Revision 345831137 of "Trotskyism" on enwiki

{{Trotskyism}}

[[File:Trotskyist Left Opposition-1927.jpg|thumb|222px|right|The leaders of the Trotskyist [[Left Opposition]] in [[Moscow]], [[1927]]. Sitting: [[Leonid Serebryakov]], [[Karl Radek]], [[Leon Trotsky]], [[Mikhail Boguslavsky]], and [[Yevgeni Preobrazhensky]]. Standing: [[Christian Rakovsky]], [[Yakov Drobnis]], [[Alexander Beloborodov]], and [[Lev Sosnovsky]].]]
'''Trotskyism''' is the theory of [[Marxism]] as  advocated by [[Leon Trotsky]]. Trotsky considered himself an [[Orthodox Marxism|orthodox Marxist]] and [[Bolshevik]]-[[Leninism|Leninist]], arguing for the establishment of a [[vanguard party]]. His politics differed sharply from [[Stalinism]], most prominently in opposing [[socialism in one country]], which he claimed was a break with [[proletarian internationalism]], and in what he claimed to be his unwavering support for a true [[dictatorship of the proletariat]] based on [[Democracy|democratic]] principles.

  Roland is a much bigger Nazi even than I am!

  Rancillly yours,

  --- Gilad Atzmon


Trotsky's followers maintain that, together with Lenin, Trotsky was co-leader of the [[Russian Revolution (1917)|Russian Revolution]] and the international [[Communist]] movement in 1917 and the following years.<ref>Lenin and Trotsky were "co-leaders" of the 1917 Russian Revolution: http://www.icl-fi.org/english/wv/archives/oldsite/2004/RCP-823.htm</ref> Today, numerous groups around the world continue to describe themselves as Trotskyist, although they have developed Trotsky's ideas in different ways. In the English language, an advocate of Trotsky's ideas is usually called a "Trotskyist" or, [[pejoratively]], a "Trotskyite" or "Trot".<ref>''Collins Dictionary and Thesaurus'' (1993)</ref>

==Definition==

American communist organizer [[James P. Cannon]] in his 1942 book ''[[History of American Trotskyism]]'' wrote that "Trotskyism is not a new movement, a new doctrine, but the restoration, the revival of genuine Marxism as it was expounded and practiced in the Russian revolution and in the early days of the Communist International." However, Trotskyism can be distinguished from other Marxist theories by four key elements.
*Support for the strategy of [[permanent revolution]], in opposition to the [[Two Stage Theory]] of his opponents;<ref>cf for instance, Trotsky, Leon, ''The Permanent Revolution (1928) and Results and Prospects (1906)'', New Park Publications, London, (1962)</ref>
*Criticism of the post-1924 leadership of the Soviet Union, analysis of its features<ref>Trotsky, ''Revolution Betrayed'', 1936</ref> and after 1933, support for [[political revolution]] in the [[Soviet Union]] and in what Trotskyists term the [[deformed workers' state]]s;
*Support for [[social revolution]] in the advanced capitalist countries through [[working class]] mass action;
*Support for [[proletarian internationalism]].<ref>''What is Trotskyism'' (1973) [[Ernest Mandel]]</ref>

On the [[political spectrum]] of [[Marxism]], Trotskyists are considered to be on the left. They supported democratic rights in the USSR,<ref>Figes, Orlando, A People's Tragedy: The Russian Revolution 1891–1924'', p803, Pimlico (1997)</ref> opposed political deals with the imperialist powers, and advocated a spreading of the revolution throughout Europe and the East.

==Origins of Trotskyism and the 1905 Russian Revolution==
According to Trotsky, the term 'Trotskyism' was coined by [[Pavel Milyukov]], (sometimes transliterated as 'Paul Miliukoff'), the ideological leader of the Constitutional Democratic party (Kadets) in Russia. Milyukov waged a bitter war against 'Trotskyism' "as early as 1905", Trotsky argues.<ref>Trotsky, Leon, ''My Life'', p230 and 294, Penguin, Harmondsworth, (1971)</ref>

Trotsky was elected chairman of the [[St. Petersburg Soviet]] during the [[Russian Revolution (1905)|1905 Russian Revolution]]. He pursued a policy of [[proletarian revolution]] at a time when other socialist trends advocated a transition to a "bourgeois" (capitalist) regime to replace the essentially feudal Romanov state. It was during this year that Trotsky developed the theory of [[Permanent Revolution]], as it later became known (see below). In ''1905'', Trotsky quotes from a postscript to a book by Milyukov, ''The elections to the second state Duma'', published no later than May 1907:

<blockquote>Those who reproach the Kadets with failure to protest at that time, by organising meetings, against the 'revolutionary illusions' of Trotskyism and the relapse into [[Blanquism]], simply do not understand… the mood of the democratic public at meetings during that period." – ''The elections to the second state Duma'' by Pavel Milyukov<ref>Milyukov, ''The elections to the second state Duma'', pp91 and 92, is quoted by Leon Trotsky in ''1905'', Pelican books, (1971) p295 (and p176)</ref></blockquote>

Milyukov suggests that the mood of the "democratic public" was in support of Trotsky's policy of the overthrow of the Romanov regime alongside a workers' revolution to overthrow the capitalist owners of industry, support for strike action and the establishment of democratically elected workers' councils or "soviets".

==Theory of Permanent Revolution==
[[Image:TrotskyAtThePolishFront-1919.jpg|left|thumb|290px|Trotsky (raising hand) with troops at the Polish front, during the [[Polish-Soviet War]], 1919]]
{{Main| Permanent Revolution}}
In 1905, Trotsky formulated a theory that became known as the Trotskyist theory of [[Permanent Revolution]]. It may be considered one of the defining characteristics of Trotskyism. Until 1905, Marxists had only shown how a revolution in a European capitalist society could lead to a socialist one. But this excluded countries such as Russia. Russia in 1905 was widely considered to have not yet established a capitalist society, but was instead largely feudal with a small, weak and almost powerless capitalist class.

