Socialism

How did Trotsky explain the rise of Stalinism?

The Russian Revolution began as a mass movement with democratic control of society by the workers and poor. But it ended as a brutal police state which collapsed under its own inefficiency.

What caused this complete reversal? Do revolutions inevitably end in treacherous dictatorship? Was the Soviet bureaucracy the same as a capitalist class? What are a ‘degenerated workers’ state’ and a ‘deformed workers’ state’? And what can it all tell us about fighting for socialism today?

This episode of Socialism looks at the revolution betrayed: Trotsky on Stalinism and the ‘degenerated workers’ state’.

The CWI is producing a new book on Trotsky’s life and ideas for the 80th anniversary of his assassination, which this podcast series is following. It’s called ‘Leon Trotsky - A Revolutionary Whose Ideas Couldn’t Be Killed’. You can pre-order it now at www.leftbooks.co.uk.

Further reading

Leon Trotsky's struggle against Stalinism: https://www.socialistparty.org.uk/articles/28804/06-03-2019/leon-trotskys-struggle-against-stalinism

USSR 1989 - the collapse of Stalinism: https://www.socialistparty.org.uk/articles/8375/18-11-2009/ussr-1989-the-collapse-of-stalinism

What About Russia? https://www.socialistparty.org.uk/russia/r2frame.htm?stalin.html

Lenin: the original dictator? http://socialismtoday.org/archive/80/lenin.html

From Stalinism to New Labour: http://socialismtoday.org/archive/230/hobsbawm.htm

Lessons of October (Trotsky): http://leftbooks.co.uk/epages/950002679.sf/en_GB/?ObjectPath=/Shops/950002679/Products/TROT0080

The Revolution Betrayed: What is the Soviet Union and Where is it Going? (Trotsky): https://www.marxists.org/archive/trotsky/1936/revbet/

Stalin - An Appraisal of the Man and His Influence (Trotsky, unfinished): https://www.marxists.org/archive/trotsky/1940/xx/stalin/index.htm

How did Trotsky fight for national liberation?

Socialists aim for a world which doesn’t need borders and ends national divisions. But today, many national groupings are forced into larger states which repress their right to decide their own destiny.

How do Marxists address the complexities of the so-called ‘national question’ - maximising international workers’ cooperation, while supporting the right to national self-determination?

This led to multiple controversies during the lifetime of Leon Trotsky. In our latest instalment on his ideas, we ask how they apply today.

This episode of Socialism looks at socialism and national liberation: Trotsky and the ‘national question’.

80 years since Trotsky's assassination: Why couldn't his ideas be killed? Join the international online rally on Sunday 23 August, 2pm London time! Register now: https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/trotsky-murdered-80-years-ago-why-couldnt-his-ideas-be-killed-registration-115866871933

The CWI is producing a new book on Trotsky’s life and ideas for the 80th anniversary of his assassination, which this podcast series is following. It’s called ‘Leon Trotsky - A Revolutionary Whose Ideas Couldn’t Be Killed’. You can pre-order it now at leftbooks.co.uk.

Further listening and reading

Socialism episode 44. Kurdish national liberation: https://soundcloud.com/socialismpodcast/44-kurdish-national-liberation

Socialism episode 27. The national question, Ireland, and Brexit: https://soundcloud.com/socialismpodcast/27-the-national-question-ireland-and-brexit

The Problem of Nationalities (Trotsky): https://www.marxists.org/archive/trotsky/1930/hrr/ch39.htm

The Socialist Revolution and the Right of Nations to Self-Determination (Lenin): https://www.marxists.org/archive/lenin/works/1916/jan/x01.htm

On the National Question (Trotsky): https://www.marxists.org/archive/trotsky/1923/05/natquest.htm

The Right of Nations to Self-Determination (Lenin): https://www.marxists.org/archive/lenin/works/1914/self-det/index.htm

Troubled Times: The National Question in Ireland (Peter Hadden): https://www.marxists.org/history/etol/writers/hadden/1995/natq/index.html

