsky was the focus of Birney's work and much of his life, corresponding with the great Russian revolutionary, organizing Trotskyist cells, and recruiting on behalf of Trotskyism. This volume traces the origins of Trotsky's mistrust of "the British" to his experiences in Canada and includes the largest body of Trotskyist criticism in Canadian literary history. Of equal importance, "Conversations with Trotsky" shows the need for a radical re-reading of Birney's poetry in light of his Trotskyism." (Book Cover) CONTENTS: Preface Acknowledgements Introduction I AN "OPTIMISTIC SORT OF REVOLUTIONARY," 1933-1935 1. Report to the Toronto Branch of the International Left Opposition 2. Letter to an American Medical Student 3. Mine Strike, Martial Law and a Student Delegation 4. To the Section Bureau, CPUSA, Salt Lake City, Utah 5. To the Salt Lake Section Committee, CPUSA 6. A Letter Refused by the Salt Lake City Press 7. In Defence of Party Democracy 8. The Struggle Against British Imperialism II CONVERSATIONS WITH TROTSKY, 1935 9. Birney to Trotsky, 5 November 1935 10. Interviewing Leon Trotsky, 19-23 November 1935 11. Conversations with Trotsky 12. Further Conversations with Trotsky 13. Trotsky on the Canadian Farmer 14. Birney to Trotsky, 8 December 1935 15. Birney to Trotsky, 16 December 1935 III POLITICAL WRITINGS, 1935-1939 16. Incident in Berlin 17. Trotsky to Birney, 19 January 1936 18. Birney to Trotsky, 14 February 1936 19. Birney to Trotsky, 27 February 1936 20. Birney to Trotsky, 29 January 1937 21. Another Month - January 22. Another Month - February 23. Another Month - March 24. Birney to Joe Hansen, 15 November 1937 25. Trotsky to Birney, 27 November 1937 26. Birney to Trotsky, 2 January 1938 27. Canadian Capitalism and the Strategy of the Revolutionary Movement 28. The Land of the Maple Leaf Is the Land of Monopoly 29. Is French Canada Going Fascist ? 30. Trotsky to Birney, 5 June 1939 31. Birney to Trotsky, 6 June 1939 32. War Is Here - What Now? IV LITERATURE AND REVOLUTION, 1934-1940 33. Escape by Emetic 34. On "Proletarian Literature" 35. The Brave New Words of Aldous Huxley 36. Cecil Day Lewis, The Loving Communist 37. Proletarian Literature: Theory and Practice 38. What Do Canadians Tell Stories About? 39. R.M. Fox: Worker-Fighter 40. Soviet Fiction and American Fustian 41. The Importance of Being Ernest Hemingway 42. Polygamous Communists from Toronto to Salt Lake 43. Yorkshire Proletarians 44. The Rhymes of the Irish Revolution 45. The Lost Irish Lenin? 46. Onward with Edward Upward 47. The Two William Faulkners 48. John Bull's Other Hell 49. The English Worker 50. New Writing in Britain and Elsewhere 51. The Fiction of James T. Farrell 52. The New Byronism: Poets and the Spanish Civil War 53. Steinbeck's Grapes of Wrath 54. The Left Theatre in English 55. Whitewashing the Stalinist Persecutors of Artists 56. The Mad Sanity of Henry Miller 57. To Arms with Canadian Poetry 58. Fashion and Change on Broadway, or Propaganda Is What You Disagree With 59. New Writing and Literary Stalinism 60. Erika Mann and the Middle-Class Martyrs of Fascism 61. Literary Stalinism: Lehmann vs. Birney 62. Changing Minds in Wartime V ENVOI, 1940 63. In Memory: Lev Davidovich Bronstein Acronyms and abbreviations Textual sources Works cited
9780776624631 (pbk)
20179022636
Birney, Earle, 1904-1995.
Trotsky, Leon, 1879-1940.
Authors, Canadian--20th century--Correspondence.
Communists--Canada--Correspondence.
Communism.
Trotskyism.
Conversations with Trotsky : Earle Birney and the Radical 1930s / edited and with an introduction by Bruce Nesbitt. - Ottawa : University of Ottawa Press, 2017. - xvii, 418 p. : cov. ill. ; 21 cm. - Canadian Literature .
