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Regarding the discussion which appeared previously on the list, concerning the German revolution of 1923 (a key revolutionary process of SXX, systematically debased), I am sending an article written by Emilio Albamonte and Matias Maiello “Trotsky and Gramsci: debates on strategy concerning the revolution in the ‘West’" *Trotsky, Gramsci and the strategy for the revolution in the West* Left intellectuals in general, including those who recognise that Trotsky made important contributions to Marxist theory, almost invariably resort to the thesis proposed by Michael Burawoy that says: “Trotsky’s analyses were time and again shipwrecked on the rock of the Western proletariat. It would be another Marxist, Antonio Gramsci, who would carry Marxism forward, incorporating Trotsky’s understandings into a broader interpretation that would try to come to terms with the failure of the revolution in the West.” [1 <http://www.ft-ci.org/Trotsky-and-Gramsci-debates-on-strategy-concerning-the-revolution-in-the-West?lang=en#nb1> ] [2 <http://www.ft-ci.org/Trotsky-and-Gramsci-debates-on-strategy-concerning-the-revolution-in-the-West?lang=en#nb2> ] The Italian revolutionary developed as one of the central tenets of his thought the question of the conditions for revolution in the West, counter-posing the ‘war of position’ with the ‘war of manoeuvre’ in order to explain the failure of the first revolutionary wave of the 20th Century in Europe and the steps necessary in order to confront fascism. Gramsci and Trotsky’s concepts have some points in common, but also many differences of a fundamental nature. As we intend to demonstrate in this article, it would be the founder of the Red Army who would develop a comprehensive outlook on the problems of strategy in the Western countries. The starting point for this comparison is necessarily located in the German revolution of 1923, a true turning point for revolution in the West, which was at the same time the first great defeat for the Communist International (CI). It marked the beginning of a kind of ‘ebb’ in strategic thinking in the ranks of the CI and the gradual abandonment of the main conclusions of its first four congresses. The first steps in this revision took place during the Fifth Congress of the CI over the tactics of the united front and the ‘workers’ government’. [ 3 <http://www.ft-ci.org/Trotsky-and-Gramsci-debates-on-strategy-concerning-the-revolution-in-the-West?lang=en#nb3> ]This was a consequence of denying the defeat in Germany and refusing to draw its strategic lessons. Gramsci’s underestimation of these polemics and of the lessons of the 1923 German revolution has not been analysed by any of his principal interpreters. However, these debates are crucial for understanding the fundamental problems of revolution in the West in the inter-war period. This gap in the thinking of the Italian revolutionary could be considered to be the most important source of ambiguity in his strategic view, regarding his understanding of the united front, the concept of ‘war of position’ and many of his formulations of his *Prison Notebooks*. None of the Trotskyist currents that emerged after the split in the Fourth International in 1953 has revisited this debate in depth in order to understand Trotsky’s revolutionary legacy. Rather, there were those who opportunistically tried to use his defence of the workers’ government tactic in 1923 to justify subordination to Stalinist and petit-bourgeois leaderships, and to extend support to, and even enter into, bourgeois governments. On the other hand, there were sectarians who interpreted Trotsky’s political position in those years as an opportunist error. Many, like Isaac Deutscher, did not give great importance to this part of Trotsky’s life because they thought that he had exaggerated the revolutionary possibilities in Germany. However, his political intervention as a member of the executive committee of the Third International and his conclusions on the events in Germany in 1923 show the real stature of Trotsky as a strategist – matching his intervention in Petrograd six years earlier – and his ability to develop the concept of the united front and the tactic of the workers’ government, starting from the establishment of a complex relationship between attack and defence drawn from Carl Clausewitz’s best developments. Overall, this would become a key component of his political work and his thoughts on strategy, without which it would be impossible to understand his revolutionary legacy… READ MORE: http://www.ft-ci.org/Trotsky-and-Gramsci-debates-on-strategy-concerning-the-revolution-in-the-West?lang=en _________________________________________________________ Full posting guidelines at: http://www.marxmail.org/sub.htm Set your options at: http://lists.csbs.utah.edu/options/marxism/archive%40mail-archive.com
