> On Jun 16, 2026, at 11:06, Charles via groups.io > <[email protected]> wrote: > > Just as a matter of the history of an ideology, the notion of Bonapartism has > been used mainly by Trotsky---s,
I always like the name "Trots" but some take offense at it. In 1971, I remember SWPers using "Trots" when preparing for mass public meetings where votes would decide action. We would meet; someone from the branch exec or head or the fraction would propose goals and a strategy for the meeting; changes would be proposed and debated; then the chair would restate what we were going to do together. It was centralism after that. But the last point was "ok, who's a trot and who's not?" We would assign roles to those who would identify their SWP or YSA affiliation and those who would shill. I never got to be a trot in those months but instead played a Temple student if the meeting was at Temple or a Penn student at Penn. I felt uncomfortable with the deception but had recognized people from the CPUSA doing the same thing. Our interventions were effective: I watched SWPers sway meetings with their arguments. But I didn't join the Trotkyists in 1971 because of their ideas; I joined because of their actions. The SWP/YSA were in the leadership of the massive US antiwar movement after 1970 while the CPUSA and Maoists had their heads up their asses, viz. May Day 1971. > secondarily by liberal political scientists, and rarely by Marxist theorists. > You can take a passing remark by Marx from a journalistic account of current > events and blow it up like a balloon with a lot of hot air. > How many dozen times did Marx use the term "Bonapartist" or "Bonapartism?" What about Gramsci? There is also Hal Draper, Mike Davis, Perry Anderson. The common denominator might not be "Trotsky@@@s" but people writing on Marxist theory of the state. Did that ever occur to you? Mark -=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=- Groups.io Links: You receive all messages sent to this group. View/Reply Online (#42065): https://groups.io/g/marxmail/message/42065 Mute This Topic: https://groups.io/mt/119773879/21656 -=-=- 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]] -=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-