Catalonia independence movement two years on: https://www.socialistparty.org.uk/articles/29658/02-10-2019/catalonia-independence-movement-two-years-on

Socialists fight for Palestinian liberation and workers' unity: https://www.socialistparty.org.uk/articles/27320/09-05-2018/socialists-fight-for-palestinian-liberation-and-workers-unity

Scottish referendum: "Britain will never be the same again" (2014): https://www.socialistparty.org.uk/articles/19222/16-09-2014/britain-will-never-be-the-same-again

How did Trotsky view the relationship between the revolution and its party?

Where countless other revolutions have failed, the workers of Russia succeeded in taking power in October 1917. The decisive factor was the Bolshevik Party. Leon Trotsky likened it to a “piston-box” which could channel the “steam” of mass revolutionary energy.

Trotsky did not start out as a member of the Bolsheviks. But he came to see the role Lenin had played - preparing an organisation capable of leading the working class during revolutionary upheavals - as vital.

But are the Bolsheviks a model for building a party today? What is the difference between a broad workers’ party and a revolutionary party? And is a revolutionary party all we need to make a successful revolution?

This episode of Socialism looks at political consciousness and organisation: Trotsky and the revolutionary party.

80 years since Trotsky's assassination: Why couldn't his ideas be killed? Join the international online rally on Sunday 23 August, 2pm London time! Register now: https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/trotsky-murdered-80-years-ago-why-couldnt-his-ideas-be-killed-registration-115866871933

Further reading

The Class, the Party and the Leadership (Trotsky): https://www.socialistparty.org.uk/Trotsky/cpl/index.html

The role of a revolutionary party: http://marxism.org.uk/pack/party.html

The Transitional Programme (Trotsky) with an introduction by Peter Taaffe: http://leftbooks.co.uk/epages/950002679.sf/en_GB/?ObjectID=2333802

The Communist Manifesto (Marx and Engels): https://www.socialistparty.org.uk/manifesto/

What Is to Be Done? (Lenin): http://leftbooks.co.uk/epages/950002679.sf/en_GB/?ObjectPath=/Shops/950002679/Products/LENI0011

"Left-Wing" Communism: An Infantile Disorder (Lenin): https://www.marxists.org/archive/lenin/works/1920/lwc/

The Revolutionary Party and its Role in the Struggle for Socialism (Cannon): https://www.marxists.org/archive/cannon/works/1967/party.htm

The First Five Years of the Communist International: Volume One (Trotsky): http://leftbooks.co.uk/epages/950002679.sf/en_GB/?ObjectPath=/Shops/950002679/Products/TROT0091

The First Five Years of the Communist International: Volume Two (Trotsky): http://leftbooks.co.uk/epages/950002679.sf/en_GB/?ObjectPath=/Shops/950002679/Products/TROT0092

The History of the Russian Revolution (Trotsky): https://www.marxists.org/archive/trotsky/1930/hrr/index.htm

What is Leon Trotsky’s theory of ‘permanent revolution’?

In the early 20th century, Russia was still a mostly feudal country. Could it achieve socialism without passing through greater development of capitalism first?

Even today, the economic and social advances promised by the capitalist democratic revolutions have not been fully achieved in any country. This is especially true in the ‘neocolonial’ countries, whose development is held by back by wealthier capitalist powers.

What is ‘combined and uneven development’? Why is it only the working class which can lead a successful mass movement for permanent social change? And why does the revolution have to be international?

This episode of Socialism looks at how history moves forward: Trotsky’s theory of ‘permanent revolution’.

