Exactly 100 years ago, on October 20, 1922, #Trotsky delivered one of his great political speeches before the membership of the Moscow organization of the Russian Communist Party. It was an extraordinary analysis of the challenges confronting the new Communist International. 1/ 
Trotsky examined the contradictory development of the world socialist revolution, which had achieved its first great victory in backward Russia rather than in the advanced centers of world imperialism. 2/ #socialism
He noted a basic difference in the revolutionary process in Russia, compared to that in an advanced country such as the United States. In the former, the great problem was not the seizure of power, but in holding it in the aftermath of the overthrow of the capitalist state. 3/
In the advanced countries, attaining power would be more difficult because "the bourgeoisie is far better organized and more experienced, because there the petty-bourgeoisie has graduated from the school of the big bourgeoisie and is... far more powerful and experienced..." 4/
Trotsky warned, prophetically, that having witnessed with horror the overthrow of the Russian ruling class, the bourgeoisie in the advanced countries were arming "counter-revolutionary gangs" to destroy the revolutionary socialist movement. 5/
Explaining the significance of Mussolini's rise in Italy, Trotsky described fascism as "the revenge, the vengeance exacted by the bourgeoisie for the dread it had experienced during the 1920 September days," when massive strikes swept the country. 6/
But why did the revolutionary movement fail, and lead to the upsurge of fascism? Answering the question, "What was lacking?" Trotsky stated: "Lacking was the political premise, the subjective premise, i.e., cognizance of the situation by the proletariat." 7/
"Lacking was an organization at the head of the proletariat, capable of utilizing the situation for nothing else but the direct organizational and technical preparation of an uprising, of the overturn, the seizure of power, and so forth. This is what was lacking." 8/
Trotsky rejected mechanical formalism which insisted on the inevitable and fully predictable outcome of great socio-economic and historical processes. In the "dialectic of historical forces," action by the working class, influenced and led by the Marxist party, is decisive. 9/
It is astonishing that this speech, delivered a century ago, retains such direct and extraordinary relevance. It is hardly even necessary to consult a glossary. Trotsky is dealing with economic, political and social issues that are comprehensible in fully modern terms. 10/
The careful study of Trotsky's writings is essential for the elaboration of the strategy and tactics of socialist revolution in the epoch of imperialism's death agony. Trotskyism is the Marxism of the twenty-first century. 11/11 marxists.org/archive/trotsk…
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