Niemand
15th June 2007, 22:26
From what I've seen in the thread Trotskyism (http://www.revleft.com/index.php?showtopic=67493) in the Research and Online Classes forum, I don't think many comrades here are too knowledgeable about who Isaac Deutscher exactly is and why he entitled his biographies on Trotsky entitled "The Prophet".
Contrary to Comrade Teis believes, Deutscher was indeed a Trotskyist. He just didn't see it as necessary to start the Fourth International and therefore was not considered an orthodox Trotskyist and rejected by most Trotskyist circles as a Stalinist apologist. Nevertheless, Deutscher continued his fight against Stalinism, but did recognise some of Stalin's accomplishments but did not recognise him as an authentic Marxist or the USSR as a socialist entity.
Comrade Deutscher also entitled his works on Trotsky "The Prophet" to be ironic. It was a literary reference to the Stalinist cries of cult-like worship of Leon Trotsky and Trotsky's own hatred of worship of the individual.
Anyone interested should read a two-part biographical sketch on Isaac Deutscher in PDF form here. (http://www.trotskyana.net/Trotskyists/Bio-Bibliographies/bio-bibliographies.html) It has a more in-depth look at his political life than I have the time to address here.
Contrary to Comrade Teis believes, Deutscher was indeed a Trotskyist. He just didn't see it as necessary to start the Fourth International and therefore was not considered an orthodox Trotskyist and rejected by most Trotskyist circles as a Stalinist apologist. Nevertheless, Deutscher continued his fight against Stalinism, but did recognise some of Stalin's accomplishments but did not recognise him as an authentic Marxist or the USSR as a socialist entity.
Comrade Deutscher also entitled his works on Trotsky "The Prophet" to be ironic. It was a literary reference to the Stalinist cries of cult-like worship of Leon Trotsky and Trotsky's own hatred of worship of the individual.
Anyone interested should read a two-part biographical sketch on Isaac Deutscher in PDF form here. (http://www.trotskyana.net/Trotskyists/Bio-Bibliographies/bio-bibliographies.html) It has a more in-depth look at his political life than I have the time to address here.