Trotskyism
In 1905, a young Russian revolutionary named Leon Trotsky stood before the St. Petersburg Soviet of Workers' Deputies and declared that the working class must lead the revolution against the Tsarist regime. This moment marked the birth of what would become known as Trotskyism, a political ideology developed to challenge traditional Marxist views on how socialism could emerge in backward economies. Trotsky argued that only the proletariat could overthrow feudalism and win the support of the peasantry, rejecting the idea that Russia's capitalist class could play a revolutionary role. His theory of permanent revolution posited that once the working class seized power, it must immediately begin transitioning to socialism while appealing to workers globally for support. In Results and Prospects, written in 1906, Trotsky stated that history does not repeat itself and that the Russian Revolution could never be a mere copy of the French Revolution of 1789. He believed that countries like Russia lacked an enlightened bourgeoisie capable of carrying out democratic change, forcing the working class to take up the task alone. The theory also held that the peasantry was too dispersed and heterogeneous to form an independent political force, making the urban working class essential for any successful socialist transformation. By 1917, Trotsky had joined the Bolsheviks after initially opposing their organizational model, yet he came to see Lenin's party structure as necessary for seizing state power. His alliance with Lenin during the October Revolution cemented his role as co-leader of the new Soviet state, though this unity would soon fracture under the weight of internal party struggles.
By 1924, Joseph Stalin had consolidated enough power within the Communist Party to begin systematically eliminating rivals who challenged his authority. Leon Trotsky found himself at the center of this purge after openly criticizing the growing bureaucracy and calling for greater democracy within the party. In 1923, Trotsky and forty-six other Old Bolsheviks signed The Declaration of 46, which raised concerns about intra-party democracy and shared similarities with reforms Lenin had proposed before his death. Despite these efforts, Stalin declared civil war against the opposition in 1927, leading to mass arrests and executions of Trotsky's supporters. Victor Serge spent six weeks in a cell followed by eighty-five days in solitary confinement as part of the broader crackdown on dissenters. Trotsky was expelled from the All-Union Communist Party (Bolsheviks) in November 1927 and exiled first to Alma-Ata in January 1928, then removed entirely from the USSR in February 1929. He moved through Turkey, France, Norway, and finally Mexico, where he continued to write and organize resistance against what he termed the degenerated workers' state. On the 20th of August 1940, Ramón Mercader, a Spanish-born NKVD agent, attacked Trotsky in his Mexico City home. Trotsky died the next day in a hospital, marking the end of his life but not the movement he inspired. Almost all Trotskyists within the VKP(b) were executed during the Great Purges of 1937, 1938, effectively removing any internal influence Trotsky still held in the Soviet Union. Even after Nikita Khrushchev came to power in 1956, Trotsky and his followers remained officially designated enemies of the state.
In 1938, Leon Trotsky founded the Fourth International in Paris to replace the Third International, which he believed had become irretrievably lost to Stalinism. The new organization aimed to unite revolutionary forces globally under a program that combined democratic demands with transitional demands leading toward proletarian seizure of power. At its founding congress, Trotsky emphasized the need for a vanguard party based on Leninist principles while opposing both capitalist and Stalinist regimes. He argued that the defeat of the German working class and Adolf Hitler's rise to power in 1933 demonstrated the failure of existing communist parties to learn from their mistakes. The Transitional Program drafted at this congress outlined three types of proposals: democratic rights such as unionization, immediate economic demands like wage increases, and transitional measures directing attention toward worker control of production. By 1945, the movement faced repression across Europe and Asia, with many sections crushed or driven underground. After World War II, some factions withdrew from the Fourth International, claiming the USSR could no longer be described as a degenerated workers' state. In 1951, the International Secretariat adopted Michel Pablo's thesis suggesting that Communist Parties might escape Stalinist manipulation and follow a revolutionary orientation. This led to internal conflict when James P. Cannon issued an Open Letter to Trotskyists of the World condemning what he saw as revisionist tendencies within the leadership.
Across Latin America, Asia, Africa, and Europe, Trotskyist groups emerged as significant political forces throughout the twentieth century. In Bolivia, the POR became a mass party during the late 1940s and played a central role in the Bolivian National Revolution. Argentina saw the formation of the Workers' Revolutionary Party (PRT) in 1965 through the merger of two leftist organizations, which later created the ERP guerrilla movement active in the 1970s. Roberto Santucho, commander of the ERP, was killed in July 1976 during the Dirty War, after which the PRT showed no signs of activity following 1977. Venezuela witnessed Hugo Chávez declare himself a Trotskyist on the 10th of January 2007, though most Venezuelan Trotskyists rejected this claim, viewing him instead as a bourgeois nationalist. In North America, the Socialist Workers Party developed from earlier groups like the Communist League of America and remained influential despite internal splits. The Cuban Revolution sparked debate among Trotskyists, with some celebrating Fidel Castro's government while others criticized it as state capitalism. In South Africa, viable black trade unions were established by Trotskyists in Transvaal during the 1930s, laying groundwork for future labor organizing efforts. Nigeria hosted the Democratic Socialist Movement founded in 1986 within a confederation of labor and student socialists affiliated to the Committee for a Workers' International.
