In Defense of Victor Serge

For decades, anyone writing about Victor Serge had to begin by explaining who he was and why we should care. Despite an enormous literary legacy, he had been literally airbrushed from Soviet history, a forgotten figure even on much of the Left. History is rarely kind to the vanquished, and Serge stood on the side of the defeated, with those who refused to compromise with capitalism or surrender to Stalinism. The cost was high, but Serge’s eloquent voice and mighty pen could not prevent his…