Yeah, they’re dead and the SU is also dead, take what you can from both and move on.
Trotsky has good points about the nomenklatura and aspects of Permanent Revolution and Transitional Programs are well worth reading. Stalin is obviously more correct but I continue to take Luxemburg’s position on the national question, at least for western orgs (De-colonial movements are obviously a different matter).
It’s also wild that they believe this because it implies that they 100% accept the myth that the URSS was this despotic state where the last great leader simply appoints his successor with no democratic thought put into it whatsoever.
It’s not that they believe that’s how it was but that they believe that’s how it should have been.
They believe that Lenin should have had the king-like right to appoint his successor and they are furious that instead it was the party collectively deciding who the best person for the job was.
Nevermind the evidence that the so-called “Lenin’s testament” was a forgery, even arguing about that is a distraction from the main issue, which is that anyone who brings up this argument about Lenin having somehow anointed Trotsky to be the next leader is thinking fundamentally un-democratically. Lenin was a great man but he was still just one man. He still got only one vote, and i would argue his vote should not count after his death anyway, you don’t get to vote posthumously.
It’s an old myth that was invented by Trotskyists after they lost the inter-party struggle in the 1920s and 30s.
frankly both of them are dead now so it seems like it doesn’t matter anymore
Yeah, they’re dead and the SU is also dead, take what you can from both and move on.
Trotsky has good points about the nomenklatura and aspects of Permanent Revolution and Transitional Programs are well worth reading. Stalin is obviously more correct but I continue to take Luxemburg’s position on the national question, at least for western orgs (De-colonial movements are obviously a different matter).
It’s also wild that they believe this because it implies that they 100% accept the myth that the URSS was this despotic state where the last great leader simply appoints his successor with no democratic thought put into it whatsoever.
It’s not that they believe that’s how it was but that they believe that’s how it should have been.
They believe that Lenin should have had the king-like right to appoint his successor and they are furious that instead it was the party collectively deciding who the best person for the job was.
Nevermind the evidence that the so-called “Lenin’s testament” was a forgery, even arguing about that is a distraction from the main issue, which is that anyone who brings up this argument about Lenin having somehow anointed Trotsky to be the next leader is thinking fundamentally un-democratically. Lenin was a great man but he was still just one man. He still got only one vote, and i would argue his vote should not count after his death anyway, you don’t get to vote posthumously.
Sometimes you do.
And when Juche Necromancy is involved…