The theory of Permanent Revolution addressed the question of how such feudal regimes were to be overthrown, and how socialism could be established given the lack of economic prerequisites. Trotsky argued that in Russia only the working class could overthrow feudalism and win the support of the peasantry, but that the working class would not stop there. It would seize the moment to go on to win its own revolution against the weak capitalist class, establishing a workers' state, and appeal to the working class in the advanced capitalist countries to come to its aid, so that socialism could develop in Russia and worldwide.

===The capitalist or bourgeois-democratic revolution===
Revolutions in Britain in the 17th Century and in France in 1789 abolished feudalism, establishing the basic requisites for the development of capitalism. Trotsky argued that these revolutions would not be repeated in Russia.

In ''Results and Prospects'', written in 1906, in which Trotsky outlines his theory in detail, he argues: "History does not repeat itself. However much one may compare the Russian Revolution with the Great French Revolution, the former can never be transformed into a repetition of the latter."<ref>[http://www.marxists.org/archive/trotsky/1931/tpr/rp03.htm Trotsky, Leon, ''Results and Prospects'', p 184], New Park publications (1962)</ref> In the [[French Revolution of 1789]], France experienced what Marxists called a "bourgeois-democratic revolution"&nbsp;– a regime was established where the "bourgeoisie", (the French term approximating to "capitalists"), overthrew feudalism. The bourgeoisie then moved towards establishing a regime of "democratic" parliamentary institutions. But while democratic rights were extended to the bourgeoisie, they did not generally extend to a universal franchise, let alone to the freedom for workers to organise unions or to go on strike, without a considerable struggle by the working class.

But, Trotsky argues, countries like Russia had no "enlightened, active" revolutionary bourgeoisie which could play the same role, and the working class constituted a very small minority. In fact, even by the time of the European revolutions of 1848, Trotsky argued, "the bourgeoisie was already unable to play a comparable role. It did not want and was not able to undertake the revolutionary liquidation of the social system that stood in its path to power."

===Weakness of the capitalists===
The theory of Permanent Revolution considers that in many countries which are thought to have not yet completed their bourgeois-democratic revolution, the capitalist class oppose the creation of any revolutionary situation, in the first instance because they fear stirring the working class into fighting for its own revolutionary aspirations against their exploitation by capitalism. In Russia the working class, although a small minority in a predominantly peasant based society, were organised in vast factories owned by the capitalist class, in large working class districts. During the Russian Revolution of 1905, the capitalist class found it necessary to ally with reactionary elements such as the essentially feudal landlords and ultimately the existing Czarist Russian state forces, in order to protect their ownership of their property, in the form of the factories, banks, and so forth, from expropriation by the revolutionary working class.

According to the theory of Permanent Revolution, therefore, in economically backward countries the capitalist class are weak and incapable of carrying through revolutionary change. They are linked to and rely on the feudal landowners in many ways. Trotsky further argues that since a majority of branches of industry in Russia were originated under the direct influence of government measures, sometimes even with the help of Government subsidies, the capitalist class was again tied to the ruling elite. In addition, the capitalist class were subservient to European capital.<ref>[http://www.marxists.org/archive/trotsky/1931/tpr/rp01.htm Trotsky, Leon, ''Results and Prospects'', pp 174–7], New Park publications (1962)</ref>

===The working class steps in===
Instead, Trotsky argued, only the 'proletariat' or working class were capable of achieving the tasks of that 'bourgeois' revolution. In 1905, the working class in Russia, a generation brought together in vast factories from the relative isolation of peasant life, saw the result of its labour as a vast collective effort, and the only means of struggling against its oppression in terms of a collective effort also, forming workers councils (soviets), in the course of the revolution of that year. In 1906, Trotsky argued:

<blockquote>The factory system brings the proletariat to the foreground... The proletariat immediately found itself concentrated in tremendous masses, while between these masses and the autocracy there stood a capitalist bourgeoisie, very small in numbers, isolated from the 'people', half-foreign, without historical traditions, and inspired only by the greed for gain.&nbsp;– Trotsky, ''Results and Prospects''<ref>Trotsky, ''Results and Prospects'', p183, New Park (1962)</ref></blockquote>

The [[Kirov Plant|Putilov Factory]], for instance, numbered 12,000 workers in 1900, and, according to Trotsky, 36,000 in July 1917.<ref>[http://www.marxists.org/archive/trotsky/1930/hrr/ch24.htm Trotsky, ''History of the Russian Revolution'', ('July Days': Preparation and beginning)] p519, Pluto Press (1977)</ref> The theory of Permanent Revolution considers that the peasantry as a whole cannot take on this task, because it is dispersed in small holdings throughout the country, and forms a heterogeneous grouping, including the rich peasants who employ rural workers and aspire to [[landlord]]ism as well as the poor peasants who aspire to own more land. Trotsky argues: "All historical experience... shows that the peasantry are absolutely incapable of taking up an independent political role."<ref>[http://www.marxists.org/archive/trotsky/1931/tpr/rp05.htm Trotsky, Leon, ''Results and Prospects'', p 204–5], New Park publications (1962)</ref>

