KARACHI, March 28: Speakers at a book-launching ceremony urged the forces of communism to regroup under the banner of Leninism and Trotskyism. The Pakistan Trade Union Defence Campaign launched the translation of Leon Trotsky's autobiography, Meri zindagi, at the Pakistan Medical Association House on Sunday afternoon.

The maternal grandson of Trotsky, Esteban Volkov, recalled in some detail the manner in which forces loyal to Stalin first attacked Trotsky without success and then employed an assassin to carry out a cold-blooded murder.

Mr Volkov criticized capitalist governments for "destroying the planet and converting it to a hell for 75 per cent of humanity." "It is unbelievable that despite such advances in science and technology, capitalist regimes are unable to give a respectable way of life to a large number of people," he observed.

The editor of the www.marxist.com, Alan Woods, said it was for the first time that a book by Trotsky had been translated into an Eastern language. He congratulated the "comrades" in Pakistan for publishing such an excellent translation.

He quoted Trotsky as saying that three things were required to bring about a revolution. "He said the things were: the party, the party and once again the party. The Bolshevik party had a revolutionary leadership. And the two men who played a great role in the party were Lenin and Trotsky," he recalled.

Mr Woods said the title of Trotsky's autobiography, My life, was incorrect. He added that Trotsky led the lives of at least 10 men - 10 great men. "Tsarist Russia was more backwards than Pakistan.

By a strange coincidence, the population of Tsarist Russia was the same as Pakistan's population: 150 million or thereabouts. But the number of workers in Tsarist Russia was 3.5 million only. All workers' parties were banned in Russia," he said.

Mr Woods said that in his books Trotsky predicted that the workers of Russia would come to power earlier than the workers of the West despite the backwardness of Russian society. The Struggle Group leader, Lal Khan, introduced the speakers. He also efficiently translated the words of the speakers into Urdu.