Charlie, the "parent" argument is assigning generational guilt to an organization that *factually* has little do with Trotskyist politics or program. Each of your points is flawed. 1. WORKERS WORLD argument. Only 1 issue of the Workers World newspaper, it's very first, identified with the Fourth International and Trotskyism. Pretty much every one who around then or I talked with (I did have a conversation with Vince Copeland about this in San Francisco in the early 1980s) said within a few months the WWP tossed *every single precept of Trotskyism* out the window. Permanent Revolution, opposition to Stalinism, opposition to supporting the Democrats, the Transitional Program, and the even, especially, the concept of a World Party of Socialist Revolution. The only thing they did not jump into bed with Stalinism was anti-Trotskyism. This they rejected by never dealing with it or defending it. So by 1960, it has been wrong to identify them as "Trotskyists".
2. Yes, Sam Marcy would on occasion play up the Stalin vs Trotsky bit. Copeland did the same thing with me when we talked. They certainly never liked Stalin or what he stood for. But they would almost never denounce Stalin. They went so far as to sell the SWP's "In Defense of Marxism" Trotsky's strident defense of the U.S.S.R. as a workers state. But "TrotskyISM" is certainly something WWP was not. In general, the WWP opposed polemics between the "great leaders of the workers movement". 3. Brian Becker may of been more sanguine about Trotsky than others in his movement but the emphasis on Trotsky's pre-1917/Bolshevik period is something part and partial of much of Stalinist polemics against Trotsky. I'd have to see the original context. The PSL carries on the WWP ecumenical opposition to tagging "Stalinist" or "Trotskyist" to their political opponents on the socialist left. Because the two WWP founders, Sam Marcy and Vince Copeland started out in the SWP doesn't mean they have to wear the Scarlet "T" on their chests forever. Trotskyist baiting either of these two organizations is silly and, it seems, self serving. Like WWP, the PSL is not and, unlike the WWP, never has been "Trotskyist". David -=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=- Groups.io Links: You receive all messages sent to this group. View/Reply Online (#32082): https://groups.io/g/marxmail/message/32082 Mute This Topic: https://groups.io/mt/108305074/21656 -=-=- POSTING RULES & NOTES #1 YOU MUST clip all extraneous text when replying to a message. #2 This mail-list, like most, is publicly & permanently archived. #3 Subscribe and post under an alias if #2 is a concern. #4 Do not exceed five posts a day. -=-=- Group Owner: [email protected] Unsubscribe: https://groups.io/g/marxmail/leave/8674936/21656/1316126222/xyzzy [[email protected]] -=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-
