DOCSLIB.ORG

The Revolution Betrayed, Has Still Not Been Determined Primarily by the Economic Form

Total Page：16

File Type：pdf, Size：1020Kb

Download full-text PDF Read full-text
The Revolution Betrayed, Has Still Not Been Determined Primarily by the Economic Form ****************************************************************** 'THE REUOLUTlon BETRAYED' -[.J. Arthur ****************************************************************** In spite of Trotsky's tremendous role in the as opposed ~o,Cc) Social Revolution. victory of the Russian Revolution, his name will be forever associated primarily with the struggle The dOctrine is that in the Workers' State a against its decline, with his patient exposures bureaucratic degeneration or deformation has of Stalin's falsifications of the programme, and occured which re~uires a political revolution to the history, of the revolution. establish socialism proper, but that no social revolution is required because capitalist property The unprecedented and unforeseen problems relations have, broadly speaking, iHready been associated with the decline of the revolution faced replaced. The objection that a Workers' State can ~Iarxism with an acute crisis of theory and practice. hardly be said to exist when the workers ~ave no ~Jo-one can deny Trotsky the foremost place amongst rights and are tyrannised over by bureaucratic those who faced up to them seriously on the basis gangsters is got round by pointing out that 'the of uncompromising revolutionary principle. political form of bourgeois dictatorships can vary from parliamentary to fascist without affecting the In my view his main work of analysis in this social base of society, because the latter is field, The Revolution Betrayed, has still not been determined primarily by the economic form. superseded. Cl) '10s t of Trotsky' s cri tics fall into one or other of two camps whose physiognomy he It is this doctrine, and in particular the idea accurately described as follows: that we can counterpose political and social revolution in our programmes so slickly, that I "There: are some who say that since the propose to re-examine. actual state which has emerged from the proletarian revolution does not correspond Preliminaries to ideal a priori norms, therefore they turn their backs on it. That is political In the first place let us note the unfortunate snobbery, common to pacifist-democratic, ambiguity in the term "Workers' State". By this libertarian, anarcho-syndicalist, and is meant, of course, the basic character of society qenerally ultra-Left circles of the as a whole. The state in the narrower sense of the petty-bourgeois intelligensia. There word (i.e. the complex of coercive institutions) is are others who say that since this state acknowledged by Trotskyism not to be in the hands of has emerged from the proletarian the proletariat, but of the party bureaucracy, which revolution therefore every criticism has expropriated the proletariat politically. Even u[ it is sacrilege and counter-revolution. so, it is held that in so far as the interests of That is the vo~ce of hypocrisy behind the bureaucracy itself are connected with nationalised whic!) lurk most often the immediate property, it will in some way or other be likely to materlal interests of certain groups defend the latter against capital.ist encroachment "mony this very same petty-bourgeois and thus be partially a defender of proletarian lntelliJensia, or among the workers' interests. !Jurcaucracy." (2) So far so good. However, the neat dichotomy Ih)\H'Vl'r, it would be surprising if this first political/social begins to disintergrate when attempt, hy even a very capable ~1arxist, to grasp Trotsky argues that is is inexplicable how such a thC'll)'l't i ,';( 11:- the mean ing of the horrors of Stalinism degeneration could occur solely at the political h:ld -;llL'~'L'l'ded, given the unforeseen nature of the level and fills out his account of the political (I t'L'UIlI-; LIIlCl'S. I think one can detect a certain expropriation of the proletariat by giving this a fu)'cin)..: (If the ~Iarxist categories in Trotsky's social basis. :1 tt cmpt -; to comprehend the new material, conceptual ise it. and ,ldapt the revol ut i onary programme to the new "This whole stratum which does not engage t:]-;/-.5. ilere I try to argue, in a tentative way, directly in productive labour, but th:!t the concepts relied on in The Revolution administers, orders, commands, pardons n0tra~cd do not adequately grasp the dialectic of and punishes - teachers and students we tr:ln5ition from capitalism to socialism. The are leaving aside - must be numbered at I'l'CC i ved doct r i ne revolves around the Trinity of five or six million ." l'oncepts: Ca) Workers' State; Cb) Political Revolution, "In the whole mass of the bureaucracy, the communists together with the Communist Youth 'constitute a block of l~ to 2 Even such a severe critic of Trotsky as Nicolas million - at present, owing to continued Krasso (in his New Left Review article of 1967) purgations, rather less than more. This can find no objection ~o the work other than its is the backbone of the sta te power. These "demagogic title". The -debate started by Krasso same communist administrators are the has been republished as TROTSKY: THE GREAT DEBATE backbone of the party, and of the RENEWEO, ed. N Krasso, New Critics Press (St Communist Youth. The former Bolshevik Louis, ~10.) 