Leon Trotsky - The life of a revolutionary
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- Опубліковано 25 жов 2017
- To mark the centenary of the Russian Revolution, the International Marxist Tendency and In Defence of October campaign present this original documentary celebrating the life and accomplishments of one of the revolution’s main leaders: Leon Trotsky.
Alan Woods (editor of the In Defence of Marxism website) narrates Trotsky’s extraordinary career; from his early years as a revolutionary writer and activist, to his leading role alongside Lenin in the October Revolution and Russian Civil War, to his expulsion from Russia and eventual assassination by the murderous Stalinist regime. Featuring footage from the Trotsky museum in Coyoacán Mexico, and first-hand accounts from Trotsky’s grandson, Esteban Volkov, this film is a testament to one of history’s great revolutionaries - whose deeds and ideas are a “shining beacon to all of humankind.”
To find out more about Leon Trotsky and his ideas visit:
www.marxist.com
www.bolshevik.info
Trotsky, Lenin, Che... These men always fascinate me.
Spoon fuck you capitalist pig
Amused Outsider ???
Amused Outsider are you referring to me?
Amused Outsider aight fam calm down, those shoes certainly don't fit me. Although one small correction, one can easily make it into the upper-middle class without being a bourgeois, look at doctors and engineers as an example
And Bhagat Singh.
''When a man has fulfilled his mission in life, death is not a problem.'' - Trotsky, A real revolutionary indeed. Man of action. Salute!
@@Josep_Hernandez_Lujan This video? XD
A murderer and conman!
Was his mission fulfilled? After the left Russia, it was all bickering ...
Gar Sm Bickering and butchering!
a disgrace
Here’s a tip:
when Trotskys grandson comes on the screen turn on closed caption in your language if you couldn’t understand him like I couldn’t.
Thank you Mr Woods. Our Trotsky lives on through his work.
So supporting every CIA colour revolution!?
Though I don't consider myself a communist, I do have immense respect for Trotsky. He did have his flaws, and made some decisions I don't agree with, but he seems to have regretted those. A true revolutionary, and a man willing to acknowledge his own failings in order to move forward. I was first turned onto Trotskyism by listening to Christopher Hitchens, actually. Another figure I admire despite some vehement differences of opinion.
He made some decisions that some cant agree with, but one must realize that the tsarists would not stop until the revolution was crushed. He took hard decisions, but the hardest decisions are the ones that took him to victory
Awesome. Happy Centennial. Sincerely BOSTON Wobbly
Thank you for this documentary. You did a great job.
Thank you for this piece of documentary from one of the greatest revolutinaries of our history. His legacy lives to this day, marxism breathes with renewed strength!
excellent video,imformative and well presented.
Excellent film which I enjoyed watching. Many thanks to all concerned in its production. As an introduction to a long and eventful life, it is perfectly fine. However, I was conscious while watching it that a film of this length could only scratch the surface of the life and legacy of the person whom I would argue was THE greatest historical figure of the Twentieth Century.
I hope the IMT will not stop with this film but will go on to produce a lengthy documentary series devoted to an in depth examination of his life and work and the real history and legacy of the Russian revolution. It is so very badly needed. And video is definitely the medium in which to do it. A picture is worth a thousand words and a video a million.
Problem is that there is so much to say isn't there? Where does one start? The whole question of why the German revolutions failed, leaving the Soviet Union isolated, could fill several episodes. Broué's book might be a framework for it.
Explaining the contradictory nature of Stalinism needs to be done in detail: the fact that it could crush the independent action of the working class at certain moments (China 1927, Brit General Strike 1926, Spain late 30s) while overturning capitalism at other moments (post WW2 eastern Europe, Yugoslavia, China, Vietnam).
And then for a British audience, how the continuing shockwaves and reverberations of the Russian Revolution gave us the NHS and the welfare state in the aftermath of WW2. And how. conversely, the collapse of the Soviet Union is leading to its dismantlement at the present time.
I feel that until the left answers in detail the lies and calumnies of Western bourgeois, Stalinist and anarchist schools of historical falsification in an EASILY UNDERSTOOD format like a film documentary series, it will be unable to effectively advance because the truth lies buried beneath a mountain of propaganda.
