The Heritage We Defend is a history of the Fourth International during the half century following the assassination of its founder, Leon Trotsky, in 1940. Originally published in 1988, this book reviews the issues of theory, politics and principle that confronted the Fourth International during World War II and the post-war era.
Remarkably, David North clearly and precisely anticipated the political crisis that erupted in Eastern Europe and the Soviet Union between 1989 and 1991, resulting in the dissolution of the Stalinist regimes. The Heritage We Defend remains an unsurpassed introduction to the history of the Trotskyist movement and obligatory reading for anyone seeking to understand Marxist theory and practice in the present period of capitalist crisis and intensifying class struggle.
