Against Trotskyism

The following study guide was originally published by The Marxist-Leninist news blog: 

“The entire edifice of Leninism at the present time is built on lies and falsification and bears within itself the poisonous elements of its own decay” – Leon Trotsky, letter to Chkheidze, 1913.

The question of Trotsky is not merely a historical question. Firstly and most importantly it is a question of political line. There are significant political reasons that Trotskyism has failed to ever lead a successful revolution. It is a fact that Trotsky, on the one hand, and Lenin and Stalin on the other, put forward two very different and opposing lines on almost every major question for the international communist movement. Rejected by the Communist Party of the Soviet Union and by the Soviet people as well, Trotsky then turned bitterly to the organization of counter-revolution, both within the Soviet Union and internationally.

To help clearify these important points for the international communist movement, The Marxist-Leninist has put together this reading guide. It has been incorporated into the Marxist-Leninist Study Guide as well. The main texts here are (1) M.J. Olgin’s outstanding study of Trotskyism which deals well with the political differences between Bolshevism and Trotskyism, (2) an article by Nadezhda Krupskaya (the wife of Lenin) on Trotsky’s distortions of the history of the October Revolution, and (3) an eyewitness account by Harry Haywood, the great African American Communist leader, of Trotsky’s ideological defeat by Stalin. Many supplementary texts are provided as well. For more on the contributions of Stalin to the ICM, see Long Live the Universal Contributions of Comrade Joseph Stalin.

“It is the duty of the Party to bury Trotskyism as an ideological trend.” – Joseph Stalin

Beginning and Essential readings

• Trotskyism: Counter-Revolution in Disguise by M. J. Olgin
• The Lessons of October by Nadezhda Krupskaya
• Trotsky’s Day in Court by Harry Haywood

Supplemental readings

• Disruption of Unity Under Cover of Outcries for Unity by V. I. Lenin
• Once Again on the Trade Unions: The Current Situation and the Mistakes of Trotsky and Bukharin by V. I. Lenin
• Trotskyism or Leninism? by J. V. Stalin
• The October Revolution and the Tactics of the Russian Communists by J. V. Stalin
• Concerning Questions of Leninism by J. V. Stalin
• The Trotskyist Opposition Before and Now by J. V. Stalin
• The Party and the Opposition by J. V. Stalin
• Mastering Bolshevism by J. V. Stalin
• On the Final Victory of Socialism in the U.S.S.R. by J. V. Stalin
• Struggle of the Bolsheviks Against Trotskyism and the Anti-Party August Bloc from the History of the CPSU (Bolsheviks) – Short Course
• Defeat of the Trotskyites from the History of the CPSU (Bolsheviks) – Short Course
• The Errors of Trotskyism: A Symposium
• The Case of the Trotskyite-Zinovievite Terrorist Centre: Report of Court Proceedings
• The Moscow Trial Was Fair by D.N. Pritt & Pat Sloan
• Evidence of Leon Trotsky’s Collaboration with Germany and Japan (.pdf) by Grover Furr
• Left in Form, Right in Essence: A Critique of Contemporary Trotskyism by Carl Davidson (October League)
• On Trotskyism: Problems of Theory and History by Kostas Mavrakis
• Trotskyism or Leninism? (Preface) by Harpal Brar (CPGB-ML)
• Stalin and the Chinese Revolution – Two lines on the Chinese Revolution: the line of the Comintern and Stalin versus the line of the Trotskyist opposition by Harpal Brar
• How Trotskyism ‘remembers’ the Spanish Civil War a polemic agaainst the Socialist Workers Party (Britain) by the CPGB-ML
• Trotsky’s struggle against Fascism, according to one of his latter-day admirers from Lalkar
• Revolution in Colombia: ISO Stands on the Wrong Side a polemic against the International Socialist Organization by the FRSO
• Lessons from the RNC: Mass Mobilization and Militant Actions Advance the Struggle a polemic against Socialist Alternative by FRSO