Idealism

Youre response did help, thank you, just one clarification; in the terrorism and communism book, trotsky favors dictatorship to democracy?
I suggest you ask Rakunin for more on the exact stances expressed in the book.

is the book terrorism and communism anything like what stalin (supposedly) advocated for?
I don't know.

And what book would you suggest for a good introduction to trotskyism?
Trotskyism is a bit of a misnomer I think as everyone thinks it is some seperate school of thought. It is however a continuation of Marx' and Lenin's ideas, with the addition of a scientific analysis on Stalinism (The Revolution Betrayed is a good book on this) and the idea of Permanent Revolution. Then there is the explicit tactic of entryism which is often attributed to Trotsky, but is in fact a basic communist practice that Marx already mentioned in the Manfesto. The Transitional Programme is also a good read as it explains the need to link daily struggles to the need to change society.

I hope that helps.

I can't say to have read the book myself, but asking another comrade I inquired that it is in fact a polemic answer of Karl Kautsky's "communismus und terrorismus" (the alternative title was "anti-Kautsky").

In the book Trotsky puts a high emphasis on dictatorship against democracy (you have to place this within the context of the civil war), only after Trotsky was expelled he renounced these ideas and fully defended workers democracy.

So the book is a rather historic discussion that very is very heavily based on its historic context. I would not recommend it as an introductory book.

Most of them are American, the post was written by someone from Iceland.

Straight Edge is a choice to not smoke, drink or do any drugs. Sometimes it includes being vegan and something.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Straight_edge

Read more about it there.

http://taflan.org/viewtopic.php?t=41...e8d90cd762a226

I'd also like to add Ceremony and Limp Wrist to that list.
Hope this helps.

Here's a fine explanation of the relation between the democratic republic and workers' rule: "[...] a point made in the Communist manifesto: “the first step in the workers’ revolution is making the proletariat the ruling class, winning democracy.” Democracy here does not mean what the capitalist media means by it, which is timocratic oligarchy and the ‘rule of law’. It means majority rule and that those who govern should be answerable to those who are governed. It means, in other words, the ‘commune state’. In this sense, democracy and the class rule of the working class - which is the majority - are one and the same thing." (Strategic lines and tactical slogans)

The problem with most federal republics is that they differ too much from each other. Each republic has its own laws, judical systems, taxes, etc, etc. But do we need such a petty diversity? Such a diversity makes trade, travel, cross-border payments, exchanges, etc. more complex than they need to be. That's why Marx and Engels propose one, indivisible republic. The proletariat needs laws applicable everywhere, it doesn't need borders around every corner or even checkpoints. If we speak one language and have one culture, why can't we have one state? That doesn't mean that there cannot be a local authority or government.

Well I still hold the record then.

Yes. Since Engels wrote that the Commune neared the dictatorship of the proletariat we can assume that the commune was in some way a democratic republic (confined to the city of Paris). And so was the Soviet Union.

Inevitably, the (proletarian) democratic republic is the form taken by the dictatorship of the proletariat (content). This republic differs much from (bourgeois) democratic republics of today because they are a particular form taken by the dictatorship of capital.

Socialism requires a socialist mode of production and socialist (production) relations. The mode of production the workers got hold of is still capitalist; inherited from the capitalist class which the workers overthrew during the political revolution. Through their struggles against capital the workers will transform the economy into a socialist mode of production.

The meaning of the democratic republic was indeed "forgotten". The Mensheviks did the best they could to hand power over to the Russian bourgeoisie while many European social democratic parties did there best to support their national bourgeoisie against revolutionary threats. Another example is the Soviet Union and her party dictatorship.