Includes bibliographical references (pages 379-408) and index.
"This collection presents all of Earle Birney's known published and unpublished works on Trotsky and Trotskyism for the very first time: their correspondence, a selection of Birney's letters, and his literary writings. From 1933 to 1940, Leon Trotsky was the focus of Birney's work and much of his life, corresponding with the great Russian revolutionary, organizing Trotskyist cells, and recruiting on behalf of Trotskyism. This volume traces the origins of Trotsky's mistrust of "the British" to his experiences in Canada and includes the largest body of Trotskyist criticism in Canadian literary history. Of equal importance, "Conversations with Trotsky" shows the need for a radical re-reading of Birney's poetry in light of his Trotskyism." (Book Cover) CONTENTS: Preface Acknowledgements Introduction I AN "OPTIMISTIC SORT OF REVOLUTIONARY," 1933-1935 1. Report to the Toronto Branch of the International Left Opposition 2. Letter to an American Medical Student 3. Mine Strike, Martial Law and a Student Delegation 4. To the Section Bureau, CPUSA, Salt Lake City, Utah 5. To the Salt Lake Section Committee, CPUSA 6. A Letter Refused by the Salt Lake City Press 7. In Defence of Party Democracy 8. The Struggle Against British Imperialism II CONVERSATIONS WITH TROTSKY, 1935 9. Birney to Trotsky, 5 November 1935 10. Interviewing Leon Trotsky, 19-23 November 1935 11. Conversations with Trotsky 12. Further Conversations with Trotsky 13. Trotsky on the Canadian Farmer 14. Birney to Trotsky, 8 December 1935 15. Birney to Trotsky, 16 December 1935 III POLITICAL WRITINGS, 1935-1939 16. Incident in Berlin 17. Trotsky to Birney, 19 January 1936 18. Birney to Trotsky, 14 February 1936 19. Birney to Trotsky, 27 February 1936 20. Birney to Trotsky, 29 January 1937 21. Another Month - January 22. Another Month - February 23. Another Month - March 24. Birney to Joe Hansen, 15 November 1937 25. Trotsky to Birney, 27 November 1937 26. Birney to Trotsky, 2 January 1938 27. Canadian Capitalism and the Strategy of the Revolutionary Movement 28. The Land of the Maple Leaf Is the Land of Monopoly 29. Is French Canada Going Fascist ? 30. Trotsky to Birney, 5 June 1939 31. Birney to Trotsky, 6 June 1939 32. War Is Here - What Now? IV LITERATURE AND REVOLUTION, 1934-1940 33. Escape by Emetic 34. On "Proletarian Literature" 35. The Brave New Words of Aldous Huxley 36. Cecil Day Lewis, The Loving Communist 37. Proletarian Literature: Theory and Practice 38. What Do Canadians Tell Stories About? 39. R.M. Fox: Worker-Fighter 40. Soviet Fiction and American Fustian 41. The Importance of Being Ernest Hemingway 42. Polygamous Communists from Toronto to Salt Lake 43. Yorkshire Proletarians 44. The Rhymes of the Irish Revolution 45. The Lost Irish Lenin? 46. Onward with Edward Upward 47. The Two William Faulkners 48. John Bull's Other Hell 49. The English Worker 50. New Writing in Britain and Elsewhere 51. The Fiction of James T. Farrell 52. The New Byronism: Poets and the Spanish Civil War 53. Steinbeck's Grapes of Wrath 54. The Left Theatre in English 55. Whitewashing the Stalinist Persecutors of Artists 56. The Mad Sanity of Henry Miller 57. To Arms with Canadian Poetry 58. Fashion and Change on Broadway, or Propaganda Is What You Disagree With 59. New Writing and Literary Stalinism 60. Erika Mann and the Middle-Class Martyrs of Fascism 61. Literary Stalinism: Lehmann vs. Birney 62. Changing Minds in Wartime V ENVOI, 1940 63. In Memory: Lev Davidovich Bronstein Acronyms and abbreviations Textual sources Works cited
9780776624631 (pbk)
20179022636
Birney, Earle, 1904-1995.
Trotsky, Leon, 1879-1940.
Authors, Canadian--20th century--Correspondence.
Communists--Canada--Correspondence.
Communism.
Trotskyism.