DEUTSCHER'S VIEW OF THE TROTSKYISTS
By J. B, Stuart
Isaac Deutscherts monumental work -= now completed with the. appearance of the third volume of his Trotsky biography* -- is excellent on several different levels. It is a first-rate narrative, with a style and development of. plot comparable to the best oreative literature of our day. In this way it serves-as a popular introduc tion of great value, on a second plane, to an exposition of Trotsky's political theories -- that is, of living Marxism, Deutscher selects with remarkable aptness key passages from the master's writings and paraphrases with an almost scientific economy of words, entire works, an. accomplishment which. by itself will earn him the gratitude of both revolutionary students and students of revolution in time to come...
But his exposition of Trotsky's ideas, scrupulously rendered, is in each case submitted. to searching criticism, and thus gives the inquisitive reader not only a panoramic view of a vast field of knowledge; by his questioning’ approach he stimulates further criti-+ cal, and therefore fruitful, study of the subject.
Of outstanding interest is Deutscher's elucidation of what he calls "Stalints Great Change" or the "second social revolution" of 1929~30, in the first chapter of the new volume, Therein he attempts to apply the theory of the. permanent revolution in an explanation of the process of industrialization and collectivization which brought about the Soviet Unionts economic transformation into the worldts second power, Although elements of this explanation are present in Trotsky's writings. and.in the thinking of Trotskyists since, nothing as fully elaborated has appeared before. To be sure, Deutscher's theory still has features that can be subjected to effective eriticism, It will probably undergo further elaboration and modification before reaching a more finished and less disputable form, But even as it stands, it is a stimulating exercise in Marxist analysis.
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Of course there are numerous issues that Deutscher raises whioh will arouse controversy among Marxists and scholars in general, In these observations, I will confine myself to one or two of special interest to those who follow the Trotskyist movement.(1)
*THE PROPHET OUTCAST, by Isaac Deutscher. The Oxford University Press, 1963, 543 DD. New York,. $9. 50. London, £2/5s,
(1) I should like to make clear that for many years I have not belonged to any Trotskyist organization or participated actively in _ their work, This is not of my own choice but rather because of circumstances beyond my control, While my interest in the movement and my attachment to its basic ideas have in no way diminished in all this time, I believe that I can say without - self-deception that I can
Trotskyists, more than others, will appreciate Deutscher's achievement. Beyond the intrinsic value of his work, superior in many ways to Mehring's biography of Marx (which is itself a classic), Deutscher has the distinction, within the sphere of academic soholarship, of re-establishing the..true Historioat figure of Trotsky, the nature of his thinking and the character of his struggle, He himself indicates the enormous obstacles facing this task after the long years of falsification and obliteration under Stalin, in which the full power of a tremendous state apparatus, compounded by the effort of an international network of boundless ramifications, participated unsparingly and relentlessly.
Deutschor is, to put it mildly, less appreciative of the work of the Trotskyists, facing the same immense impediment in the political _ sphere -- among ordinary, less sophisticated and less educated workers and youth groping for the truth, for an answer to the problems of the age, for a road to successful solution in action, His complete admiration for Trotsky and his unstinted recognition of the stature and genius of the man is matched by an almost opposite judg~ ment of those who undertook to carry forward the ideas for which Trotsky stood and the organization which he founded to promote. these ideas,
Quite naturally, Trotskyists will be grieved if not offended, However, even impartial observers will: find Deutscher's attitude. to-. ward the organized Trotskyist movement strange and rather puzzling, © But feelings and emotions aside, Trotskyists no. less than others are bound to. probe the cause and the rcasoning.(2) For if they have
view it now with a certain measure of objectivity, What I have. written. below is, therefore, less impassioned than would be possible for a militant involved in propagating or defending views that are a. collective responsibility. I cannot vouch that the views expressed coincide with those of the official bodies of :any of the Trotskyist organizations, nor would I