Titoism and Trotskyism

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I'm still very new to the far-left scene, but from what I've learned so far, a couple of the best leaders are Tito and Trotsky. If you disagree please post reasons because I'm still learning

[Tommy4ever]

Before the spam of a sectarian war breaks out I'll interfere with a few of my own thoughts.

First, Trotsky. Leon Trotsky has traditionally been the fashionable figure of Leninism among Leftist circles - particularily in the West. He was amongst the most important Bolsheviks from 1917 until the mid 1920s when he was sidelined, then thrown out of Russia before finally being assassinated in 1940.

As a military leader he was nothing short of brilliant - playing a major role in the victory of the Reds over the Whites in the Russian Civil War. Politically .... its more complicated.

Despite the fact that Stalinists tend to hate Trotsky his position on most issues is not too disimilar to post 1929 Stalinist ones. Trotsky supported a very centralised government and state control in the economy. The economic policies employed by Stalin during the 1930s were essentially the same as those Trotsky supported throughout the 1920s.

He was also extremely workerist - holding a deep disdain for the Russian peasantry and in the early days he was certain that the Soviet Union would fail if none of the industrial powerhouses of Western Europe (Germany, France and Britain) did not fall to the revolution.

In foriegn policy Trotsky believed in ''Permanent Revolution'' which is a cruicial difference to Stalin's ''Socialism in One Country''. Bascially Trotsky thought that the Soviet Union could never succeed without the help of the industrialised world so it had to do everything it could to support revolution abraod. Stalin was more pragmatic and recognised that during the 20s and 30s there was little prospect of revolutions elsewhere and instead believed that the USSR should focus in building itself up from within.

Trotsky was also extremely anti-bureacracy. How he hoped to create a highly centralised planned economy without this ruling caste, I don't know.

As a person he was very arrogant, very bad at politicking and a bit of an unlikeable git. But this point might not be too important to you.

Trotsky's greatest strength is probably his ideological inflexibility. He would never, ever budge from his ideological position. This, of course, made him take up unpracticle positions but they were always Marxist ones at heart. Coincidently I see Stalin's greatest strength as his flexibility. Unlike Trotsky he was willing to change policies depending on what felt right at the time and what would strengthen the USSR's position the most.

So if you like your Bolsheviks statist, workerist, intellectual and ideologically 'pure' then Trotsky's your man.

I know much less about Tito but I'll tell you what I know. Again, like Trotsky, he was a good military commander and played a major role in Yugoslavia's liberation from the Nazis - Yugoslavia being the only nation in Europe to liberate itself without the help of foriegn powers.

His socialism is shouted down by many and lauded by others. Essentially he had a 'softer' socialism in which capitalist and statist elements mixed together. He also, somehow, managed to keep that hodge podge of ethnic groups together so that needs to be praised. Yugoslavia enjoyed much greater freedom and much better economic growth than its Eastern Bloc counterparts.

Tito also pusued an independent foriegn policy from Moscow and was one of the main driving forces behind the Non-Aligned movement of neutral states in the Cold War.

Some people really like Tito, others hate him. In the end Yugoslavia collapsed, so this cannot be ignored when looking at his successes.

[The Idler]

Trotsky: The Prophet Debunked – World Socialist Movement (http://www.google.co.uk/url?sa=t&source=web&cd=1&ved=0CBoQFjAA&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.worldsocialism.org%2Farticles %2Ftrotsky_the_prophet_debunked.php&ei=nPhOTZKiLNeAhAey372oDg&usg=AFQjCNE5UAhpagRyKVXRcluqXIN8602RiQ&sig2=4_TY0JVH1sh000LfFrsP8g)

[DuracellBunny97]

Tito's brand of socialism isn't exactly what I subscribe to, but I consider him to be a great man. No question he made some bad decisions, but he kept Yugoslavia united for 40 years. Trotsky is respectable as well but I don't hold him in the same regard as I do Tito.