Editing Trotskyism (section)

== Trotskyist movements ==
{{See also|List of Trotskyist organizations by country}}

Trotskyists believe that [[Marxist–Leninist]] regimes will lead to the establishment of a [[degenerated workers' state|degenerated]] or [[deformed workers' state]], where the capitalist elite have been replaced by an unaccountable bureaucratic elite and there is no true democracy or workers' control of industry.<ref>{{cite book |last=Taaffe |first=Peter |author-link=Peter Taaffe |date=October 1995 |title=The Rise of Militant |url=https://www.socialistparty.org.uk/militant/ |chapter=Preface, and Trotsky and the Collapse of Stalinism |publisher=Bertrams |quote=The Soviet bureaucracy and Western capitalism rested on mutually antagonistic social systems. |isbn=978-0906582473 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20021217071256/https://www.socialistparty.org.uk/militant/ |archive-date=17 December 2002 |url-status=live}}</ref> In particular, American Trotskyist [[David North (socialist)|David North]] noted that the generation of [[nomenklatura|bureaucrats]] that rose to power under Stalin's tutelage presided over the [[Stagnation of the Soviet Union|stagnation]] and [[Dissolution of the Soviet Union|breakdown]] of the Soviet Union.{{sfn|North|2010|pp=172–173}} In contemporary English language usage, an advocate of Trotsky's ideas is often called a "Trotskyist". Trotskyists are derogatorily referred to as "Trotskyites" or "Trots", especially by Stalinist critics of Trotskyism.<ref>{{cite encyclopedia |dictionary=Collins Dictionary and Thesaurus |year=1993 |title=Trotskyism}}</ref>

=== Latin America ===
Trotskyism has influenced some recent major social upheavals, particularly in Latin America. The [[Revolutionary Workers' Party (Bolivia)|Bolivian Trotskyist party]] ({{lang|es|Partido Obrero Revolucionario}}, POR) became a mass party in the late 1940s and early 1950s and, together with other groups, played a central role during and immediately after the period termed the [[Bolivian revolution#The Bolivian national revolution (1952–64)|Bolivian National Revolution]].{{sfn|Alexander|1991|p=}}{{page needed|date=August 2024}}

In Brazil, as an officially recognised platform or faction of the PT until 1992, the Trotskyist Movimento Convergência Socialista (CS), which founded the [[United Socialist Workers' Party]] (PSTU) in 1994, saw a number of its members elected to national, state and local legislative bodies during the 1980s.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.pstu.org.br/partido_historia.asp |title=Um pouco de nossa história |language=pt |trans-title=A little bit of our history |author=Partido Socialista dos Trabalhadores Unificado |author-link=United Socialist Workers' Party |access-date=5 February 2018 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070813203758/http://www.pstu.org.br/partido_historia.asp |archive-date=13 August 2007 |website=Partido Socialista dos Trabalhadores Unificado}}</ref> The [[Socialism and Liberty Party]] (PSOL) presidential candidate in the 2006 general elections, [[Heloísa Helena (politician)|Heloísa Helena]], is a Trotskyist member of the [[Workers Party (Brazil)|Workers Party of Brazil]] (PT), a legislative deputy in Alagoas, and in 1999 was elected to the Federal Senate. Expelled from the PT in December 2003, she helped found PSOL, in which various Trotskyist groups play a prominent role.

