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Strategies of Resistance & 'Who Are the Trotskyists?' (Paperback)
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Strategies of Resistance & 'Who Are the Trotskyists?' (Paperback)
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Loot Price R321
Discovery Miles 3 210
Expected to ship within 12 - 17 working days
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Daniel Bensaid's challenging survey comes at an appropriate moment.
It is a gift to activists reaching for some historical perspective
that may provide hints as to where we might go from here. Embracing
and sharing the revolutionary socialist political tradition
associated with Leon Trotsky, Bensaid is not simply a thoughtful
radical academic or perceptive left-wing intellectual - though he
is certainly both - but also one of the foremost leaders of an
impressive network of activists, many of them seasoned by
innumerable struggles. Daniel Bensaid emerged decades ago as a
leader of the French section of the Fourth International, the Ligue
Communiste Revolutionnaire (LCR). Coming from the 'generation of
'68' - the layer of young revolutionary activists of the 1960s - he
blends an impressive intellectual sophistication with a refreshing
inclination for revolutionary audacity, and with activist
commitments which have not faded over the decades. In the tradition
of Ernest Mandel, Bensaid has reached for the continuing relevance
of revolutionary Marxism not only in the battlegrounds of academe
(as a professor of philosophy and author of such works as Marx for
Our Times), but even more in the battlegrounds of social and
political struggles against the oppressive and lethal realities of
capitalist 'globalization.' In this particular work - succinct,
crackling with insights and fruitful provocations - Bensaid surveys
the history of his own political tradition. We are not presented
with a catechism, but with a set of informative and critical-minded
reflections and notes. We don't have to agree with all he says. I
certainly question his taking issue with Trotsky over whether or
not Lenin was essential for the triumph of the Russian Revolution
(Trotsky says definitely yes, Bensaid suggests maybe not). Nor am I
satisfied when he gives more serious consideration to the dissident
current in US Trotskyism of Max Shachtman and James Burnham (both
of whom ended up supporting US imperialism in Vietnam) than to the
tradition connected with James P. Cannon (which played a role in
building a powerful movement that helped end the Vietnam war). On
the other hand, Bensaid makes no pretension of providing a rounded
historical account of world Trotskyism, or even a scholarly account
of the more limited issues that he does take up. He emphasizes that
'this essay is based on personal experience' and is focused on what
he views as 'the major debates' within the movement. And one is
especially struck by the excellent point he makes in his
Introduction (page 14) regarding the necessity of understanding the
varieties of Trotskyism around the world in their distinctive
cultural and national specificities. Little sense can be made of
Trotskyism if it is not related to the actual social movements and
class struggles of various parts of the world, and to the left-wing
labour sub-cultures, in which it has meaning. The fact remains that
Bensaid offers us a thoughtful, stimulating, valuable political
intervention which leaves the reader with a sense of Trotskyism's
history and ideas and diverse manifestations - and also a sense of
their relevance for the struggles of today and tomorrow. For
younger activists beginning to get their bearings, and for veterans
of the struggle who are thinking through the questions of where we
have been and where to go from here, this is an important
contribution.
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