Marxists are often attacked for being 'amoral', if not immoral, by defenders of the established social order. This collection of writing, centred on two essays written in the late 1930s by exiled Russian revolutionist Leon Trotsky, gives the lie to such claims.
Trotsky explains that Marxist socialists reject the idea of eternal moral truths, arguing instead that morality arises from the interests if particular social classes. Capitalist morality defends the interests of the wealthy and privileged.
Socialists have a different moral code. They do not pretend that it comes from outside of human society; rather it is derived from the needs of the struggle of the working class and the oppressed to put an end to capitalism and create a new society - one which will be democratic, egalitarian, collectivist and solidaristic.
A criticism of Trotsky's views from noted US educationalist and philosopher John Dewey is answered by Marxist scholar George Novack. Two appendices by Frederick Engels and V.I. Lenin round out this illuminating selection.