Trotsky in Tijuana

with Dan La Botz

You may know Dan La Botz from his Troublemakers Handbook, his non-fiction work analyzing global labor movements, or his co-founding of Teamsters for a Democratic Union, but now, with Trotsky in Tijuana, he has added novelist to his resume.

Please join us for a reading from his new novel and an imagining of what could have happened had Stalin not assassinated Trotsky in Mexico City.

Praise for Trotsky in Tijuana

“Trotsky’s final exile in Mexico was one of solitude, the world of his concerns an ocean away. He wrote in profusion, analyzing and responding to events of gigantic magnitude, but his milieu, the revolutionary generation of Bolsheviks, were wiped out by Stalin. And then Trotsky was assassinated.

“Imagine now that Stalin’s assassin missed his mark, and Trotsky was whisked off to Tijuana, the southern border of San Diego, but still in Mexico, to live out his days, alive but even more remote. That is the premise of Dan La Botz’s riveting historical novel, a ‘what if’ immersed in Left Oppositionist thought and praxis that convincingly creates an alternative reality. La Botz masterfully weaves the history, politics and people into a gripping tale with twists and turns that are no less amazing than the history itself. You won’t be able to put it down, and you’ll argue with it long after.”

– Suzi Weissman, author of Victor Serge: A Political Biography

“Trotsky in Tijuana is a great read. It is fairly races along and it allows you to get a real grasp of the key political discussions of the time while understanding the human side of Trotsky, Natalia and their circle.”
– Dave Kellaway

“…this is a skillfully written and politically engaging book—certainly among the best of the novels in English based on Trotsky’s life.” 
– Bill Keach,

“Yet La Botz arguably takes on a more difficult task than the novels by Kingsolver and Padura, since they are not focused on exploring Trotsky the human being.” – Paul LeBlanc