Description
Book SynopsisThis is the first comprehensive examination of Leon Trotsky's view on revolutionary organisational principles and the dynamic interplay of democratic initiative and principled centralism. Mostly in his own words, these writings are grounded in Trotsky's experience in Russia's revolutionary movement, as a leader of the International Left Opposition and Fourth International.
Trade Review“The collection is a knock-out rebuttal to those who claim that there was continuity between the first few years of the Russian revolution and the Stalinist regime.” –Counterfire
Table of ContentsPrefatory Note from the Authors (2010) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . iii Introductory Note by George Breitman . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . vi Leon Trotsky and the Organizational Principles of the Revolutionary Party . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1 I. The Revolutionary Party: Its Function and Consequent Norms . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2 II. The Challenge of the Left Opposition . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6 1. Function of Democracy in Democratic Centralism . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9 a) The Responsibility of the Ranks . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9 b) How the Party Builds Itself . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10 c) The Responsibility of the Leadership . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12 2. The Bureaucratic Mode of Functioning . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13 a) What Were the Objective Reasons for the Rise of the Bureaucracy? . . . . . . . . . . . 14 b) How the Bureaucratic Apparatus Functioned . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 17 3. Inner-Party Groups and Party Norms . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 22 4. The Program to Restore Party Democracy . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 23 III. Toward the World Party of Socialist Revolution . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 27 1. The Integrity of the Revolutionary Program . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 28 2. Functions of Party Democracy . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 30 3. Stressing Centralism . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 33 4. The Crisis of the French Section . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 37 a) Principled Politics . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 38 b) Democratic Centralism . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 39 c) Party Building and Responsibilities of Leadership . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 40 d) The Turn to Workers and Mass Struggles . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 42 5. Crises of the American Section . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 43 a) Averting an unprincipled Split . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 43 b) Against Freelancing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 48 c) The Sectarian Opposition . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
