The late American historian of Russia, Martin Malia, wrote a book a few years after the USSR’s collapse entitled The Soviet Tragedy. It is one of the best books on the USSR I have read, together with Nekrich and Heller’s Utopia in Power. It’s a very detailed, scholarly work of historiography that I would not … Read more
Last August, the IMT came out with a couple of stinging articles condemning Paul Mason as a ‘renegade’ and apostate from Marxism. The dispute is too boring to go into detail about, but anyone who is interested can go here and here. Mason foolishly gave the cult more publicity than it deserved by linking to … Read more
When I was in the IMT, we boasted endlessly of our democratic credentials. We compared ourselves favourably with Peter Taaffe’s organisation, which hounded out dissidents mercilessly. We replayed the trauma of the 1991-2 split over and over again. We convinced ourselves that we had much higher standards for our organisation. Little did I know that … Read more
When I joined the IMT, I found myself in this strange environment with which I was both personally, and, as it would turn out, politically incompatible. It was inevitable that it would all end in tears and that, as with so many other times in my largely depressing life, separation, ostracism and anger all round … Read more
I often wonder when I will ever fully recover from cultism, if ever. I was in the International Marxist Tendency for only two and a half years, but those years were the most traumatic and psychologically damaging of my entire life. I have never had such an intense experience in my 22 years of being … Read more
Ian D. Thatcher’s 2003 biography of Trotsky is a work of genuine historical scholarship. In contrast to the hagiographies of Trotskyist sects, and the impressive but biased account by Isaac Deutscher, Thatcher’s work is a measured and objective assessment of Trotsky’s political career. It also includes incisive observations on Trotsky’s writings and political analyses in … Read more
No sooner did the CWI under Peter Taaffe split than those who left Taaffe’s dominion decided to have a split of their own earlier this year. In a couple of articles online, here and here, those departing the new organisation give their reasons why. It seems that the leadership of the new organisation has learned … Read more
Recently, the IMT held its World Congress, which takes place every two years (the organisation alternates between holding a ‘School’ and a ‘Congress’ every year). It boasted that it was its best Congress ever, with 2,800 comrades across the world in attendance. Of course, due to Covid-19 it took place entirely online, and therefore these … Read more
Recently, it has emerged that the Labour Party NEC plans to vote to proscribe several far-left groups within the Labour Party, including my former cult, Socialist Appeal, the British section of the International Marxist Tendency. The group has no influence within the party and comprises only a handful of members, so this will make little … Read more
We are constantly told that the reason why Marxist regimes degenerated is the ‘backwardness’ that existed in those countries. The working-class was not big enough, industrialization had not proceeded far enough, most of the population were still peasants, etc. This excuse is always trotted out by Trotskyists to excuse the failures of the Russian Revolution, … Read more