Trotsky

[RaisedFistRebel]

in a nutshell, who was trotsky?

[Roses in the Hospital]

Trotsky (:trotski:) was one of the leaders of the October Revolution. Although initially a Menshevik (an oponent of Lenin and the Bolsheviks) he went on to work closely with Lenin in building Socialism in Russia. When Lenin died many saw him as the obvious sucessor, but lack of allies in the party (arguably due to his arrogance) meant Stalin was able to usurp him. He was soon exiled from the Soviet Union and famously died in Mexico after having an ice pick plunged into the back of his head by one of Stalin's assasins. His most famous work was probably 'The Revolution Betrayed' written about Stalinist Russia following his exile...

[NovelGentry]

He was soon exiled from the Soviet Union and famously died in Mexico after having an ice pick plunged into the back of his head by one of Stalin's assasins.

This is simply not the case as I have pointed out here:

http://www.revolutionaryleft.com/index.php?showtopic=32460 :lol: :lol:

[Roses in the Hospital]

I stand corrected...

[Lamanov]

http://www.revolutionaryleft.com/index.php?showtopic=32460 :D :lol: :D :lol:
OK, joke asside

Who was Trotsky ?

Joined the revolutionary movement after finishing high school, in 1898.
Arrested, deported in Syberia, after that he escaped aboard.
in 1905 revolution he was a president of Petrograd Soviet
Ater that arrested, but fled again.
In 1917 from exile returned to Petrograd and in august he joined the Bolsheviks, where he was elected in the C.C.
functions : Petrograd Soviet and Army-Revolutionary comm. president, member of politbiroe for armed-revoluton leadership. [in short, the architect of the red army]

He was against the peace in Brest-Litovsk because he beleved it would be a blow to a revolutionary uprising in the west (and he was right) [He developed a theory of 'permanent revolution' (my opinion, pure marxist revolutionary doctrine) which means basicly world revolution and global socialism - he predicted that every isolated revolution would deteriarate and deform because of mainly economical reasons (he was right again)]

Since 1923. he was a leader of the "Left Oposition" within the Party. Their main goal was political struggle against bueraucracy and Stalin as their chosen political exponent. Lenin in his 'letter to the party' warn or their conflict and suggested that Stalin should be brought down from position of the party secretary general. Some say that it was his wish for Trotsky to claim that position afterwards.
1926 he becomes the leader of the "United Oposition"
[and he had alot of supporters]
As the leading marxist-revolutionary ideologist, restless enemy of the bueraucracy and Stalin, in 1927 he was expelled from the party, and year later from the country.
He was killed in Mexico in 1940 by Stalins' assasains.
[some say he just gone to Kentucky to start his own private business :lol: ]


After Marx, Engels & Lenin - most important marxist and revolutionary philosopher
Reccomended reaing : Revolution Betrayed, Permanent Revolution, My Life, In Defence of Marxism, Literature and Revolution....

[RagsToRevolution]

Not everything Trotsky has done has been considered "revolutionary." He was responsible for the violent suppression of the Krondstadt Rebellion and various union activists. If you wish me to, I will give your sources to back this us.

[RagsToRevolution]

Originally posted by DJ-[email protected] 5 2005, 01:52 AM
[He developed a theory of 'permanent revolution' (my opinion, pure marxist revolutionary doctrine) which means basicly world revolution and global socialism - he predicted that every isolated revolution would deteriarate and deform because of mainly economical reasons (he was right again)]
The problem is, that he provides no method or practical solution. Personally, world revolution is not necessary. I believe any socialist movement will fail as long as there is a global free market. Right now, it is necessary for leftist movements to work towards the destabilization of this market. Of course, nature is on our side with the impending Peak Oil Catastrophy. Once the free market is destabilized, even isolated socialism will not be devoured and then can grow, and create a global socialist sphere. It is necessary for us to take the initiative during crisis in the free market system to make this happen. World revolution is idealistic at best, foolhardy at worst. Unless you can prove to me that there is a practical application of a Permenant Revolution.

[Lamanov]

[reply, pt 1] 1. Kronstadt

- Why is the violent suppresion of the Kronstadt rebellion counter-revolutionary method ? Was the retaliation counter-revolutionary or the uprising itself a counter-revolution ? "Soviets without Bolsheviks" or 'no Bolsheviks = no Soviets' ? I think these are pretty fare questions concidering what the historical sources tell us [among first - documentative sources from the soviet archive which was opened to public 15 years ago].
There are important elements and facts to take under concideration when you think about Kronstadt. Ofcourse, you are a comrade so i guess i should understand your standpoint, thus i wont even discuss about the burgoise seeing of Kronstadt, especially because of the ridiculous attempts to equalise Trotskys' methods with Stalinist.

