Facebook Instagram Twitter YouTube

Trotsky Arrives in Havana

The thought of the Russian revolutionary was discussed on the island. Pablo Oprinari of the CEIP (Center of Studies, Research, and Publications) Leon Trotsky in Mexico City reports on a conference in Cuba.

Pablo Oprinari

May 30, 2019
Facebook Twitter Share
Pablo Oprinari (second from left)

From May 6 to 8, the First International Academic Event on Leon Trotsky was held in Havana. It was sponsored by the Institute of Philosophy and organized by Frank García, a young researcher at the Juan Marinello Institute.

The event brought together 40 international participants. These included renowned specialists such as Paul Le Blanc, Susan Weissman, Robert Brenner and Eric Toussaint, along with researchers, filmmakers, professors and students, many of whom are involved in political activism in their home countries.

The Museo Casa León Trotsky (Leon Trotsky Museum of Mexico City) was represented by its executive director, Gabriela Pérez Noriega, who brought along a photographic exhibition about the Russian revolutionary. Esteban Volkov, Trotsky’s grandson, sent greetings via video.

The CEIP León Trotsky (Center of Studies, Research, and Publications Leon Trotsky) from Mexico and Argentina, founded by the Trotskyist Fraction-Fourth International, was also present.

Attendees from the United States, Canada, England, Turkey, Mexico, Brazil, Peru and other countries filled the different panels and presented their ideas during the event.

The conference was dedicated to recovering fundamental questions, such as the theory of permanent revolution and Trotsky’s elaborations on the Russian workers’ state. Trotsky’s relationship with other Marxists of his time—such as Walter Benjamin and Victor Serge—was discussed, as well as his works in the fields of philosophy and art (and their impact).

The discussion about Latin America, Cuba and Mexico took up a lot of space, particularly on the last day of the event. Presentations addressed the impact of Trotsky’s ideas in different countries, the image of him that was constructed in the USSR of the 1980s, as well as different experiences of the Trotskyist movement—before and after his death.

We do not intend to exhaustively list all the topics that were addressed, but those three days contained an incredible richness of papers, even considering that many of the presenters had to cut down their contributions for reasons of time.

It was remarkable to see a preview of the documentary “The Most Dangerous Man in the World” by the filmmaker Lindy Laub, with Susan Weissman as a historical consultant. It is based on interviews with Nadezhda Joffe, James Cannon, Pierre Frank, Fanny Yanovich, Jean Van Heijenoort, Harold Robins, C.L.R. James and Esteban Volkov, among others who knew Trotsky personally. For the first time, a 30-minute preview about his exile in Turkey was shown at the event. Laub said the documentary will cover his final years in Russia and the various chapters of his exile.

Several works by and about Trotsky were also presented. This is unprecedented in Cuba, where these books cannot be found. Books included “Trotsky en el espejo de la historia” (Trotsky in the Mirror of History) by Peruvian researcher Gabriel García Higueras as well as Trotsky’s “Escritos latinoamericanos” (Latin American Writings) and “La revolución traicionada” (The Revolution Betrayed).

Historical Falsifications

The preparation of this event—and its success—was the work Frank Garcia, along with Lisbeth Moya and other young Cuban researchers interested in recovering Trotsky’s ideas in order to better understand what happened in the former Soviet Union.

It is not a minor fact that this conference could take place. In previous decades in Cuba, in accord with the Soviet bureaucracy’s line, the figure of Trotsky was discredited and erased from the history of Marxist thought.

It is therefore significant that Trotsky’s ideas are being discussed and that this first academic meeting was convened—all the more so if we consider that the founder of the Red Army is still attacked with historical falsifications, as we recently saw with the TV series “Trotsky,” made by Russian state TV and Netflix.

It must be said, however, that the event faced many bureaucratic hurdles put up by the Cuban authorities. These included the confiscation of books sent by the Leon Trotsky Museum, the complete lack of institutional support and the scant publicity. This latter problem meant that there were very few participants from Cuba, and those who did manage to attend had to make great efforts, in particular several coming from the interior of the island.

The “Latin American Writings” in Cuba

The CEIP León Trotsky presented Trotsky’s “Latin American Writings,” volume 4 of the Spanish-language Collected Works that we are publishing in cooperation with the Leon Trotsky Museum.