1971. This book also contains an party is now no longer the vanguard of earlier, longer, version of my present argument. the proletariat, but the political organisation of the bureaucracy ... 'The Workers' State and the Question of Thermidor and Bonapartism', New International, "Hypothetically, we may assume that the .Tul:- 1935 2 labour and collectivised peasant aristocracy, th6 Stakanovists, the non-party 'active' buildings: trusted personages, their relativ6s and relatives in law, approximate the same "I am a K.P.D. official invited here from figure we adopted for the bureaucracy, that the Wes t. I ha ve been gi ven sorre chi ts is five to six million '" Twel V8 pe>: for meals, but I don't know where the cent, or perhaps 15 per cent of the dining room is." population - that is the authentic "That depends what sort of ticket you have." social basis of the autrocratic ruli~g He looked at me in surprise an~ showed me circles." (3) his ticket. It was Category III - a ticket for less important rrembers af staff. I Thus Trotskyists always argue that even the showed him the way. personal dictatorship of St~lin had social roots in "But tell me - are the meals different for a stratum of society - a stratum which Trotsky had different rrembers of staff in the little difficulty in showing had very conisderable Central Corrunittee?" material privileges which sharply differentiated "Yes of course. There are different their interests from those of the masses. kinds of ticket, according to the class of work one is doing. The last A question that immediately arises is that if, two categories are for technicians and even allowing for the relative autonomy of the clerks." . politic~l sphere, ~e find this political expropriation "Yes but ... aren't they all members has a soclal basis in such a stratum, can we talk of the Party?" about a merely political r~volution wh~n such a "Yes, of course, They are all certified revolution would clearly involve dispossessi~g thi~ Party rrembers, including the charwomen stratum not only of its political expression but and chauffers and night-watchmen." also of its material privileges? Especially when He looked at me in astonishment and said, Trotsky computes that over twelve per cent of the "Different tickets - different meals - population may be involved? and they are all rrembers of the Party!" He turned and went wi thout another word. In The Revolution Betrayed Trotsky bases his A morrent later I heard the creak of the analysis primarily on antagonisms in the sphere of front door. My comrade had left the distribution flowing from a low level of productivity. Central Corrunittee building. Thoughtfully However far more important than its effect on I crossed the courtyard to the dining­ distribution will be the effect of the so-called room. I went through the rooms in which political revolution on production itself. Trotsky Categories III and IV the lower classes does not stress this, partially because of the were fed; a~for tii; first time I had administrative bent Lenin noted (4) no doubt, an uneasy feeling as I opened the door partially again perhaps because the low level of the into the dining-room reserved for our masses in his day makes my point academic. This category. Here at a table covered with point is that the social character of production in a white cloth, the senior members of staff the Soviet Union sets fetters on the most important enjoyed an excellent rreal of several productive force of all, namely the initiative and courses. Curious, I thought, that this creativity of the worker himself. The completely has never struck me before!" (5) hierarchical command structure of the Soviet economy makes the individual worker the same kind of labour What is important in this example is not so power machine and nothing else, that he is in a much that such a hierarchy exists but that no-one capitalist factory. Who can doubt that a new upsurge thinks it particularly odd. Values have to change of proletarian revolution, sweeping away bureaucratic with the structures - large-scale transformations privilege, would also restructure production itself of people's unders tanding of themselves and thei r so as to provide avenues of expression for the social relationships - if socialism is to come out enthusiasm and ingenuity of the workers. It is not of this at all a question, as the C.P.S.U. right-wing and the bourgeois press duet, of personnel changes, i.e. The Basis of the degeneration replacing politically reliable but stupid cadres with technically competent ones; but of the entry of an Before we proceed let us consider the vulgar educated working class into the arena.
