This division is more in keeping with the revisionist Eduard Bernstein’s “the movement is everything, the goal nothing”. Although Interesting I am baffled by the Stalinism rampant on this site, and especially in this section. Leaving aside for the moment the fact that the SWP were part of the Fourth International, which had had 10,000 members in the Soviet Gulag fighting by hunger strikes the totalitarian regime of Stalin, and that the debate occurred at the onset of a world war, in which the side that the working class should take was supremely relevant to US workers, this shows Pham Binh’s extreme national centeredness. I think I have said as much as needs to be said about the three curses, if you will, of the international working class movement (revisionism, Trotskyism, anarchism). The POR lacked neither influence nor revolutionary experience. Or are they taken out of context? The Unfinished Revolution,” the account of the International Brigade soldier and scholar of the Spanish Civil War Arthur Landis. Vladimir Lenin and Trotsky were close both ideologically and personally during the Russian Revolution and its … However, the criticisms made by the Trotskyists and crypto-Trotskyists are, even when they happen to be correct, part of a reactionary package that must be rejected as a whole. Trotskyism is as much destructive and damaging as Capitalism is. It may help you to see how the Comintern was not politically monolithic. But there are other examples. There isn’t much left of WW in LA since most of them left to form PSL. They were aimed at the opposition, in all its forms: The Trotskyists, the Zinovievites, and the old whites who had been reintegrated into society. I found this website and it contains a lot of quotations from Lenin, Stalin, and Trotsky trying to show that ML is superior to Trotskyism. I can understand not agreeing politically with Trotsky as far as organisation is concerned, but how can anybody still think that Stalin did any good for the revolution? In fact it is no wonder that Pham Binh acknowledges Duncan Hallas (SWP ideologue) as the originator of many of his criticisms. This is the old argument that because the Bolsheviks failed to amend the 1903 programme they either made the October Revolution with “the wrong programme” or with no programme at all – or maybe “Bread, Peace, Land” (just three words!) they did not isolate themselves – but they did not abandon their criticism of the POUM. Then they bloodily repressed the workers’ committees and slaughtered the Trotskyists. Was that not counter-revolutionary? Criticism of the post-1924 leadership of the Soviet Union, analysis of its features; after 1933 also support for political revolution in the Soviet Union and in what Trotskyists term the deformed workers' states. This is not dissimilar to Inner-party members in Orwell’s “1984.”. Dear Comrades, The question of Trotsky is not merely a historical question. Also on trotskyism, despite being written by a Trotskyist himself, these books are some good light-hearted insights on British Trotskyism, don't expect no brilliant theoretical criticism and ignore the parts on ''stalinism'', it is just funny, if you like this sort of thing: Of course these masses, in their vast majority, will never read the programme or give their formal assent to it. How do we stop Trotskyism? Trotskyism internationally has historically represented splittism, and attacks on the socialist camp. In 1956 they gave the bourgeois SLFP government “responsive co-operation” and in 1960 they offered Simaravo Bandaranaike’s Sinhala chauvinist regime “critical support”. Enter your email address to subscribe to The Marxist-Leninist and receive notifications of new posts by email. Here is a megaupload link to the PDF file. How is that for irony? But leave aside for a moment the question of the evaluation of Trotsky, the revolutionary. Here it is because the pressure from the ruling capitalist classes is intense and these three erroneous doctrines are a kind of “Pandering” to the US rulers: “we are the good communists the others are bad communists.” These types don’t realize that as far as the caps are concerned there are no good communists and they will kill them all when they get the chance – if we don’t get them first. It was the minority who split, precisely because they could not bear to be associated with the USSR after the Stalin-Hitler Pact and the carving up of Poland. I’d be interested to hear an explanation of how Workers World Party and PSL are Trotskyist. Criticism. “The main difficulty with Trotskyist organisations, groups, and parties is that they have been