‘Bullseye’: ex-SL cadre reacts to BT statement on IG correction re: Russia v NATO

A long-time former cadre of the Spartacist League sent us the following observation on “Better late than never”—the commentary on the Internationalist Group’s change of position regarding Russia’s military intervention in Ukraine we posted on 25 November.

Whoa.  Bullseye.  If there were justice in the world, the IG would say, “We were wrong, you were right, let’s talk.”

Or rather, if big egos weren’t invariably involved in the leadership of political organizations. Or I should say ‘almost invariably’. Trotsky did not have a small ego but he saw that, despite Lenin’s errors on the democratic dictatorship, he had built a revolutionary organization, whereas Trotsky had not. George Washington could probably have had himself crowned a quasi-monarch, Cromwell-style, but didn’t. But generally, if you find a successful—or even a not-very-successful—organization, you find someone running it who is incapable of separating his own personal prestige from considerations of what will be best for the cause his group ostensibly exists to advance….

If Marxism were just a science, like physics, it wouldn’t matter so much. Many scientists have big egos, but you succeed in science by constructing a theory that explains the facts better than anyone else’s, and eventually almost all the other scientists have to admit you were right.  But Marxism in practice can only really prove itself by its proponents taking state power.  Just being right on predictions is subordinate to victory in the class struggle, and there, objective circumstances can stymie even the most correct group.

I think Trotsky made this observation after the Shanghai massacre and defeat of the Chinese Communists—he said that although the Opposition had predicted that the Nationalists would not be a reliable ally against the colonialists, and that although this correct prediction might impress and win over a few intellectuals here and there, how much better would it have been if, despite the Opposition’s predictions, the Chinese Communists had been able to seize power, thus dramatically undercutting the ‘socialism in one country’ perspective. But I know you know all this.