Load more

Recommended publications
  • The Russian Revolutions: the Impact and Limitations of Western Influence
    Dickinson College Dickinson Scholar Faculty and Staff Publications By Year Faculty and Staff Publications 2003 The Russian Revolutions: The Impact and Limitations of Western Influence Karl D. Qualls Dickinson College Follow this and additional works at: https://scholar.dickinson.edu/faculty_publications Part of the European History Commons Recommended Citation Qualls, Karl D., "The Russian Revolutions: The Impact and Limitations of Western Influence" (2003). Dickinson College Faculty Publications. Paper 8. https://scholar.dickinson.edu/faculty_publications/8 This article is brought to you for free and open access by Dickinson Scholar. It has been accepted for inclusion by an authorized administrator. For more information, please contact [email protected]. Karl D. Qualls The Russian Revolutions: The Impact and Limitations of Western Influence After the collapse of the Soviet Union, historians have again turned their attention to the birth of the first Communist state in hopes of understanding the place of the Soviet period in the longer sweep of Russian history. Was the USSR an aberration from or a consequence of Russian culture? Did the Soviet Union represent a retreat from westernizing trends in Russian history, or was the Bolshevik revolution a product of westernization? These are vexing questions that generate a great deal of debate. Some have argued that in the late nineteenth century Russia was developing a middle class, representative institutions, and an industrial economy that, while although not as advanced as those in Western Europe, were indications of potential movement in the direction of more open government, rule of law, free market capitalism. Only the Bolsheviks, influenced by an ideology imported, paradoxically, from the West, interrupted this path of Russian political and economic westernization.
    [Show full text]
  • History of the Trotskyist Movement
    Trotskyists debate Ireland Workers’ Liberty Volume 3 No 48 December/January 2014 £1 www.workersliberty.org Reason in revolt The two Trotskyisms during World War Two Left: the “orthodox Trotskyists” try to annex some of the Russian Army’s glory. Right: those same Trotskyists knew who Stalin was. History of the Trotskyist movement By Sean Matgamna was the main writer on that side of the divide. On the under - leader Hugo Urbahns, Trotsky had dealt comprehensively lying political issues, as we shall see, the picture was far less with more or less all the political issues concerning Stalinism By the eve of Leon Trotsky’s death in August 1940, the Amer - clear-cut. and its place in history with which he dealt in 1939-40. ican Trotskyist organisation, which was by far the most im - And why was this the starting point of two distinct Trot - 1940 was the definitive branching-off of the two Trotskyist portant group in the Fourth International, had split. Two skyist tendencies? From the very beginning of his exile from roads for two reasons. It was the end of Trotsky’s life, his last currents of Trotskyism had begun the process of complete the USSR in 1929, Trotsky and his comrades had had many word on the subject. And it marked a decisive turn for Stalin - separation, but only begun. disputes about the exact nature, the class content, and the his - ism — the beginning of the Russian expansion that would by It would take most of a decade before the evolution of two torical implications of Stalinism and of the USSR over which 1945 see Russia gain control of half of Europe.
