Almost 80 years after Leon Trotsky founded the Fourth International, there are now Trotskyist organizations in 57 countries, including most of Western Europe and Latin America. Yet no Trotskyist group has ever led a revolution or built an enduring mass, political party. Contemporary Trotskyism looks in detail at the influence, resilience and weaknesses of the British Trotskyist movement, from the 1970s to the present day. The book argues that to understand and explain the development, resilience and influence of Trotskyist groups, we need to analyse them as bodies that comprise elements of three types of organization: the political party, the sect and the social movement. It is the properties of these three facets of organization and the interplay between them that gives rise to the most characteristic features of the Trotskyist movement: frenetic activity, rampant divisions, inter-organizational hostility, authoritarian and charismatic leadership, high membership turnover and ideological rigidity. Trotskyist groups have been involved in a wide range of important social movements including trade unions, student unions, anti-war, anti-racist and anti-fascist groups. While their energy and activity in civil society have had some success, their influence has never been reflected in votes or seats at elections even after the financial crisis. Drawing on extensive archival research, as well as interviews with many of the leading protagonists and activists within the Trotskyist milieu, this is essential reading for students, activists and researchers with an interest in the far left, social movements and contemporary British political history.
This volume will be essential reading for activists and scholars interested in the transnational history and politics of the radical left.
Written from a critical socialist standpoint, this book provides an analysis of Trotskyism which argues that it is increasingly irrelevant as a means of achieving socialism.
Ironies of History: Essays on Contemporary Communism
In the new edition of this definitive work on the history of the revolutionary socialist current in the United States that came to be identified as "American Trotskyism," Paul Le Blanc offers fresh reflections on this history for scholars ...
This last of three documentary volumes, U.S. Trotskyism 1928-1965.
Ian D. Thatcher paints a new picture of Trotsky's standing in Russian and world history.
This New Edition Of The Book, Published From India, Would Be Of Immense Use To Activists, Researchers And Students Of This Country And Abroad.
This first of three documentary volumes U.S. Trotskyism 1928-1965.
Trotskyism, the Enemy of Revolution
In this critique of Stalinism from the Marxist standpoint, Trotsky provides a brilliantly prescient analysis of the inevitable collapse of the Soviet Union that reveals the roots of the region's current unrest.