Bonapartism War Revolution

8/13/2019 Bonapartism War Revolution

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This article is a part of a series of articles published in this issue of Fourth Internationalunder the heading Letters & Articles by Leon Trotsky

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Introduction by %ditors of Fourth International

Comrade Trotsky never saw this article in written form. He had dictatedit into his dictaphone, as was his custom, part of it merely as notationsfor later elaboration. Further sections would come later, and the wholewould be considerably revised, some paragraphs cut out altogether,others placed at other points in the manuscript, and so on. For,contrary to popular myth and despite his enormous production, Trotsky

did not write easily. What follows is, therefore, a literal translation ofthe transcription made by his Russian stenographer from the recordsdictated by Trotsky. espite its unfinished form, however, this articlebelongs among Trotsky!s most important contributions. "ore preciselyand sharply than elsewhere, he established here the historical law thatfascism is successful only after the radicali#ation of the masses andafter the proletarian vanguard has failed to lead the radicali#edmasses to the con$uest of power. The profound importance of thisconcept, particularly for the workers of the %nited &tates, will be clear

to every serious reader. ' (ditors of Fourth )nternational

)n his very pretentious, very muddled and stupid article *+ational efenseThe Case for &ocialism, -artisan Review, uly/0ugust 12345wight "acdonald tries torepresent us as holding the view that fascism is simply a repetition of6onapartism. 0 greater piece of nonsense would be hard to invent. Wehave analy#ed fascism as it developed, throughout the various stagesof its development and advanced to the forefront now one nowanother of its aspects. There is an element of 6onapartism in fascism.

Without this element, namely, without the raising of state power abovesociety owing to an e7treme sharpening of the class struggle, fascismwould have been impossible. 6ut we pointed out from the verybeginning that it was primarily a $uestion of 6onapartism of the epochof imperialist decline which is $ualitatively different from 6onapartismof the epoch of bourgeois rise. 0t the ne7t stage we separated outpure 6onapartism as the prologue to a fascist regime. 6ecause in the


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case of pure 6onapartism the rule of a monarch is appro7imatedand ...

in )taly ...

)n post/war )taly the situation was profoundly revolutionary. Theproletariat had every opportunity.

The "inistries of 6ruening, &chleicher and the -residency ofHindenburg in 8ermany, -etain!s 8overnment in France, but they allhave proved, or must prove, unstable. )n the epoch of imperialistdecline a pure 6onapartist 6onapartism is completely inade$uate9imperialism finds it indispensable to mobili#e the petty bourgeoisieand to crush the proletariat under its weight. )mperialism is capable offulfulling this task only in case the proletariat itself reveals its inabilityto con$uer power, while the social crisis drives the petty bourgeoisieinto a condition of paro7ysm.

The sharpness of the social crisis arises from this, that with today!sconcentration of the means of production, i.e., the monopoly of trusts,the law of value ' the market is already incapable of regulatingeconomic relations. &tate intervention becomes an absolute necessity.)nasmuch as the proletariat ...

The present war, as we have stated on more than one occasion, is acontinuation of the last war. 6ut a continuation does not signify arepetition. 0s a general rule, a continuation signifies a development, a

deepening, a sharpening. :ur policy, the policy of the revolutionaryproletariat toward the second imperialist war is a continuation of thepolicy elaborated during the last imperialist war, primarily under;enin!s leadership. 6ut a continuation does not signify a repetition. )nthis case too, continuation signifies a development, a deepening and asharpening.

We Were Caught Unaware in 1914

uring the last war not only the proletariat as a whole but also itsvanguard and, in a certain sense, the vanguard of this vanguard wascaught unaware. The elaboration of the principles of revolutionarypolicy toward the war began at a time when the war was already in fullbla#e and the military machine e7ercised unlimited rule. :ne yearafter the outbreak of the war, the small revolutionary minority was stillcompelled to accommodate itself to a centrist ma


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afterwards, the revolutionary elements felt themselves to be notcontenders for power but the e7treme left opposition. (ven ;eninrelegated the socialist revolution to a more or less distant future. >)n121? or 121@A he wrote in &wit#erland >$uotationA. [1])f that is how;enin viewed the situation, then there is hardly any need of talking

about the others.This political position of the e7treme left wing e7pressed itself mostgraphically on the $uestion of the defense of the fatherland.