unable to become mass parties like the Bolsheviks or even influential within the workers’ movement of any country during any period in the past 70-80 years. Both of them support the DPRK, for instance, and Sam Marcy, from the beginning, differed from other Trotskyists on this point. Its practical strategy (its real not its formal programme) diverged from that of Trotsky’s idea of “permanent revolution”. The ones I have had contact with — and there have been several — have been strongly anti-Trotsky. Stalin took the party from a revolutionary organization to a bureaucratic one. Though becoming mass parties was their overriding objective, their adaptation to Bevanism in Britain, to Stalinism in France and Italy, to Maoism in Asia, and to Peronism, Castroism or Guevarism in Latin America brought them no breakthroughs. As Karl Marx said, “So long as the sects are (historically) justified, the working class is not yet ripe for an independent historic movement.”(Marx to Bolte Nov 1871) The tying of the working class to the bourgeoisie, whether through the US Democrats, the Peronists, European social democracy or Anglo-Saxon Labourism, explains in large measure the sect like existence of all subjectively revolutionary trends. Trotsky argued “a sharp axe can hew heavy beams”, by which he meant objectively vital slogans argued for skilfully, even by a relatively small nucleus of cadres, can cut through the obstruction of mass bureaucratic parties. Lenin on Discussions and Oppositions in General IV. You can also found a recently posted old news article about the Dewey Commission from the journalist Carleton Beals. Let no one think that Trotskyism is mere disagreement with one or the other policy of the Soviet government, that it is mere propaganda. Pham Binh’s contrast of programme with the class struggle and his wrenching of the Cannon quote is really bizarre. It’s an ideology that’s created lot’s of division in Marxism just like Capitalism has creation lot’s of division in society. A number of Trotskyists deny that there is a danger of extreme repression coming to the US, arguing that the ruling class supposedly only resorts to fascism when working-class revolution is … There is plenty of Trotskyism there that is for sure. Actually, the Soviet Union made enormous strides in the 1930s in industrialization and even in living standards. I think if they were really very Trotskyist, that would be very unlikely for them. Clearly some other factor is at work condemning groups to marginality besides a supposed obsession with programme or too strict a “democratic centralist regime” – which Pham Binh adds later on as a cause of the Trotskyists’ impotence. Critics have argued that since the founders of neo-conservatism included ex-Trotskyists, Trotskyist traits continue to characterize neo-conservative ideologies and practices. Mavrakis submits Trotsky, his thought and work to a severe but fair critical examination. There are significant political reasons that Trotskyism has failed to ever lead a successful revolution. Was that not counter-revolutionary? The Crisis of Capitalist Globalisation and the Socialist Solution. Far from fighting for national liberation, they supported the return of French imperialism, backed by British troops. There is no substitute for understanding history and for that reason I explained the history of Trotsky et al in those chapters 13 through 16 of our book The ABC’s of Communism, Bolshevism 2012 (http://www.abcsofcommunism.info. Many supplementary texts are provided as well. Trotskyists seek another explanation because they don’t quite understand revisionism. Change ), You are commenting using your Twitter account. Trotskyism is a Marxist theory whose adherents aim to be in the vanguard of the working class, particularly as opposed to Stalinism and Social Democracy. ... Generally, folk are easy prey for the cult of martyrs, which disables them from studied criticism of ideas and deeds. Thank you for posting the link to M.J. Olgin’s book on Trotskyism. Pham Binh’s article ends with a demagogic attack, but it too boomerangs on him: The SWP (which shook off their Trotskist past and rejected permanent revolution in the 1960 after the Cuban, Nicaraguan, Gernandan and other Latin American revolutions) is little less than a voice for the Cuban CP in America and is incredibly fetished with itself. In the imperialist heartlands outside of Italy and France, not just Trotskyism but Marxism was reduced to an isolated and often a persecuted minority. We have developed over the years a critique of Trotskyism that not only differs from the old Stalinist critique, but