Trotskism

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I have a few questions i would like to address to Trotskists.

First off, what are your "views" on the following, -

1. Lenin

2. October Revolution

3. China

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And now for a pretty stupid question,

1.Who exactly is Leon Trotsky?
2.What did he do?
3.Why is he famous for Communists

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And/or if you have any type of links you can provide were i can study deeper into these questions, Please post it!

Thanks in advance! :)

[Dean]

http://marxists.org/archive/trotsky/works/index.htm

Trotsky was a leader of the october revolution who supported Leninism.

[trivas7]

Trotsky was a leader of the october revolution who supported Leninism.
Boy, doesn't that let you step over some deep ideological fissures! :rolleyes:

[Dros]

Trotsky was a leader of the october revolution who supported Leninism.

That would depend on what you mean by "Leninism".

[BIG BROTHER]

sorry to be a lazy as, but I would recommend that if you want to answer the first two questions you read "The Revolution Betrayed" by Leon Trotsky, here's a link to it: http://www.socialistalternative.org/publications/betrayed/

[OI OI OI]

1. Lenin

Trotsky was a Menshevik until 1917 and had a lot of theoretical battles with Lenin. In 1917 he was "won over" by Lenin to Bolshevism and Lenin was "won over" by Trotsky in some issues such as the theory of the "Permanent Revolution". He was a member of the politburo (the highest body in the Bolsheviks) with Lenin and 10 other people. So while until 1917 they had a lot of differences they managed to solve them and from 1917 to LEnin's death he was closer to Lenin than anyone else in the party. After Lenin died Trotsky upheld the ideas of Bolshevism against the Stalinist bureaucracy. He was eventualy expelled by the Stalinist bureaucracy and exiled. He died by one of Stalin's agents in 1940. His crime was that he upheld Bolshevism against the degeneration of the USSR.


2) He played a major role in the October revolution second after Lenin. During the civil war he built the Red Army and he led it into heroic victories against the whites. As Marxists we beleive that individuals can play a big role in determining the course of history always in the context of the material conditions. It would not be an exaggeration thus if we say that without Trotskys abilities as a general the civil war would be lost to the whites and the 21 imperialist nations.

3) Well Trotsky died long before the Chinese revolution so he did not express anything about Mao. I think he wrote an essay about China but I am not sure. Any comrade who knows please link to it. The Trotskyists belive that Mao was a variant of Stalinism. China was a deformed workers state and that led to capitalist restoration.

As about the "stupid" questions:) (no question is stupid)

1)Trotsky was a great Russian revolutionary. In the revolution of 1905 he led the Petrograd soviet. He did that once more in 1917 and as I said above he built the Red Army from scratch in the civil war. He was a member of the politburo who voted on having a revolution, he was a close friend and comrade of Lenin's and he upheld Bolshevism after his death. He was expelled by Stalin in 1927 for critisizing the bureaucratic degeneration and advocating for workers democracy. He continued arguing about workers democracy etc on exile and he wrote the wonderful book "The revolution betrayed" in which he exposes Stalinism. When in 1934 the Third International which was controled by the Stalinists betrayed the german proletariat and allied themselves to the nazis Trotsky realized the need of a creation of a fourth international, just like Lenin founded the third international on the dieing corpse of the second international. In 1940 he was aasasinated by one of Stalin's agents in Mexico. He always criticaly supportd the USSR while advocating the removal of the bureaucracy and workers democratic control. He predicted the collapse of the USSR . He said that either the workers will make a political revolution inside the revolution and restore the ideas of Marxism LEninism either the bureaucracy will sell socialism in order to serve their own interests. Which happened in 1990 and all the ex-communist party members and KGB members became the biggest capitalists by selling out the nationalized planned economy.

2 I explained that above

3 He is famous for all those things above


I hope this helped you. Thank you for reading . Personaly Trotsky is my role model and I value him alot for all the theoretical contributions and all what he did for his ideas and the ideas of genuine Marxism.
Of course that is my humble opinion.
But I suggest that you read some of his books.
I would recomend - The Permanent Revolution
- The Revolution Betrayed
- The Transitional Program
- My life
-History of the Russian Revolution

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The Permanent Revolution
- The Revolution Betrayed
- The Transitional Program
- My life
-History of the Russian Revolution

Wow, he seems like a great man in your words. Thank you much, i will definately find these books :)