Trotskyists differ on the extent to which this is true today, but even the most orthodox tend to recognise in the late twentieth century a new development in the revolts of the rural poor, the self-organising struggles of the landless, and many other struggles which in some ways reflect the militant united organised struggles of the working class, and which to various degrees do not bear the marks of class divisions typical of the heroic peasant struggles of previous epochs. However, orthodox Trotskyists today still argue that the town and city based working class struggle is central to the task of a successful socialist revolution, linked to these struggles of the rural poor. They argue that the working class learns of necessity to conduct a collective struggle, for instance in trade unions, arising from its social conditions in the factories and workplaces, and that the collective consciousness it achieves as a result is an essential ingredient of the socialist reconstruction of society.<ref>Many would put, for instance, the Committee for a Workers’ International in this category of orthodox Trotskyists. See for instance, [http://www.socialistworld.net/eng/2007/09/27che.html ''Che Guevara: A revolutionary fighter''] accessed 2007-10-07</ref>

Although only a small minority in Russian society, the proletariat would lead a revolution to emancipate the peasantry and thus "secure the support of the peasantry" as part of that revolution, on whose support it will rely.<ref>[http://www.marxists.org/archive/trotsky/1931/tpr/rp05.htm Trotsky, Leon, ''Results and Prospects'', p 204–5], New Park publications (1962). Trotsky adds that the revolution must raise the cultural and political consciousness of the peasantry.</ref> But the working class, in order to improve their own conditions, will find it necessary to create a revolution of their own, which would accomplish both the bourgeois revolution and then establish a workers' state.

===International revolution===
Yet, according to [[classical Marxism]], revolution in peasant based countries, such as Russia, prepares the ground ultimately only for a development of capitalism since the liberated peasants become small owners, producers and traders which leads to the growth of commodity markets, from which a new capitalist class emerges. Only fully developed capitalist conditions prepare the basis for socialism.

Trotsky agreed that a new socialist state and economy in a country like Russia would not be able to hold out against the pressures of a hostile capitalist world, as well as the internal pressures of its backward economy. The revolution, Trotsky argued, must quickly spread to capitalist countries, bringing about a socialist revolution which must spread worldwide. This was the position, contrary to that of "Classical Marxism" which by that time had been further illuminated by active life, shared by Trotsky and Lenin and the Bolsheviks until 1924 when Stalin, who along with Kamenev in February 1917 had taken the Menshevik position of first the bourgeois revolution, only to be confronted by Lenin and his famous April Thesis on Lenin's return to Russia, after the death of Lenin and seeking to consolidate his growing bureaucratic control of the Bolshevik Party began to put forward the slogan of "Socialism in one country".

In this way the revolution is "permanent", moving out of necessity first, from the bourgeois revolution to the workers’ revolution, and from there uninterruptedly to European and worldwide revolutions.

===Origins of the term===
An internationalist outlook of permanent revolution is found in the works of [[Karl Marx]]. The term "permanent revolution" is taken from a remark of Marx from his March 1850 Address: "it is our task", Marx said,

<blockquote>to make the revolution permanent until all the more or less propertied classes have been driven from their ruling positions, until the proletariat has conquered state power and until the association of the proletarians has progressed sufficiently far&nbsp;– not only in one country but in all the leading countries of the world&nbsp;– that competition between the proletarians of these countries ceases and at least the decisive forces of production are concentrated in the hands of the workers.&nbsp;– Marx, ''Address of the Central Committee to the Communist League''<ref> [http://www.marxists.org/archive/marx/works/1847/communist-league/1850-ad1.htm Marx, Karl, ''Address of the Central Committee to the Communist League'']</ref></blockquote>

==Trotskyism and the 1917 Russian Revolution==

During his leadership of the Russian revolution of 1905, Trotsky argued that once it became clear that the Tsar's army would not come out in support of the workers, it was necessary to retreat before the armed might of the state in as good an order as possible.<ref>Trotsky, Leon, ''1905'', Pelican books, (1971) p217 ff</ref> In 1917, Trotsky was again elected chairman of the Petrograd soviet, but this time soon came to lead the [[Military Revolutionary Committee]] which had the allegiance of the Petrograd garrison, and carried through the October 1917 insurrection. [[Stalin]] wrote:

<blockquote>All practical work in connection with the organization of the uprising was done under the immediate direction of Comrade Trotsky, the President of the Petrograd Soviet. It can be stated with certainty that the Party is indebted primarily and principally to Comrade Trotsky for the rapid going over of the garrison to the side of the Soviet and the efficient manner in which the work of the Military Revolutionary Committee was organized. – Stalin, ''Pravda'', November 6, 1918<ref>This summary of Trotsky's role in 1917, written by Stalin for Pravda, November 6, 1918, was quoted in Stalin's book ''The October Revolution'' issued in 1934, but it was expunged in Stalin's Works released in 1949.</ref></blockquote>

As a result of his role in the Russian Revolution of 1917, the theory of Permanent Revolution was embraced by the young Soviet state until 1924.

The Russian revolution of 1917 was marked by two revolutions: the relatively spontaneous February 1917 revolution, and the 25 October 1917 seizure of power by the Bolsheviks, who had gained the leadership of the Petrograd soviet.

Before the February 1917 Russian revolution, Lenin had formulated a slogan calling for the 'democratic dictatorship of the proletariat and the peasantry', but after the February revolution, through his April theses, Lenin instead called for "all power to the Soviets". Lenin nevertheless continued to emphasise however (as did Trotsky also) the classical Marxist position that the peasantry formed a basis for the development of capitalism, not socialism.<ref> "Peasant farming continues to be… an extremely broad and very sound, deep-rooted basis for capitalism, a basis on which capitalism persists or arises anew in a bitter struggle against communism." Lenin ''Economics and Politics in the era of the dictatorship of the proletariat'', October 30, 1919, Collected works, Vol 30, p109</ref>

But also before February 1917, Trotsky had not accepted the importance of a Bolshevik style organisation. Once the February 1917 Russian revolution had broken out Trotsky admitted the importance of a Bolshevik organisation, and joined the Bolsheviks in July 1917. Despite the fact that many, like Stalin, saw Trotsky's role in the October 1917 Russian revolution as central, Trotsky says that without Lenin and the Bolshevik party the October revolution of 1917 would not have taken place.