    [Show full text]
  • Trotsky and the Problem of Soviet Bureaucracy
    TROTSKY AND THE PROBLEM OF SOVIET BUREAUCRACY by Thomas Marshall Twiss B.A., Mount Union College, 1971 M.A., University of Pittsburgh, 1972 M.S., Drexel University, 1997 Submitted to the Graduate Faculty of Arts and Sciences in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy University of Pittsburgh 2009 UNIVERSITY OF PITTSBURGH FACULTY OF ARTS AND SCIENCES This dissertation was presented by Thomas Marshall Twiss It was defended on April 16, 2009 and approved by William Chase, Professor, Department of History Ronald H. Linden, Professor, Department of Political Science Ilya Prizel, Professor, Department of Political Science Dissertation Advisor: Jonathan Harris, Professor, Department of Political Science ii Copyright © by Thomas Marshall Twiss 2009 iii TROTSKY AND THE PROBLEM OF SOVIET BUREAUCRACY Thomas Marshall Twiss, PhD University of Pittsburgh, 2009 In 1917 the Bolsheviks anticipated, on the basis of the Marxist classics, that the proletarian revolution would put an end to bureaucracy. However, soon after the revolution many within the Bolshevik Party, including Trotsky, were denouncing Soviet bureaucracy as a persistent problem. In fact, for Trotsky the problem of Soviet bureaucracy became the central political and theoretical issue that preoccupied him for the remainder of his life. This study examines the development of Leon Trotsky’s views on that subject from the first years after the Russian Revolution through the completion of his work The Revolution Betrayed in 1936. In his various writings over these years Trotsky expressed three main understandings of the nature of the problem: During the civil war and the first years of NEP he denounced inefficiency in the distribution of supplies to the Red Army and resources throughout the economy as a whole.
    [Show full text]
  • North Korea and the Theory of the Deformed Workers' State
    North Korea and the Theory of the Deformed Workers’ State: Definitions and First Principles of a Fourth International Theory Alzo David-West James P. Cannon, Peng Shuzi, Pierre Frank, Michel Pablo, Ernest Mandel, and Tim Wohlforth Abstract This essay examines the academically neglected theory of the deformed workers’ state in relation to the political character of the North Korean state. Developed by leaders of the Fourth International, the world party of socialism founded by exiled Russian Bolshevik revolutionary Leon Trotsky, the theory classifies the national states that arose under post- Second World War Soviet Army occupation as bureaucratic, hybrid, transitional formations that imitated the Soviet Stalinist system. The author reviews the origin of the theory, explores its political propositions and apparent correspondences in the North Korean case, and concludes with some hypotheses and suggestions for further research. Copyright © 2012 by Alzo David-West and Cultural Logic, ISSN 1097-3087 Alzo David-West 2 Introduction On the centenary of the birth of Kim Il Sung in 2012, North Korea entered a period officially designated as “opening the gate to a great prosperous and powerful socialist nation.” Coming after the post-Soviet rise of markets within a planned economy, the initiation of capitalist Special Economic Zones in the early 1990s and 2000s, market- oriented economic and currency reforms in 2002, and the dropping of “communism” from the 2009 revised constitution, the reference to present-day North Korea as a “socialist nation” is evidently more symbolic than substantial. Still, over sixty years after the founding of the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea (DPRK) on 9 September 1948, the political character of the North Korean state remains a more or less unresolved issue in North Korean studies.
    [Show full text]
  • Download Download
    A FUTURE FOR SOCIALISM IN THE USSR? Justin Schwartz The fate of socialism is linked to the crisis in the USSR, the first nation to profess socialism as an ideal. But as the Soviet Union prepares to drop "socialist" from its name, ' it is opportune to inquire whether there is a future for socialism in the USSR. Whether we think so, however, depends in part on whether we think it had a past. "Actually existing socialism" - we need a new term, perhaps "formerly existing socialism" - is not socialism as historically understood, for example, by Marx, involving a democratically controlled economy and a state subordinate to society. The Soviet system is not socialist in this sense but is essentially Stalinist, both in its historical origin and its character, involving a command economy and a dictatorial state. The Stalinist system forfeited its moral authority by repressiveness and lost its economic legitimacy by unsuccessfully competing with the West on the consumerist grounds that favour capitalism instead of the democratic ones that favour socialism. Having delivered neither prosperity nor democracy, it is in disintegration. Socialism in the USSR would thus require not reclaiming a lost revolutionary achieve- ment, for, despite the early aspirations of the Bolsheviks, the USSR was never socialist, but a systematic transformation of society, not a restructuring (perestroika) but a revolutionary reconstruction. In a crisis situation prediction is speculative, but the short-term prospects for a socialist reconstruction of Soviet society, in the classical sense of the term, are slim. Such a project finds support in some sectors of an increasingly organized and mobilized working class, at least in the Slavic republics, but Soviet workers are sharply divided along ethnic and national lines.