The Manchester Anti War Union? Trotsky wanted world revolution. That would have been war on a grand scale. A world soaked in blood. If you really wanted less war. You would want LESS Government... Not more. Hitler, Stalin, Mao. They all wanted total government. Name me a bloodthirsty dictator who did not. Anti War Union... My Arse
German revolutions failed because nobody cared or ever will care
Trorsky, Lenin and Che guevara: the true heroes that brought the revolution to the people and victory to the workers
I agree, if you drop Che out.
Not Che by any means
@dwightd.eisenhower2031 Anyone who doesn't think the Chinese, Cuban, North Korean, and Vietnamese revolutions are worthy of study and admiration they are nothing more than a liberal in practice, with no understanding of national liberation and socialism
Viva Che. Viva la revolucion!
And Mao and Pol Pot!
Beautiful documentary that must be shared with all people-- the inclusion of interviews with Esteban Volkov elevates this documentary to a great level. Trotsky's legacy lives!
Even Stalin acknowledged his great contribution: when asked to write about Red Army history, Stalin referred journalists to Trotsky
Excellent documentary! Thank you, comrades!
Greetings from Greece ,long live proletarian internationalism!!
Interesting documentary!
Wonderful!
Long live the fourth international
Stalinism is wrong in hurting real socialist development.
"Building socialism within a country" is impossible because the development of productivity depends on the division of labor in the global market.
Stalin gave up the world revolution and caused disastrous consequences.
And bureaucracy led to the disintegration of the Soviet Union.
I am from Taiwan.
Socialism is supposed to work for all the people but all the people get in the way.
I agree that 'Today' socialism would be difficult to implement, but back then most of the Russian people were illiterate and were unaware how the rest of the world lived let alone had any outside communication. Socialism can work if the population can be easily brainwashed.
steve weiser American politics exists solely in a singular Quadrant of global politics. ua-cam.com/video/ULYWIDcUOY4/v-deo.html
@@pauld9561You cannot blame a dog for thinking the cat is its enemy. It has known no different for as long as its breathed
@@pauld9561But made up quotes asidethey have been lead astray by borgouis leadership. It is our duty to educate them. Lenin was beat up by people the day the revolution was kicked off.
Very interesting material!
Now the life of Comrade Lenin, thanks for this.
Gracias por este maravilloso documental, gracias Esteban por permitir que el mundo escuche sus dolorosos recuerdos del pasado. ¿Espero que algún día veamos un mundo de trotskistas? Saludos desde Inglaterra. Camaradas solidarios! ✊
For a clear understanding of Trotsky and Trotskyism try reading the WSWS site.
The WSWS is an international organisation.
Very educational, effective presentation. Would share with just anyone who had an interest in Trotsky or early 20th century history.
We need a leader like Trotsky now!
I wish that we could have subtitles for Trotsky's grandson.
Just switch them on my dude
Trotsky, one of the smartest marxist who ever lived
very talented,useful,though painful,documentary.
7:51 is it me or did a body just randomly raised its hand
Looks like it may have been something with the film because the same thing happened twice in the previous shot
Long live socialist workers' Revolution! Thank You Comrade wood!
oh - suddenly the video is not listed. Sorry for already watching it! ;)
Nevermind :D
Hahahaha Great channel name! I see what you did there. Subscribed
What the fuck is a libertarian leninist?
@@DialecticalMaterialismRocks revolution with democracy
@@ianreynolds8552 Then we will miss all the fun : )
I'm from Pakistan and truly admired by the contribution of people, like Trotsky...❤❤❤❤
It's sad that Stalin outmaneuvered him. Trotsky would have been a far better leader.
Leather daddy Trotsky
wow great documentry
His legacy lives on! Power to the proles!
Thank you-Leon Trotsky.
Why not offer a translation of the lengthy comments in Spanish? I shut it down when the fellow reappeared.
Hello Rich, there are English subtitles avaliable but they have to be switched on. You can do this from the settings menu in the bottom right of the video
This is how you heal the world.
A great service to the revolutionary traditions of socialism.
Great work!!!! Thank you.
"Trotsky, long ago said that unification is impossible. Trotsky understood this and from that time on there has been no better Bolshevik" - Stalin
L.D you are a hero, your life is an inspiration to all of us young people. We promise we will not stop until we complete your legacy and we will have socialism in our lifetime.
Long live the revolution!