)n 121? ;enin referred in his writings to revolutionary wars which thevictorious proletariat would have to wage. 6ut it was a $uestion of anindefinite historical perspective and not of tomorrow!s task. Theattention of the revolutionary wing was centered on the $uestion ofthe defense of the capitalist fatherland. The revolutionists naturallyreplied to this $uestion in the negative. This was entirely correct. 6ut

this purely negative answer served as the basis for propaganda and fortraining the cadres but it could not win the masses who did not want aforeign con$uerer. )n Russia prior to the war the 6olsheviks constitutedfour/fifths of the proletarian vanguard, that is, of the workersparticipating in political life >newspapers, elections, etc.A. Following theFebruary revolution the unlimited rule passed into the hands ofdefensists, the "ensheviks and the &R!s. True enough, the 6olsheviksin the space of eight months con$uered the overwhelming ma


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super/nationalist state, an imperialist empire, the rule over continents,the rule over the whole world.

0ll these traits of fascism we have analy#ed each one by itself and allof them in their totality to the e7tent that they became manifest orcame to the forefront.

The Point at Which Fascism Succeeds

6oth theoretical analysis as well as the rich historical e7perience of thelast $uarter of a century have demonstrated with e$ual force thatfascism is each time the final link of a specific political cycle composedof the following the gravest crisis of capitalist society9 the growth ofthe radicali#ation of the working class9 the growth of sympathy towardthe working class and a yearning for change on the part of the rural

and urban petty bourgeoisie9 the e7treme confusion of the bigbourgeoisie9 its cowardly and treacherous maneuvers aimed atavoiding the revolutionary clima79 the e7haustion of the proletariat,growing confusion and indifference9 the aggravation of the socialcrisis9 the despair of the petty bourgeoisie, its yearning for change, thecollective neurosis of the petty bourgeoisie, its readiness to believe inmiracles9 its readiness for violent measures9 the growth of hostilitytowards the proletariat which has deceived its e7pectations. These arethe premises for a swift formation of a fascist party and its victory.

)t is $uite self/evident that the radicali#ation of the working class in the%nited &tates has passed only through its initial phases, almoste7clusively in the sphere of the trade union movement >the C):A. Thepre/war period, and then the war itself may temporarily interrupt thisprocess of radicali#ation, especially if a considerable number ofworkers are absorbed into war industry. 6ut this interruption of theprocess of radicali#ation cannot be of a long duration. The secondstage of radicali#ation will assume a more sharply e7pressivecharacter. The problem of forming an independent labor party will be

put on the order of the day. :ur transitional demands will gain greatpopularity. :n the other hand, the fascist, reactionary tendencies willwithdraw to the background, assuming a defensive position, awaiting amore favorable moment. This is the nearest perspective. +ooccupation is more completely unworthy than that of speculatingwhether or not we shall succeed in creating a powerful revolutionaryleader party. 0head lies a favorable perspective, providing all the


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opportunities which are opening up and to build the revolutionaryparty.

Problem of Power Posed to the Workers

The second world war poses the $uestion of change of regimes moreimperiously, more urgently than did the first war. )t is first andforemost a $uestion of the political regime. The workers are aware thatdemocracy is suffering shipwreck everywhere, and that they arethreatened by fascism even in those countries where fascism is as yetnon/e7istent. The bourgeoisie of the democratic countries will naturallyutili#e this dread of fascism on the part of the workers, but, on theother hand, the bankruptcy of democracies, their collapse, theirpainless transformation into reactionary dictatorships compel the

workers to pose before themselves the problem of power, render themresponsive to the posing of the problem of power.

Reaction wields today such power as perhaps never before in themodern history of mankind. 6ut it would be an ine7cusable blunder tosee only reaction. The historical process is a contradictory one. %nderthe cover of official reaction profound processes are taking placeamong the masses who are accumulating e7perience and arebecoming receptive to new political perspectives. The old conservativetradition of the democratic state which was so powerful even during

the era of the last imperialist war e7ists today only as an e7tremelyunstable survival. :n the eve of the last war the (uropean workers hadnumerically powerful parties. 6ut on the order of the day were putreforms, partial con$uests, and not at all the con$uest of power.

The 0merican working class is still without a mass labor party eventoday. 6ut the ob


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revolution has often, or more correctly, always carried to the top thoseBleftD parties which have not managed to discredit themselvescompletely in the preceding period and which have an imposingpolitical tradition behind them. Thus the February revolution raised upthe "ensheviks, the &. R.!s who were the opponents of the revolution

on its very eve. Thus the 8erman revolution in +ovember, 121, raisedto power the social democrats who were the irreconcilable opponentsof revolutionary uprisings.

