On Sun, Oct 13, 2024 at 08:42 PM, Charlie wrote: > > Marv says I "focus on the 'crisis of leadership' in both the USSR and > China."
Beyond any doubt. Where the Trotskyists attribute the failure of the revolution in the USSR and China primarily to the "betrayal" of the masses by the misleaders Stalin and Mao, Charlie and his fellow Stalinists attribute the failure of the revolution in the USSR and China to the "betrayal" of the masses by the misleaders who succeeded them, Khrushchev and Deng. The Trotskyists are unable to explain why the masses didn't react as expected to such misleadership betrayals by rising up against Stalin and Mao and their successors, while the Stalinists are equally unable to explain why the masses didn't later rise up as expected against Khrushchev and Deng and their successors. Both tendencies rely on a fundamentally idealist interpretation of history not dissimilar to great man theory favoured by bourgeois ideologues. But on those occasions when the masses have turned revolutionary, it has typically been in response to an abrupt collapse of the system which can no longer attend to their most basic material needs, to deliver essential life-sustaining goods and services, often as a result of wartime-induced shortages and inflation. Then the masses are forced by necessity to take matters into their own hands and they turn to political parties and popular organizations which credibly offer a way out of the crisis. At such times, they rouse themselves to attend meetings and demonstrations and they take an intense interest in politics. In such revolutionary crises, leadership can be decisive as in Lenin's case, but not outside of such crises. In normal times, when the conditions of existence are stable or improving, mass interest in politics wanes and is replaced by such narrower and more immediate concerns such as family, friends, jobs, personal development and leisure activity. Conditions may have started to turn down for the current political generation which is reflected in increased discontent from both left and right but it is still expressed in demands for reform of the system by its ruling class parties rather than its revolutionary overthrow. -=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=- Groups.io Links: You receive all messages sent to this group. View/Reply Online (#32877): https://groups.io/g/marxmail/message/32877 Mute This Topic: https://groups.io/mt/108969231/21656 -=-=- 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/13617172/21656/1316126222/xyzzy [[email protected]] -=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-
