SOURCE: "Alexander Blok," in Literature and Revolution, Russell & Russell, 1957, pp. 116-25.

In the following essay, originally published in 1924, Trotsky discusses The Twelve and Blok's understanding of the Bolshevik Revolution.

Blok belonged entirely to pre-October literature. Blok's impulses—whether towards tempestuous mysticism, or towards revolution—arise not in empty space, but in the very thick atmosphere of the culture of old Russia, of its landlords and intelligentsia. Blok's symbolism was a reflection of this immediate and disgusting environment. A symbol is a generalized image of a reality. Blok's lyrics are romantic, symbolic, mystic, formless and unreal. But they presuppose a very real life with definite forms and relationships. Romantic symbolism is only a going away from life, in the sense of an abstraction from its concreteness, from individual traits, and from its proper names; at bottom, symbolism is a means of transforming and sublimating life. Blok's starry, stormy and...