Date: Fri, 5 Apr 1996 04:37:47 -0600
Subject: Re: Who won in Vietnam?


Robert:

>Rahul,
>What,s Trotskyist orthodoxy?

I'm no expert here. Lou Proyect could probably give you an earful. But here
goes. The theory of permanent revolution, the obsession with the potential
of minuscule "vanguard" sects (viz. Trotsky's statement to a tiny group of
American communists he addressed in the 1920's that "you are the vanguard
of the vanguard."). I would add the constant invocation of Trotsky as some
kind of figure who stood for freedom and justice against the ogre Stalin.
True, Stalin was a paranoid monster who killed *everybody* he got his hands
on, but they were both absolutely dictatorial. To me, the biggest
difference between them is that Trotsky lost; only after he was removed
>from the prospect of power could he abandon the ways of a petty tyrant. His
first break with Stalin over policy was that he wanted to murder the kulaks
and force collectivization at a time when Stalin was still following a
policy of appeasing the right. Later, Stalin did exactly what Trotsky had
suggested, which resulted in a bloodbath and the persistent failure of
Soviet agriculture to develop in any reasonable way.

Still, in his later years Trotsky wrote a great deal that was worth reading.

Rahul




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