80 years since Trotsky's assassination: Why couldn't his ideas be killed? Join the international online rally on Sunday 23 August, 2pm London time! Register now: https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/trotsky-murdered-80-years-ago-why-couldnt-his-ideas-be-killed-registration-115866871933

Further reading

The striking relevance of Leon Trotsky's Theory of Permanent Revolution: https://www.socialistparty.org.uk/articles/29022/24-04-2019/the-striking-relevance-of-leon-trotskys-theory-of-permanent-revolution

100th anniversary of the ‘Theory of Permanent Revolution’: https://www.socialistparty.org.uk/articles/5001/09-02-2006/are-trotskys-ideas-of-socialist-revolution-still-relevant-today

Trotsky: The Permanent Revolution today: https://www.socialistworld.net/2010/02/18/trotsky-the-permanent-revolution-today/

The Permanent Revolution, and Results and Prospects (Leon Trotsky): https://www.socialistparty.org.uk/Trotsky/permanent/index.html

Nepal: The great general strike – the permanent revolution: https://www.socialistworld.net/2010/06/29/nepal-the-great-general-strike-the-permanent-revolution/

Cuba: Socialism and Democracy: http://leftbooks.co.uk/epages/950002679.sf/en_GB/?ObjectID=27483019

What was Leon Trotsky's part in the Russian revolution?

The events of 1917, and the years which immediately followed, were a political furnace. Failed parties and leaders melted away as hardened political forces and inspirational leaders were forged in white heat of revolution.

There were huge leaps forward, and crushing setbacks. Through it all, Leon Trotsky was one of the political figures most responsible for helping the workers’ movement to navigate a way forward.

This episode of Socialism looks at 1917 and the young workers’ state: Trotsky during the revolution.

80 years since Trotsky's assassination: Why couldn't his ideas be killed? Join the international online rally on Sunday 23 August, 2pm London time! Register now: https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/trotsky-murdered-80-years-ago-why-couldnt-his-ideas-be-killed-registration-115866871933

Further reading

February revolution 1917 - what lessons for today?: https://www.socialistparty.org.uk/articles/24688/22-02-2017/february-revolution-1917-what-lessons-for-today

July Days 1917: battles with counterrevolution: https://www.socialistparty.org.uk/articles/25838/12-07-2017/july-days-1917-battles-with-counterrevolution

Russia, October 1917: When workers took power: https://www.socialistparty.org.uk/articles/26314/18-10-2017/russia-october-1917-when-workers-took-power

The History of the Russian Revolution (Trotsky): https://www.marxists.org/archive/trotsky/1930/hrr/index.htm

The First Five Years of the Communist International: Volume One (Trotsky): http://leftbooks.co.uk/epages/950002679.sf/en_GB/?ObjectPath=/Shops/950002679/Products/TROT0091

The First Five Years of the Communist International: Volume Two (Trotsky): http://leftbooks.co.uk/epages/950002679.sf/en_GB/?ObjectPath=/Shops/950002679/Products/TROT0092

The Class, the Party and the Leadership (Trotsky): http://leftbooks.co.uk/epages/950002679.sf/en_GB/?ObjectID=2075641

My Life: An Attempt at an Autobiography (Trotsky): http://leftbooks.co.uk/epages/950002679.sf/en_GB/?ObjectID=2017056

80 years on from Trotsky’s assassination: can they kill his ideas?

Lev Davidovich Bronstein, better known as Leon Trotsky, was killed on 21 August 1940. What was Stalin so afraid of? And why do capitalist commentators still try to bury Trotsky’s ideas today?

This month, Socialism the Podcast will be answering those questions in a series on Trotsky and Trotskyism. What was his role in Russia’s revolutions? What is the theory of ‘permanent revolution’? How did Stalinism betray it? What is a ‘transitional programme’? And what can workers and socialists today learn from it all?

We begin our series with a general introduction. In the months before his death, Trotsky wrote: “If I had to begin all over again, I would of course try to avoid this or that mistake, but the main course of my life would remain unchanged…

“My faith in the communist future of mankind is not less ardent, indeed it is firmer today, than it was in the days of my youth…

“Life is beautiful. Let the future generations cleanse it of all evil, oppression and violence, and enjoy it to the full.”