As a result, since 1917, Trotskyism as a political theory is fully committed to a Leninist style of [[democratic centralism|democratic centralist]] party organisation, which Trotskyists argue must not be confused with the party organisation as it later developed under Stalin. Trotsky had previously suggested that Lenin's method of organisation would lead to a dictatorship, but it is important to emphasise that after 1917 orthodox Trotskyists argue that the loss of democracy in the Soviet Union was caused by the failure of the revolution to successfully spread internationally and the consequent wars, isolation and imperialist intervention, not the Bolshevik style of organisation.

Lenin's outlook had always been that the Russian revolution would need to stimulate a Socialist revolution in western Europe in order that this European socialist society would then come to the aid of the Russian revolution and enable Russia to advance towards socialism. Lenin stated:

<blockquote>We have stressed in a good many written works, in all our public utterances, and in all our statements in the press that… the socialist revolution can triumph only on two conditions. First, if it is given timely support by a socialist revolution in one or several advanced countries. –  Lenin, ''Speech at Tenth Congress of the RCP(B)''<ref>Lenin, ''Report on the substitution of a tax in kind for the surplus-grain approriation system'', Tenth Congress, March 15, 1921, Collected works, Vol 32, p215. This speech, of course, introduced the New Economic Policy (NEP), which was intended to reinforce the basis of the second of the two conditions Lenin mentions in the quote, the support of the peasantry for the workers' state.</ref></blockquote>

This outlook matched precisely Trotsky's theory of Permanent Revolution. Trotsky's Permanent Revolution had foreseen that the working class would not stop at the bourgeois democratic stage of the revolution, but proceed towards a workers' state, as happened in 1917. The Trotskyist Isaac Deutscher maintains that in 1917, Lenin changed his attitude to Trotsky's theory of Permanent Revolution and after the October revolution it was adopted by the Bolsheviks.<ref> Deutscher, Isaac, ''Stalin'', p285, Penguin, (1966)</ref>

Lenin was met with initial disbelief in April 1917. Trotsky argues that:

<blockquote>up to the outbreak of the February revolution and for a time after Trotskyism did not mean the idea that it was impossible to build a socialist society within the national boundaries of Russia (which "possibility" was never expressed by anybody up to 1924 and hardly came into anybody’s head). Trotskyism meant the idea that the Russian proletariat might win the power in advance of the Western proletariat, and that in that case it could not confine itself within the limits of a democratic dictatorship but would be compelled to undertake the initial socialist measures. It is not surprising, then, that the April theses of Lenin were condemned as Trotskyist. – Leon Trotsky, ''History of the Russian Revolution''<ref>[http://www.marxists.org/archive/trotsky/1930/hrr/ch16.htm Trotsky, Leon, ''History of the Russian Revolution''], p332, Pluto Press, London (1977)</ref></blockquote>

==The 'legend of Trotskyism'==

In ''The Stalin School of Falsification'', Trotsky argues that what he calls the "legend of Trotskyism" was formulated by [[Grigory Zinoviev|Zinoviev]] and [[Kamenev]] in collaboration with Stalin in 1924, in response to the criticisms Trotsky raised of Politburo policy.<ref>See also Deutscher, Isaac, ''Stalin'', p 293, Penguin (1966)</ref> [[Orlando Figes]] argues that "The urge to silence Trotsky, and all criticism of the Politburo, was in itself a crucial factor in Stalin's rise to power."<ref>Figes, Orlando, ''A People's Tragedy: The Russian Revolution 1891–1924'', p802, Pimlico (1997). Figes, at [[Birkbeck, University of London]], is one of the UK's leading modern Russian historians</ref>

During 1922–24, Lenin suffered a series of strokes and became increasingly incapacitated. Before his death in 1924, Lenin, while describing Trotsky as "distinguished not only by his exceptional abilities – personally he is, to be sure, the most able man in the present Central Committee", and also maintaining that "his non-Bolshevik past should not be held against him", criticized him for "showing excessive preoccupation with the purely administrative side of the work", and also requested that Stalin be removed from his position of General Secretary, but his notes remained suppressed until 1956.<ref>Lenin, Collected works, Vol 36, pp593–98: "Stalin is too rude and this defect…becomes intolerable in a Secretary-General. That is why I suggest that the comrades think about a way of removing Stalin from that post…it is a detail which can assume decisive importance."</ref> Zinoviev and Kamenev broke with Stalin in 1925 and joined Trotsky in 1926 in what was known as the [[United Opposition]].<ref> [http://www.marxists.org/archive/trotsky/1937/ssf/sf07.htm Trotsky, Leon, ''The Stalin School of Falsification'', pp89ff, Pathfinder (1971)]</ref>

In 1926, Stalin allied with [[Bukharin]] who then led the campaign against "Trotskyism". In ''The Stalin School of Falsification'', Trotsky quotes Bukharin's 1918 pamphlet, ''From the Collapse of Czarism to the Fall of the Bourgeoisie'', which was re-printed by the party publishing house, Proletari, in 1923. In this pamphlet, Bukharin explains and embraces Trotsky's theory of permanent revolution, writing: "The Russian proletariat is confronted more sharply than ever before with the problem of the international revolution … The grand total of relationships which have arisen in Europe leads to this inevitable conclusion. Thus, the ''permanent revolution in Russia is passing into the European proletarian revolution.''" Yet it is common knowledge, Trotsky argues, that three years later, in 1926, "Bukharin was the chief and indeed the sole theoretician of the entire campaign against 'Trotskyism', summed up in the struggle against the theory of the permanent revolution."<ref>[http://www.marxists.org/archive/trotsky/1937/ssf/sf06.htm Trotsky, Leon, ''The Stalin School of Falsification'', pp78ff, Pathfinder (1971)]</ref>

