Editing Fourth International (section)

== Impact ==
In uniting the large majority of Trotskyists in one organisation, the Fourth International created a tradition which has since been claimed by many Trotskyist organisations.{{citation needed|date=March 2021}}

Echoing Marx's ''[[Communist Manifesto]]'', the ''Transitional Programme'' ended with the declaration "Workers{{spaced ndash}} men and women{{spaced ndash}} of all countries, place yourselves under the banner of the Fourth International. It is the banner of your approaching victory!". It declared demands to be placed on capitalists, opposition to the bureaucracy in the Soviet Union, and support for workers' action against fascism.<ref name="transitional" /> Most of the demands on capitalists remain unfulfilled. The collapse of the Soviet Union occurred, but through a [[social revolution]] leading to the restoration of capitalism, rather than the [[political revolution]] proposed by the Trotskyists. Many Trotskyist groups have been active in anti-fascist campaigns, but the Fourth International has never played a major role in the toppling of a regime.{{citation needed|date=March 2021}}

Those groups which follow traditions that left the Fourth International in its early years argue that, despite initially correct positions, it had little impact. [[Lutte Ouvriere]] claims that it "did not survive the Second World War".<ref>{{cite magazine|url=http://www.union-communiste.org/?FR-archp-show-2003-1-515-2735-x.html |title=Les fondements programmatiques de notre politique |language=fr |trans-title=The programmatic foundations of our policy |magazine=Lutte de classe |number=77 |date=December 2003 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210124150934/https://www.union-communiste.org/fr/node/1359 |archive-date=24 January 2021 |url-status=live}}</ref> [[Workers Liberty]], which follows in the [[third camp]] tradition established by the [[Workers Party (US)|Workers Party]], holds that "Trotsky and everything he represented was defeated and{{spaced ndash}} as we have to recognise in retrospect{{spaced ndash}} defeated for a whole historical period."<ref>{{cite magazine |author-first=Sean |author-last=Matgamna |author-link=Sean Matgamna |url=http://www.workersliberty.org/node/4109 |title=What we are, what we do and why we do it |magazine=Solidarity |volume=3 |number=72 |date=28 April 2005 |access-date=24 April 2019 |archive-date=18 September 2012 |archive-url=https://archive.today/20120918083831/http://www.workersliberty.org/node/4109 |url-status=dead }}</ref>

Other groups point to a positive impact. The ICFI claim that "the [early] Fourth International consisted mainly of cadres who remained true to their aims"<ref name="Schwarz 2004"/> and describes much of the Fourth International's early activity as "correct and principled".<ref>{{cite web|author-first=David |author-last=North |author-link=David North (Socialist) |url=http://www.wsws.org/polemics/1995/oct1995/mandel1.shtml |title=Ernest Mandel, 1923–1995: A critical assessment of his role in the history of the Fourth International |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20060626194635/http://wsws.org/polemics/1995/oct1995/mandel1.shtml |archive-date=26 June 2006 |website=[[World Socialist Web Site]]}}</ref> The reunified FI claim that "the Fourth International refused to compromise with capitalism either in its fascist or democratic variants." In its view, "many of the predictions made by Trotsky when he founded the Fourth International were proved wrong by history. But what was absolutely vindicated were his key political judgements."<ref>{{Cite web|date=28 September 2008|title=Fourth International|url=http://www.isg-fi.org.uk/spip.php?rubrique5|access-date=2021-10-29|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080928032404/http://www.isg-fi.org.uk/spip.php?rubrique5|archive-date=2008-09-28}}</ref>