This episode of Socialism looks at Leon Trotsky: an introduction to his revolutionary life and ideas.

80 years since Trotsky's assassination: Why couldn't his ideas be killed? Join the international online rally on Sunday 23 August, 2pm London time! Register now: https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/trotsky-murdered-80-years-ago-why-couldnt-his-ideas-be-killed-registration-115866871933

Further reading

Leon Trotsky: A revolutionary's life: https://www.socialistparty.org.uk/articles/15106/29-08-2012/leon-trotsky-a-revolutionarys-life

Russia 1905: When workers gained a glimpse of power: https://www.socialistparty.org.uk/articles/4250/22-01-2005/russia-1905-when-workers-gained-a-glimpse-of-power

The striking relevance of Leon Trotsky's Theory of Permanent Revolution: https://www.socialistparty.org.uk/articles/29022/24-04-2019/the-striking-relevance-of-leon-trotskys-theory-of-permanent-revolution

Russia, October 1917: When workers took power: https://www.socialistparty.org.uk/articles/26314/18-10-2017/russia-october-1917-when-workers-took-power

Leon Trotsky's struggle against Stalinism: https://www.socialistparty.org.uk/articles/28804/06-03-2019/leon-trotskys-struggle-against-stalinism

My Life: An Attempt at an Autobiography (Leon Trotsky): http://leftbooks.co.uk/epages/950002679.sf/en_GB/?ObjectPath=/Shops/950002679/Products/TROT0025

What is scientific socialism, and what can it teach us about the fight for socialist change today?

Labour’s left leadership failed to fight for the urgent political and democratic reforms needed in the party - a missed opportunity for working-class political representation.

In politics, mistakes in tactics begin with mistakes in ideas. That’s why Marxists take ideas so seriously. As Karl Marx himself said: “Practice without theory is blind, theory without practice is sterile.”

In fact, the original name for Marxism was ‘scientific socialism’. In 1880, Marx’s collaborator Friedrich Engels produced ‘Socialism: Utopian and Scientific’, explaining the difference between those two trends in socialist thought.

It was an introduction to some key scientific socialist ideas, from dialectical materialism to Marxist economics. Socialist struggle today could learn much from the mistakes of utopian socialism, old and new, and the rigour of scientific socialism.

The Socialist Party’s publishing house, Socialist Books, republished this classic last year, available from socialistbooks.co.uk.

This episode of Socialism, one of our most popular from 2019, is a re-run of episode 18 - Socialism: Utopian and Scientific.

Further reading

The renewed relevance of Engels' classic, Socialism: Utopian and Scientific: https://www.socialistparty.org.uk/articles/28107/17-10-2018/the-renewed-relevance-of-engels-classic-socialism-utopian-and-scientific

Socialism: Utopian and Scientific (Friedrich Engels): http://www.socialistbooks.co.uk/socialist-books-presents-socialism-utopian-and-scientific/

'Socialism: Utopian and Scientific' questions and resources: http://www.socialistbooks.co.uk/socialism-utopian-and-scientific-resources/

The Masses Arise: The Great French Revolution 1789-1815 (Peter Taaffe): http://leftbooks.co.uk/epages/950002679.sf/en_GB/?ObjectID=2017204

Value, Price and Profit (Karl Marx): http://leftbooks.co.uk/epages/950002679.sf/en_GB/?ObjectPath=/Shops/950002679/Products/MARX0004

An Introduction to the Logic of Marxism (George Novack): http://leftbooks.co.uk/epages/950002679.sf/en_GB/?ObjectPath=/Shops/950002679/Products/NOVA0001

How will Covid-19’s political consequences compare to the aftermath of World War One?

The pandemic crisis is frequently compared to a war. Marxists agree there are parallels for many reasons - not least the political revolts that follow.

After the Great War, British capitalism entered a period of fast-changing economic and political crisis. Slump and mass unemployment; heroic strikes and mutinies; rapid advances for the new workers’ parties - Labour and the Communists.

