Learn the lessons of
Trotskyist history!
Socialist
IHIs very important book should be read by all Trotskyists. There is no other history of Trotskyism in Britain covering this period other than side reference in such books as Robert Black's Stalinism in Britain and reports on particular periods such as The Balham Group by Reg Groves.
In fact British Trotskyism which has correctly long attacked the Communist Party for hiding or distorting or just plain lying about its history. has published a great deal on the history of Stalinism but little on its own past.
Even the CP now producing its own lying history has not prompted Trotskyist organisations to write their own.
It has been left to two unaffiliated Trotskyists to do this. Quite natually some of their analysis will be distorted because all histories are subjectively written. But it is difficult to criticise because of the lack of alternative material.
As you read through this book, particularly the later periods, you see how important this history is.
Many of the questions dogging Trotskyism, such as how to relate to the Labour Party, have also been confronted in the past. Because of the lack ot any study of this history. Trotskyists today are forced to live the experience over again. Virtually none of the lessons of the past have been learned.
The most many Trotskyists have done in relation to the history of their movement has been to read Trotsky's Writings on Britain.
These have been very helpful, but they have only given a very limited view of the experience. Most of the Writings are letters which answer particular questions but do not show the real conditions prevailing at the time on the ground in Britain.
This is why every Trotskyist should read this new book. By the huge amount of quoted material it is clear that Bornstein and Richardson have done a great deal of work. In fact this
Bookshelf
Against the Stream: A history of the
Trotskyist Movement In Britain
1924-38, by Sam Bornstein and Al
Hichardson, reviewed by Tony
Richards.
and a further volume dealing with the history up to 1949 took them 10 years o prepare.
They have gone over all the old editions of the Trotskyist papers as well as much other material, and they have interviewed many of the people
Involved in this period. With the amount they deal with, I can't help feeling that they shouldn't have tried to compress it so much.
The book starts by dealing with the first tentative supporters of Trotsky, reflecting the struggles against
Stalinist bureaucratism taking place in Russia in the mid 20g. In fact some
1932: Trotsky arrives as an exile in France. Socialist Viewpoint No. 11 March 1986 p27 of the leaders of the British Communist Party were at first receptive to Trotsky. But this soon changed, and it was the British Communist JT Murphy who moved Trotsky's expulsion from the Comintern.
The authors go on to show how the opposition developed in the CP and moved towards the formation of a Trotskyist group.
Their expulsion from the CP showed how all bureaucrats act similarly: the Trotskyists were expelled just before a conference, and the leaflets they issued to delegates outside the conference were taken out of those delegates hands at the door. (Shades of Gerry Healy's regime 40 years later in the WRP!)
The Communist League was formed in 1932: by the end of 1933 it had 52 members.