FRENCH REVOLUTIONARY and Marxist historian Pierre Broué died on July 27 at the age of 79 after a long struggle with cancer.
A large part of Broué's contribution to the revolutionary cause was his many books on the history of the Bolshevik Party, the Communist International, Russian revolutionary Leon Trotsky and the Spanish and German revolutions.
His history of the German Revolution of 1917-23 was recently published in English and is being distributed by Brill and Haymarket Books.
Broué's life was one dedicated to the struggle for socialism. He fought in the French resistance against Nazi occupation as a young man. Broué joined the Young Communists; and soon after was won over to Trotskyism, which he defended to the end.
For many years, Broué was a member of the l'Organisation Communiste Internationaliste. More recently, he was a supporter of the Committee for a Marxist International. Just before his death, he was taking part in the In Defense of Marxism's "Trotsky Project," a plan to republish the works of Trotsky.
"With the passing of Pierre Broué we have lost one of the great historians of the working-class movement," wrote Spanish socialist Jaime Pastor on the corriente[a]lterna Web site. "The best homage we can pay him is to remember his works and to continue recommending them to new generations."
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