Trotsky after Lenin's death

[Daymare17]

I heard somewhere that Trotsky didn't struggle against the bureaucracy from 1923 to 1925, that he was demoralised by Lenin's death. In particular I heard that he did not participate in the discussions at Party Congresses but instead spitefully spent them reading French novels and ignoring the debate. Can anyone verify or deny this?

[sameera]

This may help you sometimes.. Try related periods..

Leon Trotsky’s My Life

XXXVIII. The Transtion to the New Economic Policy, and My Relations With Lenin
XXXIX. Lenin’s Illness
XL. The Conspiracy of the Epigones
XLI. Lenin’s Death and the Shift of Power
XLII. The Last Period of Struggle Within the Party
XLIII. The Exile
XLIV. The Deportation
XLV. The Planet Without a Visa

[Paranoid]

Daymare: Did you read that in Tariq Alis book about Trotsky?

[trotboy]

It is true that Trotsky did not actively struggle against the Bureaucracy immediately after Lenin's death, but it is also true that he missed the opportunity to do so before Lenin's death, refusing positions that Lenin offered him. There are a number of reasons for this, the first is the fear that both he and Lenin shared that anti-semitism would be used against him. Also, he had few friends politically as it was in the CC at that time, his staying in the background was partly to try and avoid antagonising any more people, or indeed to antagonise Stalin any more. The main reason, however, was his health - after six years intense travelling and commanding of the Red Army in the field, with little sleep or rest, Trotsky was exhausted and ill, at the time of Lenin's death he was away for health reasons. I think that this, his fears of making himself a pariah, and probably a genuine belief that the problems would sort themselves out one way or another if he stood back, all contributed to his 'absence' from the stage at this time. Once he regained his health, saw that he was to be made a pariah anyway and the extent to which Stalin was seizing control, he took a clear stand.

It is disappointing for us, with the benefit of hindsight, that Trotsky did not take a stand sooner. But I for one am not prepared to sit in judgement on him for these errors, to er is human, and as a Marxist nothing Human is alien to me. What is improtant is that we learn the lessons of History and do not allow the same things to happen in future Revolutionary movements.

[UptheIRPS!]

Trotsky advocated more buearucracy than Lenin. He supported banning the Workers Opposition through fraudulent means and later portrayed himself as a support of the proletariat when he was his left opposition was sidelined by the right wing of the Bolsheviks (Stalin's faction).

[Marguerite]

Although the Workers Opposition case is quite controversial, we must admit that their ideas actually were utopian. Their opinion on Russian workers' maturity and readiness to take up socialist control over economy was far exaggerated.