Trotsky wrote that the [[Left Opposition]] grew in influence throughout the 1920s, attempting to reform the Communist Party. But in 1927 Stalin declared "civil war" against them:

<blockquote><p>During the first ten years of its struggle, the Left Opposition did not abandon the program of ideological conquest of the party for that of conquest of power against the party. Its slogan was: reform, not revolution. The bureaucracy, however, even in those times, was ready for any revolution in order to defend itself against a democratic reform.</p>
<p>In 1927, when the struggle reached an especially bitter stage, Stalin declared at a session of the Central Committee, addressing himself to the Opposition: “Those cadres can be removed only by civil war!” What was a threat in Stalin’s words became, thanks to a series of defeats of the European proletariat, a historic fact. The road of reform was turned into a road of revolution. – Trotsky, Leon, ''Revolution Betrayed'', p279, Pathfinder (1972)</p></blockquote>

Defeat of the European working class led to further isolation in Russia, and further suppression of the Opposition. Trotsky argued that the "so-called struggle against 'Trotskyism' grew out of the bureaucratic reaction against the October Revolution [of 1917]".<ref>Trotsky, Leon, ''The Stalin School of Falsification'', Foreword to the Russian edition, p xxxiii, Pathfinder (1971)</ref> He responded to the one sided civil war with his ''Letter to the Bureau of Party History'', (1927), contrasting what he claimed to be the falsification of history with the official history of just a few years before. He further accused Stalin of derailing the Chinese revolution, and causing the massacre of the Chinese workers:

<blockquote><p>In the year 1918, Stalin, at the very outset of his campaign against me, found it necessary, as we have already learned, to write the following words:</p>
<p>“All the work of practical organization of the insurrection was carried out under the direct leadership of the Chairman of the Petrograd Soviet, comrade Trotsky…” (Stalin, Pravda, Nov. 6, 1918)</p>
<p>With full responsibility for my words, I am now compelled to say that the cruel massacre of the Chinese proletariat and the Chinese Revolution at its three most important turning points, the strengthening of the position of the trade union agents of British imperialism after the General Strike of 1926, and, finally, the general weakening of the position of the Communist International and the Soviet Union, the party owes principally and above all to Stalin. – Trotsky, Leon, ''The Stalin School of Falsification'', p87, Pathfinder (1971)</p></blockquote>

Trotsky was sent into internal exile and his supporters were jailed. Victor Serge, for instance, first "spent six weeks in a cell" after a visit at midnight, then 85 days in an inner GPU cell, most of it in solitary confinement. He details the jailings of the Left Opposition.<ref>Serge, Victor, ''From Lenin to Stalin'', p70, Pathfinder, (1973)</ref> The Left Opposition, however, continued to work in secret within the Soviet Union.<ref>Serge, Victor, ''From Lenin to Stalin'', p70 ff, Pathfinder, (1973)</ref> Trotsky was eventually exiled to Turkey. He moved from there to France, Norway, and finally to Mexico.<ref>Deutscher, Isaac, ''Stalin'', p381, Pelican (1966)</ref>

After 1928, the various Communist Parties throughout the world expelled Trotskyists from their ranks. Most Trotskyists defend the economic achievements of the planned economy in the Soviet Union during the 1920s and 1930s, despite the "misleadership" of the soviet bureaucracy, and what they claim to be the loss of democracy.<ref>Trotsky, Leon, ''Revolution Betrayed'', pp5 – 32 Pathfinder (1971)</ref> Trotskyists claim that in 1928 inner party democracy, and indeed soviet democracy, which was at the foundation of Bolshevism,<ref>"One of the most important tasks today, if not the most important, is to develop this independent initiative of the workers, and of all working and exploited people generally" [http://marxists.org/archive/lenin/works/1917/dec/25.htm Lenin, 'How to organise competition'], ''Collected Works'', Volume 26, p. 409</ref> had been destroyed within the various Communist Parties. Anyone who disagreed with the party line was labeled a Trotskyist and even a [[fascist]].

In 1937, Stalin again unleashed what Trotskyists say was a political terror against their Left Opposition and many of the remaining '[[Old Bolsheviks]]' (those who had played key roles in the [[October Revolution]] in 1917), in the face of increased opposition, particularly in the army.<ref>Rogovin, Vadim, ''1937: Stalin's Year of Terror'' Mehring Books, 1998, p374. Also see the chapter 'Trotskyists in the camps': "A new, young generation of Trotskyists had grown up in the Soviet Union…lots of them go to their deaths crying 'Long live Trotsky!' " Until this research became available after the fall of the Soviet Union, little was known about the strength of the Trotskyists within the Soviet Union.</ref>

==Degenerated workers' state==

Trotsky developed the theory that the Russian workers' state had become a "[[degenerated workers' state]]." Capitalist rule had not been restored, and nationalized industry and economic planning, instituted under Lenin, were still in effect. However, Trotskyists claim that the state was controlled by a bureaucratic caste with interests hostile to those of the working class. Stalinism was a counter-revolutionary force.