shows that Trotskyism is in large part the flip side of Stalinism. Some Marxists who oppose Trotskyism regard it as being in the service of the right because, in their view, it is not an effective route to socialism. That is what is being suggested of here, and why Trotsky is called a revisionist. Countless Maoist groups (outside of China, Indonesia and India), plus many Moscow loyal Communist Parties (outside the Stalinist states and a handful of other countries, like Italy or India) also remained small sects. Update: I searched for some of the quotations found in this website and I couldn't find them. Indeed far from the post-war Trotskyists being obsessed with purity of programme, after 1948-51 their main weakness was its relegation of The Transitional Programme of 1938 to the status of an holy relic, and its replacement in practice with the politics of various social democratic, Stalinist, or left nationalist forces. There are at least half a dozen of these outfits to be eliminated in the ranks of workers as time proceeds in whatever way that can be done (e.g. Insofar as it has assimilated the experience of the past, in this and other countries, and incorporated their lessons in its programme, it is better prepared to understand its tasks. Comparing the websites like the Unrepentant Marxist (Proyect) or Planet Anarchy with the sites of the Trotskyist “sects” does not indicate the advantage lies with our critics. What it does not excuse is continued sectarianism in the 1970s and 1980s or today. The reason the POR did not become a mass party was not sectarian obsession with programme, but opportunist tailing of the nationalist MNR. The issue is a new chapter in the struggle between Marxism and centrism – a struggle that characterises our epoch.”, With tragic prescience, Trotsky identified the future fate of the Spanish ex-Trotskyist Andreu Nin and his group, the POUM .The POUM was founded on a rotten compromise between organisations with incompatible programmes. Pham Binh is to be congratulated for taking the toughest example that he could come up with for his own argument, but it actually destroys rather than reinforces his position. But demarcation on the question of the Marxist programme must precede unity… in order for that unity to be honest and long lasting.”. Okay person with a very long name(no offence), I agree. The theoretical sources of Trotskyism are mechanical materialism in philosophy and voluntarism and schematism in … Although there is a powerful effort in the West to confuse the facts of this battle, in fact what occurred is this: Cuban troops in Angola, using Soviet made planes and tanks, inflicted a crushing defeat on the South African army, forcing them to the negotiating table. Trotsky's struggle with Stalin was a life or death struggle. Lenin certainly thought defeatism or defencism in an imperialist war was a defining question – even a split issue. When opposed to Stalinism, Trotskyists place emphasis in their objective of eliminating Stalinist bureaucratic rule; in opposition to Social Democracy, Trotskyists advance the cause of militant workers revolution. please permit me to suggest that you include this book among your anti-Trot reading material.Soviet Policy and its Critics by JR Campbell.It is an extraodinary little book which shows how Trotsky’s writings as well as actions confused the left into unwittingly supporting fascism.I strongly recommend it. I would be interested in your opinion of the work I have done in Chapters one through ten of the book at http://www.abcsofcommunism.info. Pham Binh’s most laughable mobilisation of “facts” is one all too familiar to those who know Tony Cliff’s interpretation of revolutionary history. “Hope for peace–prepare for war!”, LENIN SHOULD BE PRAISED AS WELL AS STALIN. This new class, as described by dissents (which in realty was simply a subclass of the ruling class that was a result of Stalinism which ironically was centered in the CP) was able to enjoy luxurious things while workers and peasants stood in line for bread. **** Trotskyism has been criticised from various directions. In the 1930s Trotsky countered critics who pointed to the slow growth and setbacks suffered by the International Communist League (ICL) as signs of inherent weakness, bringing the debate back to the question of programme”. It is split into two great camps. Let’s consider instead Trotskyist ideology and the class basis of Trotskyism. Do not these two phenomena look very, very similar? Andy Yorke Wed, 27/06/2012 - 15:44. The terrorist nature of Trotskyism in the Soviet Union, and its subsequent rout culminating