(Barry: You sent this to the administration address. Make sure you send mail to [EMAIL PROTECTED] -comradely, Macdonald Co-Moderator) Adam Levenstein: Nearly every Trotskyist group out there wants to rebuild, reform, or somehow start the Fourth International up again. Yet the sad, simple fact is - the Fourth International was an unquestionable failure. Roger Blackwell: Why would a Fifth International be any better? 'In the question of the social character of the U.S.S.R., mistakes commonly flow... from replacing the historical fact with the programmatic norm. Concrete fact departs from the norm... The contradiction between the concrete fact and the norm constrains us not to reject the norm but, on the contrary, to fight for it by means of the revolutionary road...' (Trotsky, In Defense of Marxism, New Park 1971, p. 3). It must be soberly conceded that Trotsky's 'programmatic norm' in the statement above refers to nothing more than his CONCEPTION of what socialism, particularly socialism under duress, SHOULD be. There is an element of nihilist utopianism even in his hard-knuckled (and tactically sound) argument for defending the gains of actually existing socialism, 'deformed' socialism as he called it. Explaining the 'degeneration' of the worker's revolution, he famously wrote: 'The basis of bureaucratic rule is the poverty of society in objects of consumption, with the resulting struggle of each against all. When there is enough goods in a store, the purchasers can come whenever they want to. When there is little goods, the purchasers are compelled to stand in line. When the lines are very long, it is necessary to appoint a policeman to keep order. Such is the starting point of the power of the Soviet bureaucracy' (The Revolution Betrayed, Doubleday, Dorin & Co. 1937, p. 112). What Trotsky failed to address in his long, ultimately terminal power struggle with Stalin, was what he, if placed in Stalin's shoes, would have done that would have altered the objective conditions that led to 'the poverty of society in objects of consumption, with the resulting struggle of each against all.' Thus the 'great man of history' perspective, so infamously cited against Bolshevism, was adopted by Trotsky to some extent. My point being... The 4th International was created, at least in part, by Trotsky to challenge Stalin's leadership. Yet---whether or not Trotsky, given the power enjoyed by Stalin, COULD have done 'better' than Stalin is a question that contradicts the core of historical materialism. Case in point: the creation of the Soviet bloc after World War Two would have at least met some of Trotsky's grandest internationalist ambitions. I say: the dispute for leadership between Trotsky and Stalin is a dead issue---THEREFORE the 4th International, an instrument OF that leadership struggle, is also dead.* The next international, if it must have a figurehead, should have a LIVING figurehead. ................................................ * This opinion in no way repudiates the many brilliant contributions to Marxist science made by Trotsky (combined & uneven development, permanent revolution, unconditional defense, united front) NOR does it attempt to discredit the very real progress made on behalf of socialism by Stalin (industrialization, defeat of Nazism, development of atomic technology) and even those who initially followed him (political liberalization, deconcentration of authority, military parity with NATO) under the worst possible conditions. I see them all, and all their differences, as HISTORICAL exigencies reified. ------------------------------------------- Macdonald Stainsby Rad-Green List: Radical anti-capitalist environmental discussion. http://lists.wwpublish.com/mailman/listinfo/rad-green ---- Leninist-International: Building bridges within Marxism in the tradition of V.I. Lenin. http://lists.wwpublish.com/mailman/listinfo/leninist-international ---- _______________________________________________ Leninist-International mailing list [EMAIL PROTECTED] To change your options or unsubscribe go to: http://lists.wwpublish.com/mailman/listinfo/leninist-international