    [Show full text]
  • The Historical and International Foundations of the Socialist Equality Party
    The Historical and International Foundations of the Socialist Equality Party Adopted by the SEP Founding Congress August 3-9, 2008 © 2008 Socialist Equality Party Contents The Principled Foundations of the Socialist Equality Party ......................................................................................................................1 The Origins and Development of Marxism .................................................................................................................................................2 The Origins of Bolshevism ..........................................................................................................................................................................3 The Theory of Permanent Revolution ........................................................................................................................................................4 Lenin’s Defense of Materialism ...................................................................................................................................................................5 Imperialist War and the Collapse of the Second International ..................................................................................................................6 The Russian Revolution and the Vindication of Permanent Revolution ..................................................................................................8 The Communist International ..................................................................................................................................................................10
    [Show full text]
  • The Revolution Betrayed: an Interview with Ken Loach Author(S): Richard Porton and Ken Loach Source: Cinéaste , 1996, Vol
    The Revolution Betrayed: An Interview with Ken Loach Author(s): Richard Porton and Ken Loach Source: Cinéaste , 1996, Vol. 22, No. 1 (1996), pp. 30-31 Published by: Cineaste Publishers, Inc. Stable URL: http://www.jstor.com/stable/41661139 JSTOR is a not-for-profit service that helps scholars, researchers, and students discover, use, and build upon a wide range of content in a trusted digital archive. We use information technology and tools to increase productivity and facilitate new forms of scholarship. For more information about JSTOR, please contact [email protected]. Your use of the JSTOR archive indicates your acceptance of the Terms & Conditions of Use, available at https://about.jstor.org/terms Cineaste Publishers, Inc. is collaborating with JSTOR to digitize, preserve and extend access to Cinéaste This content downloaded from 95.183.184.51 on Fri, 07 Aug 2020 09:26:40 UTC All use subject to https://about.jstor.org/terms CD Z3 O The Revolution OJ o 3" ZT O 0 Betrayed: š An Interview with Ken Loach 1°I g- I 3 1 O by Richard Porton ãT lä Loach , unquestionably one of Britain s most important wanted it to be an emotional story as well, with people who had tne ly filmmakers , zs fresi known for his gritty and compassionate limitations as well as the hopes of their times. .X X. portrayals of working-class life. Early in his career, a series Cineaste: How many drafts did the script go through ? of socially conscious BBC films established the fact that Loach was Loach: Hundreds, I would think.
