[Marxism] Fw: Tony Blair inspired by Trotsky

["Louis R Godena" <louisgodena@xxxxxxx>]

Isaac Deutscher, the emigre Polish Marxist and perhaps the finest biographer on 
the Left of the twentieth century, was spared this final debasement of a genre 
he loved so well...

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20060304/ap_on_en_ot/people_blair

Blair Says Trotsky Book Inspired Him 
Tony Blair, who wrenched his party from the left to the center of the political 
spectrum, said he had been inspired to enter politics by a book about socialist 
icon Leon Trotsky. 

At a World Book Day event at London's Commonwealth Club earlier this week, 
Blair said Isaac Deutscher's biography of the Russian communist leader was the 
book that meant the most to him.

Deutscher's three-volume work - "The Prophet Armed," "The Prophet Unarmed" and 
"The Prophet Outcast" - paints a sympathetic portrait of Trotsky, who helped 
Vladimir Lenin lead the 1917 Russian revolution but was later driven out by 
Joseph Stalin. He was murdered by an agent of Stal in in Mexico in 1940.
"I might as well make a confession now," Blair said. "There were people who got 
me very involved in politics. But then there was also a book."
Blair said the work "made a very deep impression on me and gave me a love of 
political biography for the rest of my life."
"My association with books has continued through the rest of my adult life but 
particularly with my children," Blair added.
He said the book he read most often was "Flat Stanley," a children's story 
loved by his 5-year-old son, Leo.
"I know more about Flat Stanley than I ever really wanted to."

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