Trotskyism is still a Marxist-Leninist ideology, and defends the formation of a vanguard party to lead the revolution. In that specific aspect it is not different from, say, Stalinism or Maoism.
While Left-Communism either rejects Leninism (but follows Marxism) or claim the current ML ideologies promote yet another bureaucratic rule, instead of proletarian rule. And it’s extremely suspicious of any sort of “headed” organisation; as exemplified by Rühle’s The Revolution Is Not A Party Affair.
Personal comment, as a Trotskyist: it’s mostly a difference in the structure being proposed. That does matter but the goal is still the same, so I certainly don’t hate them. It’s just they (and the Anarchists!) are worried the structures I find useful might bite us back, and it did happen once, so their worries aren’t unfounded.
fwiw in my life experience, Trotskyists tend to be more pragmatic about integrating ideas from the full spectrum of leftism. i also have to acknowledge that Trotsky has been instrumental to the revolutionary movements of the global south. where i have to critique Trotskyists is the ones i have known have a tendency to dismiss credible accusations of authoritarian comrades being fascists and will say stuff like “we need to break the status quo first, we’ll deal with that after the revolution” then after the uprising the authoritarian faction purges the Trots and says they were secret fascist counter revolutionaries all along.
it’s a thing where like… i’m reminded of Trotsky himself. he thought Lenin was a blowhard asshole and he sided with the mensheviks until the Bolsheviks got moving. then he joined the Bolsheviks, believing the best strategy was to get on board with the revolution even if the revolution wasn’t perfect. then when Stalin seized power despite Lenin wanting to keep him away from power, Trotsky was out. i guess what i’m getting at is i have a great deal for Trotskyists even i think they miss the mark in some critical aspects. what i find most funny though is the extent to which MLs will go to say Trotsky got what he deserved and Trotskyists are fake leftists and still have the Trotskyists prefer to ally themselves with MLs than other 3rd camp leftists like anarchists
Trotskyism is still a Marxist-Leninist ideology, and defends the formation of a vanguard party to lead the revolution. In that specific aspect it is not different from, say, Stalinism or Maoism.
While Left-Communism either rejects Leninism (but follows Marxism) or claim the current ML ideologies promote yet another bureaucratic rule, instead of proletarian rule. And it’s extremely suspicious of any sort of “headed” organisation; as exemplified by Rühle’s The Revolution Is Not A Party Affair.
Personal comment, as a Trotskyist: it’s mostly a difference in the structure being proposed. That does matter but the goal is still the same, so I certainly don’t hate them. It’s just they (and the Anarchists!) are worried the structures I find useful might bite us back, and it did happen once, so their worries aren’t unfounded.
fwiw in my life experience, Trotskyists tend to be more pragmatic about integrating ideas from the full spectrum of leftism. i also have to acknowledge that Trotsky has been instrumental to the revolutionary movements of the global south. where i have to critique Trotskyists is the ones i have known have a tendency to dismiss credible accusations of authoritarian comrades being fascists and will say stuff like “we need to break the status quo first, we’ll deal with that after the revolution” then after the uprising the authoritarian faction purges the Trots and says they were secret fascist counter revolutionaries all along.
it’s a thing where like… i’m reminded of Trotsky himself. he thought Lenin was a blowhard asshole and he sided with the mensheviks until the Bolsheviks got moving. then he joined the Bolsheviks, believing the best strategy was to get on board with the revolution even if the revolution wasn’t perfect. then when Stalin seized power despite Lenin wanting to keep him away from power, Trotsky was out. i guess what i’m getting at is i have a great deal for Trotskyists even i think they miss the mark in some critical aspects. what i find most funny though is the extent to which MLs will go to say Trotsky got what he deserved and Trotskyists are fake leftists and still have the Trotskyists prefer to ally themselves with MLs than other 3rd camp leftists like anarchists