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Why do people here really not like Trotskyists? (hexbear.net)

submitted 6 months ago* (last edited 6 months ago) by [email protected] to c/[email protected]

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Why do people here really not like Trotskyists? Is it just because of his beef with Stalin and not an actual criticism of his views? Do people really not think a global movement would be superior for the betterment of all people?

Edit: Thank you to everyone who provided context and history, y’all are a wealth of knowledge.

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[–] [email protected] 24 points 6 months ago (4 children)

I mean it's a little more than that. Like, anarchists also don't have a particular affinity for "actually existing socialism," but we get away with it because we typically don't claim to be marxists.

(also perhaps because we're funner to be around)

[–] [email protected] 19 points 6 months ago* (last edited 6 months ago)

anarchists actually build projects though and haven't really been directly antagonistic to other socialist orgs in the west for at least the past 50 years. It's more been an unsteady alliance, or outright neutrality from what I know. Whereas Trot and ultra orgs have been antagonistic, or they've been splitters, or they've just collaborated with feds. One of the first street level things I did was anti-war protests during the Iraq War, and we had a rival Trotskyite group that surprisingly endorsed the war, so they'd talk shit about us in their publications. I can't imagine an anarchist group trying to do anything like that.

So I don't think anarchists really have that same streak of "what if" that @[email protected] means. Anarchists actually mean it and do something about it.

[–] [email protected] 15 points 6 months ago* (last edited 6 months ago)

anarchists can also build a fucking movement, holy shit y'all are good at getting people out on the streets left-unity-2

[–] [email protected] 15 points 6 months ago

(also perhaps because we're funner to be around)

Certainly this, but also the fact that anarchist critiques of AES states never loop around to "and this is why the U.S. embargo on Cuba is good."

[–] [email protected] 14 points 6 months ago

Anarchists tend to be better writers and artists, as well. The zines, the Wobbly tunes, the comics, and the SF stuff are all phenomenal.