A History of Trotskyism

(Taken from the link: http://www.marxists.org/glossary/terms/t/r.htm#trotskyism)

Trotskyism

Trotskyism is a Marxist theory whose adherents aim to be in the vanguard of the working class, particularly as opposed to Stalinism and Social Democracy. When opposed to Stalinism, Trotskyists place emphasis in their objective of eliminating Stalinist bureaucratic rule; in opposition to Social Democracy, Trotskyists advance the cause of militant workers revolution.
Trotskyist theory in the 20th century had three unique components, which set it apart from other Marxist currents:

Permanent Revolution: This theory stipulates that colonial/feudalist nations must engage in socialist revolutions, as opposed to the stagist theory of first having a capitalist revolution.

Political Revolution: The idea that the Soviet Union could be restored to a worker's democracy with a political revolution (as opposed to a social and economic revolution, in the traditional Marxist sense of the word.)

Transitional Programme: The use of "Transitional Demands" which can be introduced into workers' struggles with the possibility of receiving widespread support even in non-revolutionary times, but which lead into conflict with capitalism (forming a United Front, for example). Such demands are deemed to form a "bridge" between the "Maximum program" of revolution and the "Minimum program" of minor reforms under capitalism. (See the The Transitional Program).

In the 21st century, the theory of political revolution is no longer relevant, while the subject of permanent revolution has witnessed historical changes while retaining its relevance. The transitional programme remains valid for many Trotskyists, though to varying degrees.
Historical Development: Named after Leon Trotsky, the leader of the Left Opposition within the Communist Party of the Soviet Union, Trotskyism is the current of Marxism which originated in the International Left Opposition - those members of the Communist International who solidarised with Trotsky's positions in the late 1920s as opposed to Stalin's politics. After the victory of Hitler in Germany in the early 1930s (See Trotsky's writings on the subject), the Trotskyists went on to found a new, Fourth International in opposition to the Third (Communist) International. Though the Trotskyists remained very isolated for many years, in the 1960s many Trotskyist groups were able to build viable organisations at a time when Communist parties were in decline.

The Communist International was always an instrument of foreign policy of the Soviet Union, but in the earliest days this meant the building of communist parties whose aim was to emulate the Bolsheviks and make socialist revolution in their own country. Later, the Comintern became an instrument for bargaining and diplomacy rather than the fostering of revolution. The leaderships of national Communist parties were bureaucratically replaced by orders from Moscow and the serious disputes taking place within the Soviet party misrepresented to the young parties of the Comintern.

The first Trotskyists were people like James Cannon who had visited the Soviet Union as loyal delegates of their Communist Party, but then, having witnessed the struggle taking place within the Soviet party, returned to their home country and set up International Left Opposition groupings.

The issues at this time concerned the reasons for the failure of the German Revolution in 1923, the conduct of the target="_top"1926 General Strike in Britain, and whether the situation in Europe was ripe for revolution, and the tactics of the Chinese Revolution in 1926 and relations between the communists and nationalists.

Until the mid-1930s, these international supporters of Trotsky continued to argue within the Communist Parties of the different countries, even though they were all expelled from membership, vilified and often physically attacked if not murdered. The aim of the Trotskyists until the mid-1930s was to change the leadership and policies of the Soviet Union and the Communist International, and return it to a Marxist orientation, rather than to set up a rival organisation.

The failure of the Comintern to bring about a United Front between Communists and Social Democrats in Germany in the 1930s, opening the door to Hitler, was a turning point. Trotsky remarked, however, that it was not so much that this grave error had been made, but rather that within the ranks of both the leadership and the rank-and-file of the Communist International there was neither recognition of this mistake, nor any attempt to correct it. This, according to Trotsky, meant that the Comintern was "dead for the purposes of Revolution".
Accordingly, the Fourth International was founded in 1938. The aim of the Fourth International was to defend the Soviet Union as a workers' state, independent of the capitalist powers with nationalised means of production controlled by the working class, while at the same time, struggling to overthrow the Stalinist government of the Soviet Union.

The Fourth International suffered badly during World War Two. Not only was its leader, Leon Trotsky, assassinated by a Stalinist agent in August 1940, but many of its members were either murdered, died fighting fascism, or were betrayed to the Nazis by their Communist Party rivals.
After the War, the Red Army soon found itself in control of half of Europe. Despite Stalin's aim to restore capitalist governments in Eastern Europe as a buffer between the Soviet Union and the West, capitalism was soon overthrown in these countries and pro-Soviet, already-bureaucratised, "communist" governments installed.

This posed problems for the small remaining forces of Trotskyism. They had predicted that the War would be followed by revolutions, but they had not expected that the Red Army would be leading them. These new states were characterised as "deformed workers states" by analogy with the Soviet Union which they described as a "degenerated workers state."

The Fourth International grew only slowly for two decades after the War, while at the same time it had split into several competing factions. However, the Hungarian Uprising in 1956 and the subsequent Soviet invasion of Hungary, created an opening in which a number of leading Communist Party intelligentsia in countries around the world switched to Trotskyism. Later, when the Red Army invaded Czechoslovakia to put down the "Prague Spring" the Trotskyists made more gains. The events of 1968 in fact triggered widespread, new social movements and working class struggles, and the Trotskyist parties were well placed to intervene in these events, and grew in strength.

Surprisingly perhaps, the crisis in the Communist Parties in the late-1980s and early 1990s, which culminated in the collapse of the Soviet Union itself, and accompanied by the dissolution of many Communist Parties around the world, also affected the Trotskyist parties. However, many have survived this change of terrain, and Trotskyist parties are to be found all over the world today, and in some countries are larger and more active than those remaining of the former parties of the Comintern.

See Also: Encyclopedia of Trotskyism Online