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would have any impact, indeed, would be read outside a small circle of
friends. He died of a heart attack in Mexico City in November
1947;
his
family believed that he might have been poisoned or murdered in some
other way.
The present Serge revival is deserved in every way; he was a very
brave and honest man at a time when so many intellectuals in Europe
compromised and collaborated. He belongs to a very small group of
survivors, the revolutionaries of World War I vintage. He was an eye–
witness of events of world historical importance, of great hope and even
greater tragedy. His political recollections are very important, because
they reflect so well the mood of this lost generation. His novels will find
readers now because they help grant an understanding of the aftermath
of the Russian revolution and its impact on militants and intellectuals,
a world of yesterday almost as distant from subsequent generations as
the Napoleonic wars.
The revival of interest in Victor Serge has to do in large part with the
desire of present-day Trotskyist sympathizers to find a cultural icon;
throughout its long history Trotskyism attracted a great many intellec–
tuals but cou ld not keep them for any length of time. While Trotsky
lived, his personality served as a rallying point. True, his later theoreti–
cal and political writings, the obsessive endeavor to give a Marxist
explanation for developments in the Soviet Union and the world at
large, were neither particularly innovative nor persuasive. But his strong
personality, his tragic fate in exile, and eventually his assassination
attracted many intellectuals.
Trotskyism after Trotsky is a different story, in the age of Pablo and
Posadas, of Tony Cliff and Ernest Mandel, there was room in the move–
ment for enthusiasts and true believers but not for those with more than
a superficial knowledge of history, politics, economics, or sociology, let
alone for cr itica l spirits. The Trotskyists in France, and to a lesser degree
in Britain, would attract generations of students, but these would invari–
ably drop out within a short time. Trotskyists had a golden opportunity
to make headway following the decline of the appeal of Soviet Commu–
nism and its demise. But their sectarian quarrels and splits, their growing
detachment from the real world, and their egregious political misjudg–
ments (including the "critical support" for Ayatollah Khomeini and even
the Taliban) antagonized a ll but the hardiest and most obtuse spirits.
In this situation Victor Serge must have seemed exceedingly attractive
in the search for figures giving the movement historical and moral legit–
imacy, but there were certain difficulties to overcome. To begin with,
Serge in his divergences with Trotsky (who treated him almost with con-