    [Show full text]
  • C. L. R. JAMES EDITED and INTRODUCED by Christian Høgsbjerg
    C. L. R. JAMES EDITED AND INTRODUCED BY Christian Høgsbjerg WORLD REVOLUTION 1917–1936 THE RISE AND FALL OF THE COMMUNIST INTERNATIONAL WORLD REVOLUTION 1917–1936 ||||| C. L. R. James in Trafalgar Square (1935). Courtesy of Getty Images. the c. l. r. james archives recovers and reproduces for a con temporary audience the works of one of the great intel- lectual figures of the twentiethc entury, in all their rich texture, and will pres ent, over and above historical works, new and current scholarly explorations of James’s oeuvre. Robert A. Hill, Series Editor WORLD REVOLUTION 1917–1936 The Rise and Fall of the Communist International ||||| C. L. R. J A M E S Edited and Introduced by Christian Høgsbjerg duke university press Durham and London 2017 Introduction and Editor’s Note © 2017 Duke University Press World Revolution, 1917–1936 © 1937 C. L. R. James Estate Harry N. Howard, “World Revolution,” Annals of the American Acad emy of Po liti cal and Social Science, pp. xii, 429 © 1937 Pioneer Publishers E. H. Carr, “World Revolution,” International Affairs (Royal Institute of International Affairs 1931–1939) 16, no. 5 (September 1937), 819–20 © 1937 Wiley All rights reserved Printed in the United States of Amer i ca on acid- free paper ∞ Typeset in Arno Pro and Gill Sans Std by Westchester Publishing Ser vices Library of Congress Cataloging- in- Publication Data Names: James, C. L. R. (Cyril Lionel Robert), 1901–1989, author. | Høgsbjerg, Christian, editor. Title: World revolution, 1917–1936 : the rise and fall of the Communist International / C. L. R. James ; edited and with an introduction by Christian Høgsbjerg.
    [Show full text]
  • Pathfinder Press Publications, 1922-2014
    http://oac.cdlib.org/findaid/ark:/13030/tf6h4nb1gn No online items Register of the Pathfinder Press Publications, 1922-2014 Finding aid prepared by Processed by Hoover Institution Staff; machine-readable finding aid created by Hernán Cortés Hoover Institution Archives 434 Galvez Mall Stanford University Stanford, CA, 94305-6010 (650) 723-3563 [email protected] © 1998 Register of the Pathfinder Press 92116 1 Publications, 1922-2014 Title: Pathfinder Press Publications Date (inclusive): 1922-2014 Collection Number: 92116 Contributing Institution: Hoover Institution Archives Language of Material: English Physical Description: 52 manuscript boxes, 5 phonotape cassettes, 1 envelope(21.8 linear feet) Abstract: Record copies of books, pamphlets, and bulletins, relating to Marxist theory and socialist political analysis and commentary, and including works of Leon Trotsky, Fidel Castro, Malcolm X and others. Includes publications of Pioneer Publishers, Merit Publishers, and Monad Press, predecessors of Pathfinder Press; publications issued directly by the Socialist Workers Party and affiliates; and foreign-language translations of Pathfinder Press publications. Also includes some unpublished material related to publishing projects. creator: Pathfinder Press. Access Collection open for research. The Hoover Institution Archives only allows access to copies of audiovisual items. To listen to sound recordings or to view videos or films during your visit, please contact the Archives at least two working days before your arrival. We will then advise you of the accessibility of the material you wish to see or hear. Please note that not all audiovisual material is immediately accessible. Publication Rights For copyright status, please contact the Hoover Institution Archives. Preferred Citation [Identification of item], Pathfinder Press publications, [Box no.], Hoover Institution Archives.
    [Show full text]
  • Russian Review
    I _ . _ I I . _ _ _ -- -- -- ___ -. -.... -- ... .._ THE RUSSIAN REVIEW An AmericanQuarterly Devoted to Russia Past and Present July 1990 Vol 49 No. 3 Price $8.00 - ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~1 ISSN 0036-0341 This content downloaded from 147.213.131.2 on Fri, 28 Mar 2014 04:19:17 AM All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions ll~R13~*1~WL11~3 S The Crisis of Russian Autocracy Nicholas II and the 1905 Revolution Andrew M. Verner Two men loom large in the waning days of the Russian empire: Lenin and Nicholas II-the former by force of his personality and ideas, the latter by virtue of his inherited dominion over one-sixth of the earth. Yet, although the victor has commanded scholarly attention commensurate with his historical importance, the loser has not. Nicholas was the linch- pin of the autocratic system, but his key role has been largely ignored except for some dismissive or hagiographic treatments. Andrew Verer redresses this neglect by providing both a fascinating psychological biog- raphy of the ruler and a probing analysis of his part in the revolutionary crisis of 1905. Studiesof the HarrimanInstitute, Columbia University Cloth:$35.00 ISBN 0-691-04773-1 New in paperback Mothers of Misery ChildAbanonment in Russia David L. Ransel "There were two central foundling homes in Russia, one in Moscow, one in St. Petersburg.... [In this book] no significantaspect of their history is left untouched, and many issues are de- scribed and analyzed in rich detail.... the book becomes, in part, a history of rural Russia over a one-hundred-fifty- year period, or, more accurately,of the provincialhinterlands of the two capi- tals...