Trotsky defended the Soviet Union against attack from foreign powers and against internal [[counter-revolution]], but called for a [[political revolution]] within the USSR to bring about his version of socialist democracy: "The bureaucracy can be removed only by a revolutionary force".<ref> Trotsky, Leon, ''Revolution Betrayed'', p288, Pathfinder (1971)</ref> He argued that if the working class did not take power away from the "Stalinist" bureaucracy, the bureaucracy would restore capitalism in order to enrich itself. In the view of many Trotskyists, this is exactly what has happened since the beginning of [[Glasnost]] and [[Perestroika]] in the USSR. Some argue that the adoption of [[market socialism]] by the [[People's Republic of China]] has also led to capitalist counter-revolution. Many of Trotsky's criticisms of [[Stalinism]] were described in his book, ''[http://www.marxists.org/archive/trotsky/works/1936-rev/index.htm The Revolution Betrayed]''.

"Trotskyist" has been used by "Stalinists" to mean a traitor; in the [[Spanish Civil War]], being called a "Trot," "Trotskyist" or "Trotskyite" by the USSR-supported elements implied that the person was some sort of fascist spy or [[agent provocateur]]. For instance, [[George Orwell]], a prominent Anti-[[Stalinist]] writer, wrote about this practice in his book ''[[Homage to Catalonia]]'' and in his essay ''Spilling the Spanish Beans''. In his book ''[[Animal Farm]]'', an allegory for the Russian Revolution, he represented Trotsky with the character "[[Snowball (Animal Farm)|Snowball]]" and Stalin with the character "[[Napoleon (Animal Farm)|Napoleon]]." [[Emmanuel Goldstein]] in Orwell's ''[[Nineteen Eighty-Four]]'' has also been linked to Trotsky.

In 1937 Trotsky wrote:
<blockquote>To maintain itself, Stalinism is now forced to conduct a direct civil war against Bolshevism, under the name of "Trotskyism," not only in the USSR but also in Spain. The old Bolshevik Party is dead, but Bolshevism is raising its head everywhere. To deduce Stalinism from Bolshevism or from Marxism is the same as to deduce, in a larger sense, counterrevolution from revolution. – Trotsky, Leon, ''Stalinism and Bolshevism'' 1937, in ''Living Marxism'', No. 18, April 1990.</blockquote>

Stalin put out a general call for the assassination of Trotsky{{Citation needed|date=January 2009}}, and he was finally killed with an [[ice axe]] in [[Mexico]] in 1940, by [[Ramon Mercader]], a Spanish supporter of [[Stalin]], under direct orders from the GPU.<ref>[[Isaac Don Levine]], ''The Mind of an Assassin'', 1960, p.34. For an online account, see also [http://www.marxist.net/trotsky/life/life.htm 'Forty Years Since Leon Trotsky’s Assassination', ''Militant International Review'' Summer 1980] accessed online 20 June 2007</ref>

==Founding of the Fourth International==
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{{Main|Fourth International}}
In 1938, Trotsky and the organisations that supported his outlook established the [[Fourth International]]. He said that only the Fourth International, basing itself on Lenin's theory of the vanguard party, could lead the world revolution, and that it would need to be built in opposition to both the capitalists and the Stalinists.

Trotsky argued that the defeat of the German working class and the coming to power of Hitler in 1933 was due in part to the mistakes of the [[Third Period]] policy of the Communist International and that the subsequent failure of the Communist Parties to draw the correct lessons from those defeats showed that they were no longer capable of reform, and a new international organisation of the working class must be organised. The [[Transitional demand]] tactic had to be a key element.

At the time of the founding of the Fourth International in 1938 Trotskyism was a mass political current in [[Vietnam]], [[Sri Lanka]] and slightly later [[Bolivia]]. There was also a substantial Trotskyist movement in China which included the founding father of the Chinese Communist movement, [[Chen Duxiu]], amongst its number. Wherever Stalinists gained power, they made it a priority to hunt down Trotskyists and treated them as the worst of enemies.

The Fourth International suffered repression and disruption through the Second World War. Isolated from each other, and faced with political developments quite unlike those anticipated by Trotsky, some Trotskyist organizations decided that the USSR no longer could be called a [[degenerated workers state]] and withdrew from the Fourth International. After 1945 Trotskyism was smashed as a mass movement in Vietnam and marginalised in a number of other countries.

The [[International Secretariat of the Fourth International]] organised an international conference in 1946, and then World Congresses in 1948 and 1951 to assess the expropriation of the capitalists in Eastern Europe and Yugoslavia, the threat of a Third World War, and the tasks for revolutionaries. The Eastern European Communist-led governments which came into being after [[World War II]] without a social revolution were described by a [http://www.marxists.org/history/etol/document/fi/1938-1949/fi-2ndcongress/1948-congress02.htm resolution] of the 1948 congress as presiding over capitalist economies. By 1951, the Congress had concluded that they had become "[[deformed workers' state]]s." As the [[Cold War]] intensified, the FI's 1951 World Congress adopted theses by [[Michel Pablo]] that anticipated an international civil war. Pablo's followers considered that the Communist Parties, insofar as they were placed under pressure by the real workers' movement, could escape Stalin's manipulations and follow a revolutionary orientation. 

The 1951 Congress argued that Trotskyists should start to conduct systematic work inside those Communist Parties which were followed by the majority of the working class. However, the [[ISFI]]'s view that the Soviet leadership was counter-revolutionary remained unchanged. The 1951 Congress argued that the Soviet Union took over these countries because of the military and political results of World War II, and instituted nationalized property relations only after its attempts at placating capitalism failed to protect those countries from the threat of incursion by the West.

Pablo began expelling large numbers of people who did not agree with his thesis and who did not want to dissolve their organizations within the Communist Parties.  For instance, he expelled the majority of the French section and replaced its leadership.  As a result, the opposition to Pablo eventually rose to the surface, with an open letter to Trotskyists of the world, by [[Socialist Workers Party (United States)|Socialist Workers Party]] leader [[James P. Cannon]].

