Letters and Politics, for February 9, 2012 - 10:00am
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A conversation about the life of Russian Revolutionary Leon Trotsky, his exile in Mexico, his influence on American communists and neo-conservatives, factionalism and his influence on the left today with Bertrand Patenuade, author of Trotsky: Downfall of a Revolutionary.
Hosted by Mitch Jeserich
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Comments
Most of Mike's objections are correct. Trotsky himself did not consider biography to be a very interesting subject, which is why the Deutscher trilogy - the definitive work on his life - is both biographical and political.
Mitch's choice of interviewee is pretty unfortunate. I imagine he picked Patenuade because he'd written a book on the subject and hence could be considered authoritative . . . a lot of facts are mentioned, but there's no thread pulling it all together.
So we have a conversation that lasts for an hour without mentioning the words "Permanent Revolution", which was Trotsky's most important contribution to revolutionary theory, and a discussion about the SWP and James P. Cannon that doesn't mention the Minneapolis Teamsters' Strike of 1934 or the rise of the CIO.
It's unfortunate that a segment on Trotsky or Trotskyism does not include a Trotskyist, but instead a bourgeois historian. Ok, in fact this would be fine if this guy explained any of Trotsky's theories rather than such gems as the analysis of Lenin's powers of attraction. His analysis of the struggle with the bureaucracy is that Trotsky was an inept politician? Did it matter that the working class was crushed by the famine years of the civil war? Could we at least explain that Trotsky was hedging his bets on a social force - the resurgence of the working class - that didn't pan out? Any mention of Trotsky's refusal to engage in a military coup - which he could have managed with his influence in the Red Army? No the problem was that Trotsky "couldn't fight his way out of a paper bag" in the halls of power. Ok, so there's that, but what about the influence of Trotskyism on the world? Do we hear about Minneapolis in 1934? Do we talk about Boliiva? Sri Lanka? France in the last 15 years where Trotskysist candidates are national figures? Perhaps bring on some of the younger generation of, yes indeed, Trotskyist activists who are active in the Bay Area or elsewhere today? No, it's a gossip-column recounting of Trotsky's personal life by a guy who may have done a lot of studying but really doesn't seem to get it. Unfortunate.
what's a new bonamine? (beginning - in the news - re Obama's finally doing a little)