Twelve years ago Trotsky wrote in an article published by The +ewRepublic

There is no epoch in human history so saturated with antagonisms as ours. %nder a toohigh tension of class and international animosities, the Gfuses! of democracy Gblow out!.Hence the short/circuits of dictatorship. +aturally the weakest Ginterrupters! are the first togive way. 6ut the force of internal and world controversies does not weaken it grows. )t isdoubtful if it is destined to calm down, given that the process has so far only taken hold of

the periphery of the capitalist world. 8out begins in the little finger of a hand or in the bigtoe, but once on the way it goes right to the heart.D >The +ew Republic, "ay , 122A

The American Philistine Protests

This was written at a time when the entire bourgeois democracy ineach country believed that fascism was possible only in the backwardcountries which had not yet graduated from the school of democracy.

The editorial board ofThe +ew Republic, which at that period had not

yet been touched with the blessings of the 8-%, accompaniedTrotsky!s article with one of its own. The article is so characteristic ofthe average 0merican philistine that we shall $uote from it the mostinteresting passages.

)n view of his personal misfortunes, the e7iled Russian leader shows a remarkable powerof detached analysis9 but his detachment is that of the rigid "ar7ian, and seems to us tolack a realistic view of history/the very thing on which he prides himself. His notion thatdemocracy is a fair/weather form of government, incapable of withstanding the storms ofinternational or domestic controversy, can be supported >as he himself half admitsA onlyby taking for your e7amples countries where democracy has never made more than thefeeblest beginnings, and countries, moreover, in which the industrial revolution has hardlymore than started.D

Further on, the editorial board of The +ew Republic dismisses theinstance of Ierensky!s democracy in &oviet Russia and why it failed towithstand the test of class contradictions arid yielded place to arevolutionary perspective. The periodical sagely writes


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Ierensky!s weakness was an historic accident, which Trotsky cannotadmit because there is no room in his mechanistic scheme for anysuch thing.D

ust like wight "acdonald, The +ew Republic accused the "ar7ists ofbeing unable to understand history realistically owing to their orthodo7

or mechanistic approach to political events. The +ew Republic was ofthe opinion that fascism is the product of the backwardness ofcapitalism and not its over/ripeness. )n the opinion of that periodicalwhich, ) repeat, was the opinion of the overwhelming ma


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bourgeoisie. He further demonstrated that for the fulfillment of thistask the proletariat needs a revolutionary party. 0ll his life "ar7, andtogether with him and after him (ngels, and after them ;enin, wagedan irreconcilable struggle against those traits in proletarian parties,socialist parties which obstructed the solution of the revolutionary

historical task. The irreconcilability of the struggle waged by "ar7,(ngels, and ;enin against opportunism, on the one side, andanarchism, on the other, demonstrates that they did not at allunderestimate this danger. )n what did it consistE )n this, that theopportunism of the summits of the working class, subfreedom of muddling,freedom of indifferentism, freedom of passivity, freedom of literary


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dilettantismA was being threatened from various sides, and he decidedimmediately to apply his own measure renounce socialism.0stonishingly enough this decision e7ercised no influence either onWall &treet or on the policy of the trade unions. ;ife went its own way


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Fascism was able to con$uer only in those countries where theconservative labor parties prevented the proletariat from utili#ing therevolutionary situation and sei#ing power. )n 8ermany tworevolutionary situations were involved 121/1212 and 12J/3. (venin 122 a direct struggle for power on the part of the proletariat was

still possible. )n all these three cases the social democracy and theComintern criminally and viciously disrupted the con$uest of powerand thereby placed society in an impasse. :nly under these conditionsand in this situation did the stormy rise of Fascism and its gaining ofpower prove possible.

Endnotes

1.&everal citations from ;enin during that period fit Trotsky!s description. We $uote two

)t is possible, however, that five, ten and even more years will pass before the beginningof the socialist revolution.D >From an article written in "arch, 121@, ;enin!s CollectedWorks, vol.L)L, p.3?, Third Russian (ditionA

We, the older men, will perhaps not live long enough to see the decisive battles of theimpending revolution.D >Report on 124? Revolution delivered to &wiss students, anuary,121M, idem, page J?MA
http://marxists.org/archive/trotsky/1940/08/last-article.htm#bk01http://marxists.org/archive/trotsky/1940/08/last-article.htm#bk01

Bonapartism War Revolution

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