in the Moscow Trials, is … Revisioniosm in our country is dying as the FBI front party run by FBI special agent Sam Webb is dying and is kept alive only because the FBI does not want the extensive CPUSA real estate holdings to fall into the hands of the real communists. In short they re-elaborated the Bolshevik programme, which in any case had been added to by programmatic resolutions of the congresses in 1905, 1906, 1907 and 1912. It may be that one or the other of the parties underestimates the importance of work among the rural sectors in the U.S.: I don’t know enough about either of them to say. I have seen footage of one Workers World Party member voicing support for Trotsky. “The SWP’s 1939-40 debate over whether or not to defend the Soviet Union would have been relevant and important if SWP members were organising in the Soviet Union and had to figure out what to do with Stalin’s police state on the one side and the prospect of Nazi invasion and occupation on the other, a daunting challenge to say the least. The resolutions Treating the programme as primary instead of secondary and subordinate to the material, living movement of working people led to issues that have plagued the Trotskyist movement from its inception until today.”. In the First World War he fought – against Trotsky amongst others – to demand a break not only from the openly chauvinist socialists who supported their own ruling class, but also from those like Karl Kautsky who would not go beyond a pacifist position. Post was not sent - check your email addresses! I think every Trotskyist should read Lenin’s Marxism and Revisionism. It was named for its ideologist and leader, L. D. Trotsky (real surname Bronshtein, 1879–1940). “Trotskyist groups… require a very high level of theoretical-political agreement, dedicating many hours a week to recruiting and retaining new members in the name of ‘party building’. But Pham Binh is wrong, too, when he asserts Trotskyists never had mass influence or led struggles. The crisis of the European Union Read more... (c) League for the Fifth international - Join, League for the Fifth International Fri, 10/01/2020 - 12:27, International Secretariat, League for the Fifth International Wed, 05/06/2019 - 20:12, James P Cannon and the fight for communism in the USA, International Left Opposition, 1928-33; forging an international leadership. In fact, Trotsky attacked not only Stalin, but also Lenin, Zinoviev, Kamenev, Radek, and virtually every other important Bolshevik in the strongest possible terms. Imagine what would have happened if, in 1941, when the Germans invaded the Soviet Union, it had been the same rural country it was in 1929. Neither the WWP nor the PSL is guilty of either of those things. Trotsky--brilliant publicist, enthusiastic speaker, organizer of the Red Army, eminent member of the Bolshevik Party during the first years of the Russian Revolution--has often been depicted as a romantic figure by biographers.Kostas Mavrakis does not see him in this light. Truly baffling… That book has been explicitly rejected by the leaders of both WW and PSL as “Stalinist.” One can say that that is hardly worse than the so-called “communists” of the Gus Hall outright modern revisionist type and that may be true but it is merely true. The purges were not aimed at the old guard of the revolution. That represents progress for American socialism in the highest degree, for in the last analysis the programme decides everything. On the Final Victory of Socialism in the U.S.S.R. Struggle of the Bolsheviks Against Trotskyism and the Anti-Party August Bloc, The Case of the Trotskyite-Zinovievite Terrorist Centre: Report of Court Proceedings, Evidence of Leon Trotsky’s Collaboration with Germany and Japan, Left in Form, Right in Essence: A Critique of Contemporary Trotskyism, On Trotskyism: Problems of Theory and History, Stalin and the Chinese Revolution – Two lines on the Chinese Revolution: the line of the Comintern and Stalin versus the line of the Trotskyist opposition, How Trotskyism ‘remembers’ the Spanish Civil War, Trotsky’s struggle against Fascism, according to one of his latter-day admirers, Revolution in Colombia: ISO Stands on the Wrong Side, Lessons from the RNC: Mass Mobilization and Militant Actions Advance the Struggle, http://lanic.utexas.edu/la/cb/cuba/castro/1966/19660216, The International Pan Islamic Communist Party of Proletarian Islam, Liberation and People's Democracy in Tibet: A Study Guide, Study Guide: Overview of Marxism-Leninism, the Science of Revolution, Socialism or Barbarism? 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