daft punk
3rd March 2012, 15:47
Trotsky and the origins of trotskyism reply to http://www.revleft.com/vb/customavatars/avatar14701_22.gif (http://www.revleft.com/vb/member.php?u=14701) Kontrrazvedka (http://www.revleft.com/vb/member.php?u=14701)
http://www.leftcom.org/en/articles/2000-10-01/trotsky-and-the-origins-of-trotskyism
The origins of trotskyism
We begin by examining the basis of the myths manufactured by the Trotskyist movement and its supporters. Their glowing claims have _bona fide _roots in the prestige Trotsky gained as chair of the 1905 St. Petersburg Soviet, as leader of the Red Army, and as a martyr to Stalinism in 1940.
A valid criticism of Trotskyism has nothing in common with the Stalinist method of unearthing his Menshevik past prior to 1917, nor does it deny the contribution he made, both in theory and practice to the Russian Revolution itself. Indeed Trotsky’s analysis of the 1905 Revolution and the appearance of Soviets allowed him to foresee the possibilities for proletarian revolution with a clarity which was to converge with Lenin’s understanding during 1917.
But Trotskyism as a political movement, despite any roots that coincide with the period of revolution, is essentially a product of a later period: the period of counter-revolution of which it became an integral part.
became part of counter-revolution eh? Cant wait to hear this...
The movement inside Russia associated with Trotsky arose while the revolution in Europe was in the process of being defeated. White Terror raged in Hungary, the Fascists were in the act of taking power in Italy and the last independent efforts of a section of the German working class to overthrow the bourgeoisie had ended in defeat in March 1921. Though outbursts of working class resistance occurred after this (e.g. Germany 1923, Britain in 1926, China in 1927) they were isolated and fragmented.
er, revolutionary situation in Germany and China, general strike in Britain.
Inside Russia itself four years of isolation and civil war had led to the virtual elimination of the old revolutionary working class. The introduction of NEP, the Communist International’s adoption of the tactic of the “united front” with Social Democracy as well as the series of political/military alliances with capitalist states (e.g. the Rapallo Treaty of 1922 with Germany) all showed that the failure of the European revolution was leading to counter-revolution in Russia just as night follows day. (1) (http://www.leftcom.org/en/articles/2000-10-01/trotsky-and-the-origins-of-trotskyism#fn1)The revolution faced potential counter-revolution because it was isolated in a backward country, and Lenin and Trotsky were acutely aware of that.
Trotsky might be excused for failing to notice this process of degeneration but he was, in fact, one of its principle architects.I smell bullshit....
It was he who, having organised the victory of the Red Army in 1920, then concluded that some form of “militarisation of labour” could be extended to the entire working class in order to discipline it for the reconstruction of Russia. It was he who presented the case against the Workers’ Opposition at the 10th Party Congress (March 1921) which resulted in the banning of all factions in the Party.
It may or may not have been a mistake to ban factions at the time, but things were pretty desperate. The Workers Opposition had a lot of support, and could have handed power over to the unions. Trotsky originally proposed ending war communism but this was rejected, so then he suggested that if they were gonna keep war communism, why not incorporate the unions into management of industry into the state, seeing as it was, in his opinion, a workers state. Later he said that Lenin was right to judge the mood of the country the way he did. In the end, after going nowhere for a year, they adopted the NEP, basically Trotsky's initial proposal.
It was also Trotsky who engineered the secret military alliance with German imperialism in 1922. Had the subsequent development of Trotsky’s theory and practice entailed a break with this sorry past the fight for communism may have taken a different course. In reality, from 1923 on, Trotsky not only failed to recognise these errors, but even turned them into the very framework of his subsequent ideas, as an analysis of his “opposition” to Stalinism shows.
dunno what this refers to
to be continued. If I can be arsed.
http://www.leftcom.org/en/articles/2000-10-01/trotsky-and-the-origins-of-trotskyism
The origins of trotskyism
We begin by examining the basis of the myths manufactured by the Trotskyist movement and its supporters. Their glowing claims have _bona fide _roots in the prestige Trotsky gained as chair of the 1905 St. Petersburg Soviet, as leader of the Red Army, and as a martyr to Stalinism in 1940.
A valid criticism of Trotskyism has nothing in common with the Stalinist method of unearthing his Menshevik past prior to 1917, nor does it deny the contribution he made, both in theory and practice to the Russian Revolution itself. Indeed Trotsky’s analysis of the 1905 Revolution and the appearance of Soviets allowed him to foresee the possibilities for proletarian revolution with a clarity which was to converge with Lenin’s understanding during 1917.
But Trotskyism as a political movement, despite any roots that coincide with the period of revolution, is essentially a product of a later period: the period of counter-revolution of which it became an integral part.
became part of counter-revolution eh? Cant wait to hear this...
The movement inside Russia associated with Trotsky arose while the revolution in Europe was in the process of being defeated. White Terror raged in Hungary, the Fascists were in the act of taking power in Italy and the last independent efforts of a section of the German working class to overthrow the bourgeoisie had ended in defeat in March 1921. Though outbursts of working class resistance occurred after this (e.g. Germany 1923, Britain in 1926, China in 1927) they were isolated and fragmented.
er, revolutionary situation in Germany and China, general strike in Britain.
Inside Russia itself four years of isolation and civil war had led to the virtual elimination of the old revolutionary working class. The introduction of NEP, the Communist International’s adoption of the tactic of the “united front” with Social Democracy as well as the series of political/military alliances with capitalist states (e.g. the Rapallo Treaty of 1922 with Germany) all showed that the failure of the European revolution was leading to counter-revolution in Russia just as night follows day. (1) (http://www.leftcom.org/en/articles/2000-10-01/trotsky-and-the-origins-of-trotskyism#fn1)The revolution faced potential counter-revolution because it was isolated in a backward country, and Lenin and Trotsky were acutely aware of that.
Trotsky might be excused for failing to notice this process of degeneration but he was, in fact, one of its principle architects.I smell bullshit....
It was he who, having organised the victory of the Red Army in 1920, then concluded that some form of “militarisation of labour” could be extended to the entire working class in order to discipline it for the reconstruction of Russia. It was he who presented the case against the Workers’ Opposition at the 10th Party Congress (March 1921) which resulted in the banning of all factions in the Party.
It may or may not have been a mistake to ban factions at the time, but things were pretty desperate. The Workers Opposition had a lot of support, and could have handed power over to the unions. Trotsky originally proposed ending war communism but this was rejected, so then he suggested that if they were gonna keep war communism, why not incorporate the unions into management of industry into the state, seeing as it was, in his opinion, a workers state. Later he said that Lenin was right to judge the mood of the country the way he did. In the end, after going nowhere for a year, they adopted the NEP, basically Trotsky's initial proposal.
It was also Trotsky who engineered the secret military alliance with German imperialism in 1922. Had the subsequent development of Trotsky’s theory and practice entailed a break with this sorry past the fight for communism may have taken a different course. In reality, from 1923 on, Trotsky not only failed to recognise these errors, but even turned them into the very framework of his subsequent ideas, as an analysis of his “opposition” to Stalinism shows.
dunno what this refers to
to be continued. If I can be arsed.