That ain’t happening
Excellent documentary, must watch.
L Trotsky had real courage, he fought against J Stalin.
Yeah? Not until he left the Soviet Union. The most brutal man rose to the top of a brutal system.... Shocking
@@fresatx all transitions of power are brutal. That transition of power came in the midst of two world wars and a depression the likes of which the world had never seen. Not making excuses for the soviet union, stalinist russia was in many ways a monstrous bastardization of the ideals of the revolution. Even despite all that, the cause took an illiterate agrarian nation, and made it a world industrial superpower. The first to touch the stars
@@davidc4983 I agree with you.. Stalin dragged Russia from the 18th century into the 20th in 10 or 15 years. Shockingly so by the end of the war. he had to kill 20 million plus to do it. I respect Stalin. They say Trotsky never killed a fellow Communist and Stalin killed nothing but. Trotsky was too intellectual. Stalin was a Georgian peasant and they all looked down on him until it was too late. Especially Trotsky. I am a southern American and elites in our country look at me in a similar fashion so the example of Stalin warms my heart.
@@davidc4983 Trotsky is looked at by intellectuals as the "what if" man. What if Trotsky had carried the day and beat Stalin to lead the country?? Not much would have changed maybe 10 million would have died and not 20. He wasnt bloodthirsty. But to think he could have made communism work is laughable. It's a fundamentaly flawed system. Real communism has never been tried they say.. No one ever says real fascism has never been tried.
@@fresatx Stalin cared more about power than the revolution, fundamentally that is the flaw which I, as a Trotskyist, cannot abide. I do not think near so many would have died under trotsky. He would likely have found a better solution to the military problem than just "imprison all of high command" for instance, which may have saved untold millions of causalities in it's own right.
I wish I had of known that this was going to turn into a spainish only documentary with no subtitles or english translation I mean damn.
Not a communist, but impressive documentary.
Good except for the Spanish. Would have been nice to have English subtitles to hear what the grandson said.
For everyone complaining about the none Spanish subtitles, why don’t you be like Trotsky & learn new languages
Rest in Power Trotsky
Trotsky was indeed a great man!
Gabriel Barreto rdd
jacke sutton pilsner coltrane
Yea, just like capitalism is today with indigenous populations all over the world. The only reason you don’t hear from this is because the capitalist media doesn’t report on it since you know... you would question the nature of the capitalist system. Simply put.... capitalism has killed more people then the communist systems implemented in the 20th century.
who did he kill unless you mean when he was fighting in the civil war
Nahuatl you don't see Cubans commenting on UA-cam very often... Do you know why?
It's a Communist state with no interest in ordinary folk, just keeping their ideological grip on the people, by any means. So they have *No Internet*
Pessimist Prime Cubans have internet.
Verdade 💯 pôr cento agora e uma Necessidade a revolução permanente ker Trotsky deixou pá us trabalhadores e trabalhadoras do mundo pá defender a vida amém Trotsky pela Bazer única alternativa pá defender a vida dos povos do mundo
The October revolution in Russia 1917 November 7 - where the Bolshevik party had majority in the workers and popular councils in the cities allied with the peasant backed left fraction of the Socialist-Revolutionaries - was not to establish a party-state. The aim of the revolution was to establish a revolutionary socialist non-state society, but not at the time class-less, with all power to democratic elected councils on the working places all over the country. Instead the Bolshevik party used the power in the soviets to establish a so-called "workers state" as if a state ever can pave the way to a state-less and class-less world society or what really is communism. The Bolshevik party fought hard in the months after October 1917 and in 1918 to prevent the employees to collectively own factories and corporations above a certain size and from this coordinate the economy. At the First All-Russian Congress of Regional Economic Councils in Moscow May 24 - June 4, 1918 the Bolshevik party succeed. The outcome of the party-state was that the party and state elite in reality became the real owners of the economy and the economic surplus in "name" of a working class population which were met with Cheka troops and fired upon in strikes and demonstrations. For Lenin and Trotsky was the aim to centralize all power in the party government, Sovnarkom, with abandonment of elections to the workers and popular councils, "soviets" by appointment from above. The majority of the Bolshevik party elite held the view that the party had the birthright set aside the opinion of the masses if the masses did not follow the party. This was done with police/Cheka troops and later with military units. The point of no return came in March 1921 when the soviet at the Kronstadt naval base with several thousands workers and soldiers revolted for free workers and popular elections to the soviets. They were crushed by military forces sent from Siberia and packed with lies that Kronstadt soviet had become a tool for imperialist agents and white counter-revolutionaries.