What can we learn from Britain’s economic strife and political ructions after the First World War? How can these help prepare the workers’ movement for struggles in the era of coronavirus and a new depression?

This episode of Socialism looks at lessons from history: Britain’s revolts after World War One.

Further reading and listening

1920s Britain: A "country nearer Bolshevism than at any time since": https://www.socialistparty.org.uk/articles/30818/27-05-2020/1920s-britain-a-country-nearer-bolshevism-than-at-any-time-since

Building the shop stewards' movement (2008): https://www.socialistparty.org.uk/articles/3632/17-01-2008/feature-building-the-shop-stewards-movement

73. Globalisation and deglobalisation: https://soundcloud.com/socialismpodcast/73-globalisation-and-deglobalisation

64. World economic crisis: a Marxist analysis of the coronavirus crunch: https://soundcloud.com/socialismpodcast/64-world-economic-crisis-a-marxist-analysis-of-the-coronavirus-crunch

66. US imperialism in decline: https://soundcloud.com/socialismpodcast/66-us-imperialism-in-decline-coronavirus-trump-sanders-and-socialism

70. China's new role: https://soundcloud.com/socialismpodcast/70-chinas-new-role

We need to fight for every job. But is such a fight possible?

Thousands of new members are flooding into Britain’s trade unions. But thousands more are losing their jobs every day.

Black Lives Matter and coronavirus inequalities have thrown racism into the spotlight too. Precarious work in the gig economy, and even sweatshop conditions in some areas, are pressing issues for more and more of the working class. How can the unions lead a fightback here?

Meanwhile, as major sections of the union leadership tried to partner up with the government, rank-and-file union members with no choice but to fight have led heroic struggles themselves. What does this mean for how workers need to organise?

This episode of Socialism looks at working-class organisation in the new stage of the pandemic crisis: how the unions need to fight now.

Further listening and reading

Episode 72. You can't have capitalism without racism: https://soundcloud.com/socialismpodcast/72-you-cant-have-capitalism-without-racism

Fight for every job: https://www.socialistparty.org.uk/articles/31025/08-07-2020/fight-for-every-job-fight-for-socialism

NSSN conference: "Fight for our lives and livelihoods": https://www.socialistparty.org.uk/articles/31039/08-07-2020/fantastic-virtual-nssn-conference-fight-for-our-lives-and-livelihoods

Southampton UCU - election victory for combative rank and file: https://www.socialistparty.org.uk/articles/31036/08-07-2020/southampton-ucu-election-victory-for-combative-rank-and-file

Why are the world's economies pulling apart?

World capitalism in recent decades underwent a process often called ‘globalisation’. Competing national economies became more and more integrated and dependent on each other.

Now, the wheels have come off. Trade wars, political disputes, even rumblings of armed conflict - already happening, but exacerbated by the coronavirus pandemic - have marked a process of ‘deglobalisation’.

What is behind these two epoch-defining waves of change? Why are both responsible for worsening conditions for workers, young people and the poor? And is there a way to achieve global economic and political harmony?

This episode of Socialism looks at high and low tides for world capitalism: globalisation and deglobalisation.

Further listening and reading

Socialism 66. US imperialism in decline: https://soundcloud.com/socialismpodcast/66-us-imperialism-in-decline-coronavirus-trump-sanders-and-socialism

Socialism 70. China's new role: https://soundcloud.com/socialismpodcast/70-chinas-new-role

World Economy - the new crisis and its consequences: https://www.socialistworld.net/2020/03/19/world-economy-the-new-crisis-and-its-consequences/

New era of capitalist turmoil and social upheaval opens: https://www.socialistworld.net/2020/05/15/new-era-of-capitalist-turmoil-and-social-upheaval-opens-only-a-socialist-alternative-offers-a-way-forward/

What lies behind the US-China trade war? https://www.socialistworld.net/2019/05/24/what-lies-behind-the-us-china-trade-war/