Fourth International

"The development of the International Left Opposition is proceeding amidst sharp crises that cast the fainthearted and the short-sighted into pessimism. In reality these crises are completely unavoidable. One has only to read the correspondence of Marx and Engels attentively, or to preoccupy oneself seriously with the history of the development of the Bolshevik Party to realise how complicated, how difficult, how full of contradictions the process of developing revolutionary cadres is."

The following are new translations of excerpts from Trois points c’est tout by Fred Zeller (1912-2003). Zeller, who, at the time, was the secretary of the Seine (Paris) Young Socialists and a sympathiser of the Trotskyist movement in the mid-1930s, visited Trotsky in Norway at the end of October 1935. This was at the time when the Socialist Party leaders were expelling the left from the Young Socialists as well as dissolving the Bolshevik Leninist tendency, whose members had joined the SFIO in late 1934.

In Part Two Ted Sprague outlines how the International Left Opposition became the Fourth International, with a special reference to the influence of Trotsky’s ideas in Indonesia and the role of Tan Malaka. [part 1]

We are publishing here an article that outlines briefly the history of the Fourth International. It was originally written for an Indonesian audience, but we believe it is of value for all our readers. It point out the conditions in which the Fourth International came into being and its subsequent demise, but also point to the future when a new and powerful Marxist international organisation must be formed out of the revolutionary events that impend.

In this fourth and final part of Patrick Larsen’s account of the struggle of Trotsky and his followers for a genuine revolutionary international, he looks at the revolutionary situations that opened up in Europe between 1943 and 1945. He demonstrates how these were hijacked and diverted by the dominant forces within the labour movement, i.e. the Stalinists and the reformists. This historic betrayal in turn opened up a new situation on a world scale which the majority of Trotsky's followers were unable to understand. [part 1]

We now present part two of John Peterson's introduction to "Ted Grant Selected Works Volume 2: The Work of Marxists in the Mass Organizations." This section discusses the Trotsky's efforts to connect with the masses in the 30s, Ted's "Unbroken Thread," and the need to apply the tactical and organizational lessons of the history of our movement to the work of connecting our ideas with workers and youth in the United States and elsewhere. Order your copy of "Volume 2" at MarxistBooks.com

We present part one of John Peterson's introduction to the newly published Ted Grant Selected Works Volume 2: The Work of Marxists in the Mass Organizations. Ted Grant’s writings on the mass organizations represent a deepening of our understanding of Bolshevik strategy and tactics when it comes to connecting the ideas of revolutionary Marxism with the working class, and Peterson's introduction concisely explains Ted's method and the history of the Marxist approach to the mass organizations. Order your copy of Volume 2 at Marxistbooks.com.

In the third part of our article on the method of Trotsky in his struggle for a Revolutionary international, we will analyze the significance of the Proletarian Military Policy and also the death of Lev Davidovich and its repercussions in the movement. Furthermore, we will make a short and precise balance sheet of the work of the Fourth International during the Second World War and the political mistakes of its leaders which later gave rise to its collapse. [part 1]

In the 1930s Trotsky had to put up an energetic struggle to convince the various national sections of his movement of the necessity of an International, in the real sense of the word.[part 1]

The figure of Leon Trotsky has created a new wave of interest among historians and writers of all types. Recently two new books about the Russian revolutionary have appeared; the first being the work of U.S. Professor Robert Service and the second of Bertrand M. Patenaude, a historian at California University. Both of them belong to that class of commercial literature typical of the bourgeoisie, full of factual errors, which tries to present Trotsky as an authoritarian politician who only lost to Stalin because he lacked tactical skills.

Esteban Volkov, grandson of the Russian revolutionary leader, Leon Trotsky, was recently able to go to Turkey and return to the places where his grandfather had lived after his expulsion from the Soviet Union. In particular, Esteban was able to see, for the first time since 1931-1932, the house in Prinkipo — the Ile of Princes — where he had lived with Trotsky. On our way across France towards Grenoble in August 2003, Esteban spoke of his journey to Turkey. 

The 1930s were a decade of revolution and counter-revolution. On the one hand there was the victory of fascism in Germany and the atomisation of the German working class - on the other, after the overthrow of the monarchy in 1931, was the unfolding proletarian revolution in Spain. This article by Rob Sewell continues our series marking the 75th anniversary year of the founding of the International Left Opposition.