Date: Tue, 19 Mar 96 09:27:03 GMT
From: Adam Rose <adam-AT-pmel.com>
To: marxism-AT-jefferson.village.virginia.edu
Subject: Re: Critique of Trotskyism-and Trotsky



I wrote :
> 
> >I don't want to get into a long discussion of this, but 
> >when Carlos writes :
> 
> >> I do
> >> believe that Trotsky *never* resolved the question of the party
> > >building process, democratic centralism, etc.  
> 
> >I think this is nonsense.
> 

Luciano Dondero replied:
> 
> Well, I believe that Carlos is right here. But it has to be understood in a
> dialectical, and not a mechanical way.
> 
> Take the crucial years 1923-24. At the time when the Stalinist burocracy is
> actually seizing power, when Lenin wants to make a bloc with Trotsky to get
> rid of Stalin, what does Trotsky do? He vacillated. In later years he
> explained that he did not feel like "fighting over the warm body of Lenin
> for power" (I'm paraphrasing here).
> 
> In my opinion that was just another expression (it is from "My Life", if I
> am not mistaken, which was written in 1929) of not really understanding the
> proble, the way Lenin did.
> 
> What Adam mentions in terms of the actual, formally (and to great extent
> also substantially) Leninist statements/actions by Trotsky, is obviously
> true and correct, but this does not invalidates what Carlos said about it.
> 

I think perhaps we are talking about different things here,

What I thought Carlos was saying, was that Trotsky never understood the
theory of the party. I disagreed with this statement, and still do.

However, I agree with your basic point that Trotsky did not see
the danger of Stalinism early enough, and to start with he did 
vacillate about how openly he should fight against it. But 
we can hardly critisize him for this - no one had seen a
successful revolution degenerate before.

I can't remember where the evidence for this is, but there was a 
point ( I think just after Lenin's death, or perhaps when he
fell seriously ill ) at which Trotsky could have used his links
with the army to take power for himself. He didn't though, because
he understood that whatever his intentions might have been, he
would himself be the figurehead of "Thermidor".

I think this is the problem for Lenin + Trotsky in these years - 
there is no working class to appeal to. If there had, it would
have been quite obvious what to do. Because there wasn't, any
action seemed fraught with danger. To illustrate this, Tony Cliff
in his biography of Lenin contrasts the April Theses with his
last will and testament. The former is addressed to the
revolutionary workers, the later about shuffling around the people
at the top of the CP.

Adam.

Adam Rose
SWP
Manchester
UK


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