The Fourth International split in 1953 into two public factions. The [[International Committee of the Fourth International]] was established by several sections of the International as an alternative centre to the International Secretariat, in which they felt a [[Marxist revisionism|revisionist]] faction led by Michel Pablo had taken power. From 1960, a number of ICFI sections started to reunify with the IS. After the 1963 reunification congress which established the [[reunified Fourth International]], the French and British sections maintained the ICFI. Other groups took different paths and originated the present complex map of Trotskyist groupings.

==Trotskyist movements==

[[Image:James Patrick Cannon.jpg|left|thumb|Graffiti in the Basque Country: [[James P. Cannon]], founder of American Trotskyism.]]
===Latin America===
Trotskyism has had some influence in some recent major social upheavals, particularly in Latin America.

The [[Revolutionary Workers' Party (Bolivia)|Bolivian Trotskyist party]] (''Partido Obrero Revolucionario'', POR) became a mass party in the period of the late 1940s and early 1950s, and together with other groups played a central role during and immediately after the period termed the Bolivian National Revolution.<ref>Alexander, Robert J., ''International Trotskyism, 1929–1985: A Documented Analysis of the Movement'', Duke University Press (1991)</ref>

In Brazil, as an officially recognised platform or faction of the PT until 1992, the Trotskyist Movimento Convergência Socialista (CS), which founded the [[United Socialist Workers' Party]] (PSTU) in 1994, saw a number of its members elected to national, state and local legislative bodies during the 1980s.<ref>[http://www.pstu.org.br/partido_historia.asp History of the PSTU]</ref> Today the [[Socialism and Freedom Party]] (PSOL) is described as Trotskyist. Its presidential candidate in the 2006 general elections, [[Heloísa Helena (politician)|Heloísa Helena]] is termed a Trotskyist who was a member of the [[Workers Party (Brazil)|Workers Party of Brazil]] (PT), a legislative deputy in Alagoas and in 1999 was elected to the Federal Senate. Expelled from the PT in December 2003, she helped found PSOL, in which various Trotskyist groups play a prominent role.

During the 1980s in Argentina, the Trotskyist party founded in 1982 by [[Nahuel Moreno]], MAS, (Movimiento al Socialismo, Movement Toward Socialism), claimed to be the "largest Trotskyist party" in the world, before it broke into a number of different fragments in the late 1980s, including the present-day MST, PTS, MAS, IS, PRS, FOS, etc. In 1989 in an electoral front with the Communist Party and christian nationalists groups, called "Izquierda Unida" (united left),  obtained 3,49% of the electorate, representing 580.944 voters<ref>[http://towsa.com/andy/totalpais/1989d.html Atlas Electoral de Andy Tow]</ref>. Today the [[Partido Obrero-Workers' Party (Argentina)|Workers' Party]] in Argentina has an electoral base in Salta Province in the far north, particularly in the city of Salta itself, and has become the third political force in the provinces of Tucuman, also in the north, and Santa Cruz, in the south.

Venezuelan president [[Hugo Chávez]] declared himself to be a Trotskyist during his swearing in of his cabinet two days before his own inauguration on 10 January 2007.<ref>[http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/americas/6246219.stm BBC News, ''Chavez accelerates on path to socialism''], Nathalie Malinarich, accessed online 19 June 2007</ref> Venezuelan Troskyist organizations do not regard Chávez as a Trotskyist, with some describing him as a bourgeois nationalist<ref>http://www.jir.org.ve/article.php3?id_article=211</ref> and other considering him an honest revolutionary leader who has made major mistakes because he lacks a Marxist analysis.<ref>[http://venezuela.elmilitante.org/content/view/6417/182/ Sanabria, William, ''La Enmienda Constitucional, Orlando Chirino y la C-CURA'']</ref>

===Asia===
In Indochina during the 1930s, [[Vietnamese Trotskyism]] led by [[Ta Thu Thau]] was a significant current, particularly in Saigon.<ref>Richardson, A.(Ed.), ''The Revolution Defamed: A documentary history of Vietnamese Trotskyism'', Socialist Platform Ltd (2003)</ref>

In Sri Lanka, the [[Lanka Sama Samaja Party]] (LSSP) expelled its pro-Moscow wing in 1940, becoming a Trotskyist-led party. It was led by [[South Asia]]'s pioneer Trotskyist, [[Philip Gunawardena]] and his colleague [[NM Perera]]. In 1942, following the escape of the leaders of the LSSP from a [[British Empire|British]] prison, a unified [[Bolshevik-Leninist Party of India, Ceylon and Burma]] (BLPI) was established in [[India]], bringing together the many Trotskyist groups in the subcontinent. The BLPI was active in the [[Quit India]] movement as well as the labour movement, capturing the second oldest union in India. Its high point was when it led the strikes which followed the [[Bombay Mutiny]]. After the war, the Sri Lanka section  split into the Lanka Sama Samaja Party and the [[Bolshevik Samasamaja Party]] (BSP). The Indian section of the BLPI later fused with the [[Congress Socialist Party]]. In the general election of 1947 the LSSP became the main opposition party, winning 10 seats, the BSP winning a further 5. It joined the Trotskyist Fourth International after fusion with the BSP in 1950, and led a general strike ([[Hartal 1953|Hartal]]) in 1953.<ref name=Ervin>Ervin, W E, ''Tomorrow is Ours: The Trotskyist Movement in India and Ceylon, 1935-48'', Colombo, Social Scientists Association, 2006.''</ref><ref>Y. Ranjith Amarasinghe, ''Revolutionary Idealism & Parliamentary Politics – A Study Of Trotskyism In Sri Lanka'', Colombo (1998)</ref><ref>[http://www.whatnextjournal.co.uk/Pages/History/Lssp.html Leslie Goonewardena, ''A Short History of the Lanka Sama Samaja Party''] accessed online June 19, 2007</ref>

In 1964 a section of the LSSP split to form the LSSP (Revolutionary) and joined the Fourth International after the LSSP proper was expelled. The LSSP (R) later split into factions led by [[Bala Tampoe]] and [[Edmund Samarakkody]]. The LSSP joined the coalition government of [[Sirimavo Bandaranaike]], three of its members, NM Perera, [[Cholmondely Goonewardena]] and [[Anil Moonesinghe]], becoming the first Trotskyist [[cabinet minister]]s in history.