libcom.org/library/the-bolsheviks-and-workers-control-solidarity-group
Stalin did not come falling down from the sky. He was a logic result of a party-dictatorship which in the 1930s used the same kind of oppression as under Lenin and Trotsky with two exceptions: a party member under Lenin and Trotsky could not be executed due to political disagreement as they were under Stalin and the oppression before Stalin was not yet totalitarian. However for non-party member there was no rule of law with personal security under Lenin and Trotsky. Some 800.000 were executed under Stalin including many Leninists and Trotskyists - just as easy as Lenin and Trotsky earlier shot Kronstadt sovieters in March 1921 and executed in the days that followed the crush of the revolt.
Socialism is international and any party-state or so-called "socialism in one country" is just a nationalist myth. Marx used the phrase dictatorship of the proletariat because he as a left-Hegelian with a historical-philosophical understanding of class-struggle claimed that all class societies were dictated - both those ruled by the upper class minority and the majority he fought for as he writes in the pamphlet Paris Commune from 1871. Lenin falsified Marx' dogmatic phrase to mean party-dictatorship. In this sense Lenin was a "bourgeois" Jacobin inspired by authoritarian Russian intellectuals in the last half of the 19th century such as Peter Tkachev. The second congress of the All-Russian Social-Democratic Workers Party in London 1903 was heavily influenced by the same authoritarian traditions of the Russian intelligentsia. According to the minutes of the sixteenth session the chairman of the congress Georgi Valentinovich Plekhanov used the phrase "salus revolutiae suprema lex" and said the party was not afraid of a Long Parliament in case the elections went badly. This way to think was typical for most of the Russian intelligentsia besides some few such as Leo Trotsky who in 1904 dismissed Lenin's party theory as a method leading to a party ruled by an elite. Rosa Luxemburg did the same in 1905 accusing Lenin of creating a straight jacket on the working class population. Unfortunately Trotsky in the summer of 1917 changed side and joined Lenin and became corrupted as many others by the machinery of the party-state. Rosa Luxemburg did not withdraw her criticism. The rest is history!
Don't vote for me, vote on yourself in common solidarity with direct council democracy against war and capitalism.
Read the comments:
ua-cam.com/video/EzQRNFASUZo/v-deo.html
Björn-Olav Kvidal,
Stockholm - Sweden
Insightful comment. I am astonished at the cult of personality around Lenin and Trotsky by otherwise intelligent and well meaning people.
Lenin & Trotsky paved the way for Stalin. Both men were just as brutal. It wasn't that if Trotsky took over, the purges wouldn't have happened, they would have, & probably have been much worse. The falling out between Stalin & Trotsky was about power, not method. All of them were brutal monsters. Trotsky would have been just as brutal. He brutally crushed the Muinity at Kronstadt.
@@sambradley2975 I agree both Lenin and Trotsky were authoritarians and murderers, but I don't see any evidence to suggest Trotsky was "much worse" than Stalin. Trotsky's crimes, which occurred in the context of civil war as a general of the army, pale in comparison to Stalin's which occurred during peacetime as head of state. The foreign backed White army began the the terrible atrocities of that period while the Bolsheviks were still committed to the abolition of the death penalty. The White Terror killed at least as many as the Red Terror in the period direcrly after ww1 where nearly 10 millions Russians were killed, injured, or made POWs.
Trotsky himself never killed anybody, while Stalin had probably killed many even before the revolution during his bank robbing days.
Trotsky is responsible for the deaths at Kronstadt, for the deaths of mutineers of the Red Army, and probably some other lesser known incidents.
Stalin is responsible for millions upon millions of deaths.
Stalin was a bureaucratic autocrat where Trotsky supported worker's power as leader of the Left Opposition.
I don't see how you came to the conclusion Trotsky would have been worse.
Long live the fourth international .
Stalinism is wrong in hurting real socialist development. "Building socialism within a country" is impossible because the development of productivity depends on the division of labor in the global market. Stalin gave up the world revolution and caused disastrous consequences. And bureaucracy led to the disintegration of the Soviet Union. I am from Taiwan.