    [Show full text]
  • Leon Trotsky's Contribution to the Marxist Theory Of
    Studies in East European Thought (2006) 58:1–31 Ó Springer 2006 DOI 10.1007/s11212-005-3677-z PAUL BLACKLEDGE LEON TROTSKY’S CONTRIBUTION TO THE MARXIST THEORY OF HISTORY ABSTRACT. Trotsky’s contribution to historical materialism has been subject to two broadly defined critical assessments. Detractors have tended to dismiss his interpretation of Marxism as a form of productive force determinism, while admirers have tended to defend his Marxism as a vol- untarist negation of the same. In this essay I argue that both of these opinions share an equally caricatured interpretation of Second International Marxism against which Trotsky is compared. By contrast, I argue that Trotsky’s Marxism can best be understood as a powerful application and deepening of the strongest elements of Second International methodology to a novel set of problems. Thus, against Trotsky’s admirers, I locate his Marxism as both emerging out of, in addition to breaking with, Second International Marxism; while, against his critics, I argue that it was precisely the strengths of this earlier interpretation of Marxism that informed Trotsky’s powerful contributions to historical materialism: his concept of combined and uneven development and his discussion of the role of indi- vidual agents within the Marxist interpretation of history. KEY WORDS: Leon Trotsky, historical materialism, Marxism, historio- graphy INTRODUCTION The centenary both of the Russian Revolution of 1905 and of Leon Trotsky’s formulation of the theory of permanent revo- lution in 1906 is perhaps an apt moment to reconsider Trotsky’s contribution to the Marxist theory of history. While Trotsky’s place in the history books is guaranteed by the political role he played in the Russian Revolutions of 1905 and 1917, his posi- tion amongst the first rank of Marxist theoreticians has been contested throughout the 20th century; advocates have pro- claimed his genius, whilst critics have dismissed his crude mimicry of greater figures within the classical Marxist tradition.
    [Show full text]
  • The Foundations of the Japanese Communist Party
    The University of San Francisco USF Scholarship: a digital repository @ Gleeson Library | Geschke Center Master's Projects and Capstones Theses, Dissertations, Capstones and Projects Spring 5-18-2018 Betraying Revolution: The oundF ations of the Japanese Communist Party Matthew .J Crooke University of San Francisco, [email protected] Follow this and additional works at: https://repository.usfca.edu/capstone Part of the Asian History Commons, Japanese Studies Commons, Philosophy of Science Commons, Political History Commons, and the Political Theory Commons Recommended Citation Crooke, Matthew J., "Betraying Revolution: The oundF ations of the Japanese Communist Party" (2018). Master's Projects and Capstones. 775. https://repository.usfca.edu/capstone/775 This Project/Capstone is brought to you for free and open access by the Theses, Dissertations, Capstones and Projects at USF Scholarship: a digital repository @ Gleeson Library | Geschke Center. It has been accepted for inclusion in Master's Projects and Capstones by an authorized administrator of USF Scholarship: a digital repository @ Gleeson Library | Geschke Center. For more information, please contact [email protected]. Betraying Revolution: The Foundations of the Japanese Communist Party Matthew Crooke May 1, 2018 Master of Arts Capstone 650 Asia Pacific Studies 1 Introduction The international working class in 2018 faces declining economic and social conditions around the world. Increasingly no longer capable of living in the old manner, the proletariat is searching for political
    [Show full text]