In 1974 a secret faction of the LSSP, allied to the [[Militant Tendency]] in the UK emerged. In 1977 this faction was expelled and formed the [[Nava Sama Samaja Party]], led by [[Vasudeva Nanayakkara]].

===Europe===
In France, 10% of the electorate voted in 2002 for parties calling themselves Trotskyist.<ref>The combined Trotskyist vote was 2,973,600 (10.44%) compared to 1,616,546 (5.3%) in 1995</ref>

In the UK in the 1980s, the entrist [[Militant tendency]] won three members of parliament and effective control of Liverpool City Council while in the Labour Party. Described as "Britain's fifth most important political party" in 1986<ref>Crick, Michael, ''The March of Militant'', p2</ref> it played a prominent role in the 1989–1991 mass anti-poll tax movement which was widely thought to have led to the downfall of British Prime Minister [[Margaret Thatcher]].<ref>[http://news.bbc.co.uk/onthisday/hi/dates/stories/august/14/newsid_2495000/2495911.stm BBC 'On this day' retrospective is "1990: One in five yet to pay poll tax"]</ref><ref>Margaret Thatcher, ''The Downing Street Years'' (1993) pp848–9</ref> Almost all of the large far left parties in the UK are led by Trotskyists, including the [[Socialist Workers Party (Britain)]], the [[Socialist Party (England and Wales)]], [[Respect – The Unity Coalition]] and the [[Scottish Socialist Party]].

==Trotskyism today==
There is a wide range of Trotskyist organisations around the world. These include but are not limited to:

===The Fourth International===

The [[Fourth International (Post-Reunification)|Fourth International]] derives from the 1963 reunification of the two public factions into which Fourth International split in 1953: the [[Fourth International|International Secretariat of the Fourth International]] (ISFI) and the [[International Committee of the Fourth International|ICFI]]. It is often referred to as the United Secretariat of the Fourth International, the name of its leading committee before 2003. It is widely described as the largest contemporary Trotskyist organisation. [http://ito.gn.apc.org/page24.html], [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Committee_for_a_Workers'_International], [http://www.google.com/url?sa=t&ct=res&cd=3&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.cpgb.org.uk%2Fworker%2F496%2Fletters.html&ei=YbC8RPyaAsPswQHFpvmwCg&sig2=-UoAv1g3pFvDGnm0MOVELA]. Its best known section has been the [[Ligue Communiste Revolutionnaire]] of France.

In many countries its sections work within working-class parties, and alliances, in which Trotskyists are a minority.

===Committee for a Workers' International===
The [[Committee for a Workers' International]] (CWI) was founded in 1974 and now has sections in over 35 countries. Before 1997, most organisations affiliated to the CWI sought to build an entrist Marxist wing within the large [[social democratic]] parties. Since the early 1990s it has argued that most social democratic parties have moved so far to the right that there is little point trying to work within them. Instead the CWI has adopted a range of tactics, mostly seeking to build independent parties, but in some cases working within other broad working-class parties.

===International Socialist Tendency===
The [[International Socialist Tendency]], led by the [[Socialist Workers Party (Britain)|Socialist Workers Party]], the largest Trotskyist group in [[United Kingdom|Britain]](SWP) {{Citation needed|date=June 2007}}.

===Internationalist Communist Union===
In France, the LCR is rivalled by [[Lutte Ouvrière]]. That group is the French section of the [[Internationalist Communist Union]] (UCI). UCI has small sections in a handful of other countries. It focuses its activities, whether propaganda or intervention, within the industrial proletariat.

===International Marxist Tendency===
The founders of the [[Committee for a Marxist International]] (CMI) claim they were expelled from the CWI, when the CWI abandoned [[entryism]]. The CWI claims they left and no expulsions were carried out. Since 2006, it has been known as the [[International Marxist Tendency]] (IMT). CMI/IMT groups continue the policy of entering mainstream social democratic, communist or radical parties.

Currently, [[International Marxist Tendency]] (IMT) is headed by [[Alan Woods (politician)|Alan Woods]] and [[Lal Khan]].

===Others===
The [[list of Trotskyist internationals]] shows that there are a large number of other multinational tendencies that stand in the tradition of Leon Trotsky. Some Trotskyist organisations are only organized in one country.

==References==
{{Reflist|2}}


==Further Reading==
* Alex Callinicos.  ''Trotskyism'' (Concepts in Social Thought) University of Minnesota Press, 1990. 
* Belden Fields. ''Trotskyism and Maoism: Theory and Practice in France and the United States'' Praeger Publishers, 1989. 
* Alfred Rosmer. ''Trotsky and the Origins of Trotskyism''. Republished by Francis Boutle Publishers, now out of print. 
* Cliff Slaughter. ''Trotskyism Versus Revisionism: A Documentary History'' (multivolume work, now out of print)

==External links==
* [http://www.marxists.org/history/etol/ Encyclopedia of Trotskyism On-Line]
* [http://www.marxists.org/archive/trotsky/index.htm The Leon Trotsky Internet archive, containing a large number of Trotsky's written works]
* [http://www.trotskyana.net The Lubitz TrotskyanaNet, dealing with Leon Trotsky, Trotskyism and Trotskyists]

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