Known facts in short : 1) there is no way to claim that Kronstadt sailors are the same 'group' as the one from the october days of 1917; 2) only unit who dissobayed orders for attack on the city is the 561st regiment which was in majority a group of former 'Whites' from the armies od Denekin & Vrangel; 3) political reasons for dissobediance of other troops are non-existant; the other troops include 2 peasant regiments - 236th and 237th - who did not want to obey orders because they were unsure of the attack upon dangerous fortification defended by the fleet; 4) some ships declared neutral and some refused to take part in rebellion; 5) sailors of the 3 ships - Ural, Orpheus, and Winner - stated that "People of the White Guard who lead the rebellion can pretty much hurt the Republic, and they can bomb Petrograd"; 6) The local workers took controll of the city before the penetration of the Red Army; [and so on..] It is also important to understand the social structure of the fleet and its dynamics durring the civil war. It is no surprise that the leaders of the rebellion were two anti-socialists (Dimitriev and Koslovski), and one anti-bolshevik (S.H. Dimitrev) who was - no surprise - later recruited by Stalins' GPU in 1927.

It wouldnt be right to use the words of accused, but in this case ill make an exeption, because there is no better way to understand the political structures in Kronstadt at the time :

>> The political composition of the Kronstadt Soviet reflected the composition of the garrison and the crews. The leadership of the soviets as early as the summer of 1917 belonged to the Bolshevik Party, which rested on the better sections of the sailors and included in its ranks many revolutionists from the underground movement who had been liberated from the hard-labor prisons. But I seem to recall that even in the days of the October insurrection the Bolsheviks constituted less than one-half of the Kronstadt Soviet. The majority consisted of SRs and Anarchists. There were no Mensheviks at all in Kronstadt. The Menshevik Party hated Kronstadt. The official SRs, incidentally, had no better attitude toward it. The Kronstadt SRs quickly went over into opposition to Kerensky and formed one of the shock brigades of the so-called ”left“ SRs. They based themselves on the peasant part of the fleet and of the shore garrison. As for the Anarchists, they were the most motley group. Among them were real revolutionists, like Zhuk and Zhelezniakov, but these were the elements most closely linked to the Bolsheviks. Most of the Kronstadt ”Anarchists“ represented the city petty bourgeoisie and stood upon a lower revolutionary level than the SRs. The president of the soviet was a nonparty man, ”sympathetic to the Anarchists,“ and in essence a peaceful petty clerk who had been formerly subservient to the czarist authorities and was now subservient . . . to the revolution. The complete absence of Mensheviks, the ”left“ character of the SRs, and the Anarchist hue of the petty bourgeois were due to the sharpness of the revolutionary struggle in the fleet and the dominating influence of the proletarian sections of the sailors. << [ L.Trotsky, Hue And Cry Over Kronstadt, publ. by The New International, 15.1.1938. ]

[rebelworker]

Wothout even looking at Kronstad or his brutality against enemies of bolshevik ideology(many on the revolutionary left) one only has to look at the ukraine.

The anarchist communist revolutionary movement there had fought off both the invading germans, the local nationalists and had beguin to set up workers councils and communes all over the territory they controlled, when the Red Army under trotsky Tried to kill them all.(the movement was smashed and the survivors were forced to flee).

Funny that the red army was mostly limited to combat along the rail lines they controlled because once they left the armoured trains they used to fight in they were hugely unpopular with the majority of the population(revolutionaries opposing foreign domination) Who were eventually crushed underfoot.

Trotsky is just another self apointed leader of the working class who didn&#39;t like it when the working class had different ideas...

Read:
Nestor Makhno: Anarchys Cossak (just re published bvy Ak Press)
The Forgoten Revolution (I think itsby Voline)
the Bolsheviks and workers controll(an essay included in The new Maurice britton anthology also by AK Press

Read anything from anyone else on the revolutionary left to find out how "Revolutionary" trotsky was.
In his own writing he muses about letting the anarchists try their own revolutionary model but instead opts for exterminating them in the name of "efficiency"

[Lamanov]

The anarchist communist revolutionary movement there had fought off both the invading germans, the local nationalists and had beguin to set up workers councils and communes all over the territory they controlled, when the Red Army under trotsky Tried to kill them all.(the movement was smashed and the survivors were forced to flee).

* SOURCE ??