Great comment. It's necessary to point out, though, that Trotsky was above all pragmatic. When he saw the revolutionary potential of the Bolsheviks, he felt he had to jump in to make a difference. His achievements in the Red Army and his accute class awareness are undeniable, as his early diagnosis of the (then) future problems of late capitalism and of the USSR clearly show.
Their main contradiction, well traceable to the aforementioned intelligentsia, was to see themselves as the knowledgeable vanguard that should be the new ruling elite until the masses were sufficiently educated to care for themselves. The many flaws in Lenin & Trotsky's view are clear in hindsight, and some of it was patent even then, but at that moment in Europe the vanguards were where all the political mobilization was, and Trotsky clearly thought vanguardism's flaws were acceptable compromises to "get things done".
In the end we'll never really know how authoritarian he and Lenin really were, nor how much they thought they were being forced into authoritarian actions by the circumstances. Trotsky compared the old Bolsheviks with the Jacobines, and the right wing of the party with the Girondines. He died stating that Lenin's plan to roll back War Communism (to which he attributed the centralization and the military harshness he then thought as absolutely necessary) and to descentralise the State never came to fruition because of Stalin. Now... Had Lenin lived longer and had Trotsky conquered Stalin, would they really weaken the centralization and actually give "power to the soviets"? We'll never know, since we cannot take anybody's word for it.
17:57 The Darkest Day
please add subtitles
you can enable the subtitles near the full screen button.
Thank you!
Trotsky fue el motor de la revolucion y la persona lejos mas importante para, primero ejecutar la revolucion, y secundo ganar la querra civil despues. El podria haber hecho todo esto incluso sin Lenin. Stalin no tenia importancia alguna.
Ironic that Stalin only removed the imperial eagles from the Kremlin in 1935. You can see them at the parade at 19:18
Solidarity From Afghanistan
viva la revolution
In 1930, while Trotsky was living in Istanbul, Stalin ordered the later leader of the Greek Communist Party, Nikos Zachariadis, to assassinate Trotsky. However, he failed as the Turkish Police protected Trotsky quite well and left without firing a single shot ...
on Marx: he's overly idolized by one side and overly vilified by the other. its my belief Marx would be appalled by the personality cult that risen in his name. Marx didn't write about Marxism. he wrote about communism and socialism. finally a documentary that correctly identifies Stalin as the fascist he was rather than some kind of socialist. I've always admired Trotsky, even more so than Lenin. I always thought Lenin's state capitalism betrayed the revolution. but Trotsky, unlike Stalin and Lenin, remained a loyal socialist to the end. here's to you Mr. Trotsky! (oh oh; they screwed up at the end now claiming the soviets were socialists. THEY WEREN'T! the misnamed communist party members were the bankers, the capitalists and the landlords. the USSR was a capitalist system that used an elitist hierarchy, domestic terror and the slavery of labor to maintain the privilege of the elite. just like all capitalist societies do. them's the facts. no true socialist would ever claim the Soviet system as socialist!) the monologue at the very end was EXCELLENT! thanks for the documentary.
+michelle... you're over complicating it. any system that's elitist (hierarchical) is capitalist. all this individualism vs collectivism nonsense is irrelevant if either or both serve to benefit an elitist class. since capitalism is the economic system of fascism - it, as fascism, is also nationalistic, militaristic, authoritarian, stratified and scapegoatistic. all city and nation states known to history have been fascist. but they implemented and enforced their fascism in slightly different ways. upward mobility is largely a myth. the reality is the same today as 5000 years ago. if you're born rich you're VERY likely to die rich. if you're born into the lower classes you're more likely than not to die there. this fact hasn't changed throughout history but the elite condition us to believe the myth of upward mobility is real. its with this lie they trap and enslave us.
Define socialism
You just described WHY Socialism or communism do not work.
The proletarians in the world are united ! Stand under the banner of the Fourth International !
Romanticizes Trotsky a bit, but an educational and entertaining documentary.
✊
I am not a marxist so far
But this man deserves my respect
Trotsky definitly was the motor of the revolution and the most important person in the succes of it. He could have done it even without Lenin. Stalin was not important at all.
Two dictator who murder milion people in name of iquality.
This is entirely untrue and unfair to Lenin and Stalin
I don’t know why this site doesn’t accept any contrary view.