The relevance of this presentation is clear. This compilation includes articles, letters and interviews, and a selection from the magazine “Clave—Tribuna Marxista,” which Trotsky supported from 1938 to 1940, in which he analyzed the main political phenomena of his time in Mexico and Latin America.

This book covers bonapartism sui generis, state control of the trade unions, the development of the theory of permanent revolution in the light of Latin American reality and the rise of U.S. domination over the region.

Trotsky’s reflections on the events of his time are just as important, current and valid today, in the context of a new imperialist offensive against Venezuela, Cuba and the region as a whole, and given the recent experiences of the so-called progressive (Pink Tide) governments.

The CEIP, besides presenting this book, also cosponsored the event. We thank Frank García for the words of acknowledgement he offered us at the opening.

The ideas and politics of Leon Trotsky, who had led the Russian Revolution alongside Lenin, and after the latter’s death led the struggle against the Stalinist degeneration of the USSR, are essential to understand what happened in the first workers’ state in history.

In “The Revolution Betrayed,” Trotsky analyzed the material basis of the Stalinist bureaucracy and posed—in the face of the one-party regime—the need to re-establish Soviet democracy and grant full rights to all political parties defending the revolution.

The ideas of the founder of the Fourth International are, at the same time, essential to approach the current debates about Marxist theory and class struggle. That of course includes the future of the Cuban revolution, which today is of fundamental interest to the workers and revolutionary Marxists of Latin America and the whole world.

First published in Spanish in La Izquierda Diario México, May 14, 2019.

Translation: Nathaniel Flakin

Facebook Twitter Share

Pablo Oprinari

Pablo is a sociologist from Mexico City and a leader of the Socialist Workers Movement (MTS).

Twitter

Ideas & Debates

Toward a Revolutionary Socialist Network

In this article Warren Montag and Joseph Serrano respond to our call for a network for a working-class party for socialism. 

Warren Montag

September 27, 2023

China’s Rise, ‘Diminished Dependency,’ and Imperialism in Times of World Disorder

In this broad-ranging interview, originally published in LINKS, Trotskyist Fraction member Esteban Mercatante discusses how recent global shifts in processes of capital accumulation have contributed to China’s rise, the new (and old) mechanisms big powers use to plunder the Global South, and its implications for anti-imperialist and working-class struggles today.

Esteban Mercatante

September 22, 2023

What Is the Role of a “Green Card Soldier”? Interview with Sofya Aptekar

While both capitalist parties fight over diversity in the military, Sofya Aptekar’s new book, Green Card Soldier, looks at the experiences of immigrant soldiers in the U.S. military and how oppressed communities are used by the military to legitimize and expand empire.

Sam Carliner

August 22, 2023
All That's Left, the podcast from Left Voice.

#AllThatsLeftPod: Stalinism, Anti-Communism, and the Fate of the Soviet Union — An Interview with Doug Greene

In this episode, we interview author and historian Douglas Greene about his new book “Stalinism and the Dialectics of Saturn: Anticommunism, Marxism, and the Fate of the Soviet Union.”

Left Voice

August 14, 2023

MOST RECENT

Far Right Imposed Shutdown Represents Deeper Crises Only Workers Can Resolve

The United States is on the verge of a government shutdown. The fact that a minority far right in Congress has forced this, largely over disagreements with military spending, shows that the U.S. regime is in a historic crisis. Now more than ever, workers must intervene for their own interests.

Sam Carliner

September 29, 2023

Neither Trump nor Biden Represent the Interests of the Striking Workers

Donald Trump skipped the second GOP debate to go to Michigan to speak on the UAW strike. This, one day after Biden became the first U.S. president to walk a picket line, represents the on-going fight between the parties to win influence over the working class.

Enid Brain

September 29, 2023

The Deadliest Year for U.S.-Mexico Border Crossings Occurred during Biden’s Administration

The humanitarian crisis at the border was created by capitalism. Voting for a lesser evil won’t save the Latin American working class; it will take international, political and strategic solidarity across borders to build a combative immigrants’ rights movement.

Paul Ginestá

September 28, 2023

The Big Three Are Using Layoffs to Punish the UAW and Undermine the Strike

The Big Three are retaliating against the UAW by laying off thousands of its members at plants across the country. Defeating these attacks will require the self organization and mobilization of all the workers.

James Dennis Hoff

September 28, 2023