My general tendency is to avoid Stalin-Trotsky debates and have even
ruled them as out of order on Marxmail since they inevitably lead to
flame wars and have very little relevance to politics today. As proof of
the latter, my closest political associate was the late Mark Jones who
was about as hard core a Stalinist as they come. But we found that our
agreements about the environmental crisis and imperialism superseded
whatever disagreements we had about the Spanish Civil War, etc.
If pressed, I will defend Trotsky’s analysis of fascism, the popular
front and all the rest. I am sharply critical of Trotsky’s
party-building methodology but have yet to read a more cogent analysis
of the tragic events that led to the rise of fascism and WWII. For the
most part, this analysis has achieved intellectual hegemony. If you read
New Left Review, Monthly Review, and other influential Marxist journals,
you will find very little special pleading on Stalin’s behalf.
read full article:
http://louisproyect.wordpress.com/2009/09/14/joseph-stalin-nostalgia/
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