International Trotskyism, 1929-1985

International Trotskyism, 1929-1985
Author: Robert Jackson Alexander
Publisher: Duke University Press
Total Pages: 1146
Release: 1991
Genre: Biography & Autobiography
ISBN: 9780822309758

In a work of encyclopedic scope, International Trotskyism, 1929-1985 is sure to become the definitive reference work on a movement that has had a significant impact on the political culture of countries in every part of the world for more than half a century. Renowned scholar Robert J. Alexander has amassed, from disparate sources, an unprecedented amount of primary and secondary material to provide a documentary history of the origins, development, and nature of the Trotskyist movement around the world. Drawing on interviews and correspondence with Trotskyists, newspaper reports and pamphlets, historical writings including the annotated writings of Trotsky in both English and French, historical memoirs of Trotskyist leaders, and documents of the Fourth International, Alexander recounts the history of the movement since Trotsky's exile from the Soviet Union in 1929. Organized alphabetically in a double-column, country-by-country format this book charts the formation and growth of Trotskyism in more than sixty-five countries, providing biographic information about its most influential leaders, detailed accounts of Trotsky's personal involvement in the development of the movement in each country, and thorough reports of its various factions and splits. Multiple chapters are reserved for countries where the movement was more active or fully developed and various chapters are organized around crucial thematic issues, such as the Fourth International. The chapters are followed by extensive name, organization, publication, and subject indexes, which provide optimal access to the wealth of information contained in the main body of the work.

Ernest Mandel

Ernest Mandel
Author: Jan Willem Stutje
Publisher: Verso Books
Total Pages: 405
Release: 2020-05-05
Genre: Biography & Autobiography
ISBN: 1789604532

Ernest Mandel (1923-1995), was one of the most prominent anti-Stalinist Marxist intellectuals of his time. A political theorist and economist, his worldview was shaped by experiences in the Second World War as an underground political activist in Occupied Belgium and during his subsequent internment in a Nazi prison camp. Mandel's faith in human nature and in the working classes survived Nazi oppression and the murder of much of his family in the concentration camps. He retained his connection to his Jewish roots throughout his life, but believed that security and liberation for the Jewish people was best achieved through world revolution and universal emancipation rather than nationalism. A brilliant orator in several languages, Mandel was an indefatigable revolutionary militant and a key leader in the Fourth International, and he had an enormous impact on the thought and practice of the 1968 generation. His writings range from innovative economic and political theory to a study of the Second World War and have been published in over forty languages. His last major work, Late Capitalism, had an influence that reached from the social sciences into the humanities. Biographer Jan Willem Stutje, the first writer with access to Mandel's archives, has interviewed many of the leading figures in the story and unearthed a wealth of new material, detailing Mandel's arrest by the Nazis and his role in Latin American guerrilla warfare. He recounts Mandel's interactions with both scholars-Sartre, Ernst Bloch, Perry Anderson-and comrades-in-arms such as Che Guevara, Rudi Dutschke and Tariq Ali. The book also yields fascinating details of the man's sometimes tragic private life.

Trotskyism

Trotskyism
Author: Alex Callinicos
Publisher: U of Minnesota Press
Total Pages: 116
Release: 1990
Genre: Business & Economics
ISBN: 9780816619054

Paper reprint. First published in hardcover in 1987, this volume comprises the best of Gibson's work throughout his 30 year career. 10.5x15 Callinicos (politics, U. of York, UK) traces the intellectual history of the movement, first examining its origins in Trotsky's own thought, and then exploring the crisis into which the Trotskyist Fourth International was thrown at the end of WWII, when its founder's predictions were apparently refuted by the strength and stability of both Western capitalism and Stalinism. Annotation copyrighted by Book News, Inc., Portland, OR

Enemies Within the Gates?

Enemies Within the Gates?
Author: William J. Chase
Publisher: Yale University Press
Total Pages: 539
Release: 2001-01-01
Genre: Political Science
ISBN: 0300133197

This compelling work of documentary history tells a story of idealism betrayed, a story of how the Comintern (Communist International), an organization established by Lenin in 1919 to direct and assist revolutionary movements throughout the world, participated in, and was ultimately destroyed, by the Stalinist repression in the late 1930s. Presenting and drawing on recently declassified archival documents, William J. Chase analyses the Comintern's roles as agent, instrument, and victim of terror. In both principle and practice, the Comintern was an international organization, with a staff that consisted primarily of Communist emigres who had fled dictatorial regimes in Europe and Asia. It was, however, headquartered in Moscow and controlled by Soviet leaders. This book examines the rise of suspicions and xenophobia among Soviet and Comintern leaders and cadres for whom many foreigners were no longer the heroes of the class struggle but rather possible enemy agents. Some Comintern members internalised and acted on Stalin's theories about the infiltration of foreign spies into Soviet society, supplying the Soviet police with information that led to the exile or execution of emigres. Thousands of other emigres also became victims of the purges. Together the text and documents of this book convey graphically the essential roles played by the Comintern, providing a unique perspective on the era of Stalinist repression and terror.