Internal divisions within the Trotskyist movement led to multiple splinter groups forming competing international committees throughout the mid-twentieth century. Michel Pablo's thesis advocating entry into Communist Parties caused a major rift resulting in the creation of the International Committee of the Fourth International (ICFI) in 1953. James Cannon initially led the ICFI before many sections began reunification processes starting in 1960, yet factions continued splitting off and maintaining independence. In France, the Lambertist and Pabloist split occurred in 1952, followed by another division in 1953 when the Fourth International itself fractured over support for Algerian War independence movements. By 1970, the rump of the PCI renamed itself the Internationalist Communist Organisation, which proliferated during May 1968 protests but was eventually banned alongside other far-left groups. Sri Lanka experienced similar fragmentation when the LSSP joined governing coalitions in 1964, prompting a faction to break away and form the Revolutionary Communist League, later becoming the Socialist Equality Party in 1996. India saw the Bolshevik, Leninist Party fracture after leading strikes following the Bombay Mutiny, with its remnants dissolving into the Congress Socialist Party in 1948 at the request of the Fourth International.
Leon Trotsky contributed extensively to Marxist cultural theory through works like Literature and Revolution, examining aesthetic issues concerning class and the Russian Revolution. Soviet scholar Robert Bird considered his writings the first systematic treatment of art by a Communist leader and a catalyst for later critical theories. Trotsky defended intellectual autonomy regarding Freudian psychoanalysis and Einstein's relativity, arguing that Western industrial methods should be absorbed rather than rejected within socialist frameworks. He co-authored the Manifesto for an Independent Revolutionary Art in 1938 with endorsements from artists Andre Breton and Diego Rivera. Economically, Trotsky advocated for decentralized planning since 1923, supporting accelerated industrialization while opposing forced collectivization policies implemented by Stalin after 1928. He proposed progressive taxation on wealthier farmers and encouraged voluntary formation of collective farms using state resources allocated for machinery and agronomic assistance. British cybernetician Stafford Beer read Trotsky's critiques of Soviet bureaucracy and found inspiration in his ideas when developing Project Cybersyn between 1970 and 1973. Trotsky insisted that mass participation was essential for operationalizing planned economies, stating that even seven Marxes could not command an economy of 170 million people without daily experience and critical review from millions.
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Common questions
What is Trotskyism and when did it originate?
Trotskyism is a political ideology developed by Leon Trotsky to challenge traditional Marxist views on how socialism could emerge in backward economies. It originated in 1905 when Trotsky declared that the working class must lead the revolution against the Tsarist regime before the St. Petersburg Soviet of Workers' Deputies.
When was Leon Trotsky expelled from the Communist Party and exiled?
Leon Trotsky was expelled from the All-Union Communist Party (Bolsheviks) in November 1927 and exiled first to Alma-Ata in January 1928, then removed entirely from the USSR in February 1929. He died on the 21st of August 1940 after being attacked by Ramón Mercader in his Mexico City home on the 20th of August 1940.
Why did Trotsky found the Fourth International in 1938?
Leon Trotsky founded the Fourth International in Paris in 1938 to replace the Third International because he believed it had become irretrievably lost to Stalinism. The new organization aimed to unite revolutionary forces globally under a program combining democratic demands with transitional measures leading toward proletarian seizure of power.
Which countries saw significant Trotskyist political movements during the twentieth century?
Trotskyist groups emerged as significant political forces across Latin America, Asia, Africa, and Europe throughout the twentieth century. Notable examples include Bolivia where the POR became a mass party in the late 1940s, Argentina where the Workers' Revolutionary Party formed in 1965, and Venezuela where Hugo Chávez declared himself a Trotskyist on the 10th of January 2007.
How did internal divisions affect the Trotskyist movement after World War II?
Internal divisions led to multiple splinter groups forming competing international committees throughout the mid-twentieth century. Michel Pablo's thesis caused a major rift resulting in the creation of the International Committee of the Fourth International (ICFI) in 1953, while other factions split over support for Algerian War independence movements in 1953.