You probably are not civil
Subtitles for Spanish
Sorry.. Where are your sources?
Hey, he created the Soviets not only participated.
真正的革命家
High life ICFI
Glosses over Trotskys role in the Polish and Russian civil war. Also ignores his behaviour over Kronsdat.
Try reading the WSWS site for a clear Trotskyist analysis and program.
VIVA KRASNIY BONAPART!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!from Australia
He made it all the way to Mexico but never left!
Even though I’m a staunch capitalist who despises Marxism, communism and socialism more than anything. I have to say this documentary was extremely interesting. Trotsky is someone I’ve always wanted to learn more about, and this documentary answered all my questions. That being said, vote Trump2020
Needs subs for Spanish part
Turn on cc's
Why the cow why
Trotskyites!
Nikita Georgy Khrushchev that's what I thought nikki
Beria would've showed them.
Greetings from Chinese comrade
Why in the fuck would someone make an english language documentary without adding english subtitles when some speaks a language other than english? Luckily I speak a little spanish or else I wouldn't have understood a word Trotsky's grandson was saying.
Calm down mister e.
There are English subtitles available but they have to be switched on. You can do this from the settings menu in the bottom right of the video. Now you know for next time
I know I can put the subtitles on and I did when I wasn't able to understand as much of what he was saying. I still think that's a huge oversight on the part of whoever produced this. I've never seen a english language production that didn't have english subtitles directly superimposed.
lol
Translate to Indonesian
When did Stalin and Kamenev stand against Lenin...in writing not from your imagination.
Before Lenin's return in April 1917 and then again on the eve of revolution when they wanted to delay
The Weather Underground changed their name to the October League after Bill Ayers bomb throwing.
Trotsky was a hero
50% of the documentary is basically "In this specific incident, Trotsky took the same position as Lenin.", "Trotsky had the exact same reaction as Lenin", etc. It's so consistant that it almost seems like pure rhetoric to legitimize Trotsky as the heir to the throne, after Lenin. Even if Trotsky was exactly the same as Lenin as this video tries to point out, he wasn't better. And there were countless others that followed Lenin, and so the remaining of the video doesn't really show anything that makes Trotsky as outstanding as this video claims.
Trotsky can be judged by his legacy and his followers
You are the fuckin' proof that anarchists are indeed capitalists' most precious allies
@@thelambliesdownongenoa1831 Who said I'm an anarchist?
@@user-yk6xx9dv5z your pic
@@user-yk6xx9dv5z plus, only an anarchist can talk this way about the Russian Revolution
I don t see what is so great about how they managed the revolution.
shooting and starving people is no success story.
it s quite depressing, and I expected better from reputation.
comparing with other documentaries on trotsky, this seems biased,
and it does nt cover all of the failings.
the spanish part could have been interesting, if only there had been a translation.
it says a lot about communism management to me.
I would nt have lived long there, like others, the leadership was quite a viper s nest.
Listen dude Russia was being invaded by 22 country to try and get the communists out during the 'revolution. You staved the Russians, who took Russia in to the world war to being with.
And he was called back from leadership from the Red Army by Lenin and he was untrusted by Lenin and he conspired with Japan, Germany and Italian fascism.
Trotsky was a lil pussy
Christianity is different from Jewdism Stalin new that
Yes he did so much good with the gulags
Bruh gulags are stalins invention
La vida de un asesino.
Karma - The kiss of a Rock Pick.
I'm surprised the raunchy skidmarks in Moscow did not change the red toilet rag into... The Rock Pick & Sickle.
Cult.
good band
Those deeds that are a shining beacon to humanity---do they also include the heinous and totally unnecessary murder of four adolescent girls and their prepubescent brother; or the mass martyrdoms of so many Orthodox faithful who were slain for their Faith? How do such actions contribute to the shining beacon for humanity?
Nothing about crushing the Workers Opposition or the Kronstadt Revolt as the Communist dictatorship solidified?
It only cost 30,000,000 innocent lives.
Typo surely. Shouldnt the title read - The Life of a Counter-Revolutionary. Only to happy to assist champs.
'Stalin had played an insignificant role in the revolution' = this documentary and the narrator have misunderstood the entire history of that century. Delete and avoid wasting 45 minutes of nonsense.