[[File:Marcha de la Resistencia 2017 24.jpg|thumb|[[Workers' Left Front]] in Argentina in December 2017]]
In Argentina, the [[Workers' Revolutionary Party (Argentina)|Workers' Revolutionary Party]] (Partido Revolucionario de los Trabajadores, PRT) lay in the merger of two leftist organizations in 1965, the [[Revolutionary and Popular Amerindian Front]] ({{lang|es|Frente Revolucionario Indoamericano Popular}}, FRIP) and [[Worker's Word]] {{lang|es|(Palabra Obrera, PO)}}. In 1968, the PRT adhered to the [[Fourth International]], based in Paris. That same year, a related organisation was founded in Argentina, the ERP ([[People's Revolutionary Army (Argentina)|People's Revolutionary Army]]), which became South America's most powerful rural guerrilla movement during the 1970s. The PRT left the Fourth International in 1973.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.archivochile.com/America_latina/JCR/PRT_A/doc_de_PRT/prtde0006.pdf |title=Por qué nos separamos de la IV Internacional |language=es |trans-title=Why we separated from the IV International |author=PRT Argentina. Junta de Coordinación Revolucionaria (JCR) |author-link=Workers' Revolutionary Party (Argentina) |date=August 1973 |access-date=5 February 2018 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211011030600/http://www.archivochile.com/America_latina/JCR/PRT_A/doc_de_PRT/prtde0006.pdf |archive-date=11 October 2021 |url-status=live}}</ref> During the [[Dirty War]], the Argentine military regime suppressed both the PRT and the ERP. ERP commander [[Roberto Santucho]] was killed in July 1976. Owing to the ruthless repression, PRT showed no signs of activity after 1977. During the 1980s in Argentina, the Trotskyist party founded in 1982 by [[Nahuel Moreno]], MAS ({{lang|es|Movimiento al Socialismo}}, [[Movimiento al Socialismo (Argentina)|Movement for Socialism]]), claimed to be the "largest Trotskyist party" in the world before it broke into many different fragments in the late 1980s, including the present-day [[Workers' Socialist Movement (Argentina)|Workers' Socialist Movement]] (MST), [[Socialist Workers' Party (Argentina)|Socialist Workers' Party]] (PTS), Nuevo MAS, [[Socialist Left (Argentina)|Socialist Left]] (IS), [[Self-determination and Freedom]] (AyL, which is not outspoken Trotskyist) etc. In 1989, an electoral front with the Communist Party and MRS called {{lang|es|Izquierda Unida}} ("[[United Left (Argentina)|United Left]]") retrieved 3.49% of the vote, representing 580,944 voters.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://towsa.com/andy/totalpais/1989d.html |title=Atlas Electoral de Andy Tow |trans-title=Electoral atlas of Andy Tow |language=es |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120706185905/http://towsa.com/andy/totalpais/1989d.html |archive-date=6 July 2012}}</ref> Today, the [[Workers' Party (Argentina)|Workers' Party]] (Partido Obrero) in Argentina has an electoral base in [[Salta Province]] in the far north, particularly in the city of Salta itself; and has become the third political force in the provinces of [[Tucumán Province|Tucumán]], also in the north; and [[Santa Cruz Province, Argentina|Santa Cruz]], in the south. This party later founded with other Trotskyist groups the [[Workers' Left Front]] which is represented in parliament.

Venezuelan president [[Hugo Chávez]] declared himself a Trotskyist during the swearing-in of his cabinet two days before his inauguration on 10 January 2007.<ref>{{cite news |first=Nathalie |last=Malinarich |url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/americas/6246219.stm |work=[[BBC News]] |title=Chavez accelerates on path to socialism |date=10 January 2007 |access-date=19 June 2007}}</ref> Venezuelan Trotskyist organizations do not regard Chávez as a Trotskyist, with some describing him as a bourgeois nationalist.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.jir.org.ve/article.php3?id_article=211 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20071010152457/http://www.jir.org.ve/article.php3?id_article=211 |title=Declaración Polãtica de la JIR, como Fracción Pública del PRS, por una real independencia de clase (Extractos) – Juventud de Izquierda Revolucionaria |language=es |trans-title=Political Declaration of the JIR, as a Public Fraction of the PRS, for a real class independence (Excerpts) – Juventud de Izquierda Revolucionaria |archive-date=10 October 2007}}</ref> In contrast, others consider him an honest revolutionary leader who made significant mistakes due to his lack of a Marxist analysis.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://venezuela.elmilitante.org/content/view/6417/182/ |last=Sanabria |first=William |title=La Enmienda Constitucional, Orlando Chirino y la C-CURA |language=es |trans-title=The Constitutional Amendment, Orlando Chirino and the C-CURA |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20091218105614/http://venezuela.elmilitante.org/content/view/6417/182/ |archive-date=18 December 2009}}</ref>

=== North America ===
{{Quote box|width=25em|align=left|bgcolor=|quote=They fear, in a word, that [[History of the socialist movement in the United States|Soviet America]] will become the counterpart of what they have been told Soviet Russia looks like. Actually American soviets will be as different from the Russian soviets as the United States of President Roosevelt differs from the Russian Empire of Czar Nicholas II. Yet communism can come in America only through revolution, just as independence and democracy came in America.|source= Trotsky on ''If American Should Go Communist'' in 1934.<ref>{{cite book |last=Trotsky |first=Leon |author-link=Leon Trotsky |title=If America Should Go Communist |date=1934 |url=https://www.marxists.org/archive/trotsky/1934/08/ame.htm |via=[[Marxists Internet Archive]]}}</ref>}}

The development of the American Trotskyism movement emerged with the [[Communist League of America|Communist League of America (CLA)]], then as the [[Workers Party of the United States|Workers Party of the United States (WPUS)]] and briefly as the [[Socialist Party of America|Socialist Party (SP) of America]] before beginning in 1938 as the [[Socialist Workers Party (United States)|Socialist Workers Party (SWP)]].{{sfn|Blanc|Wald|Breitman|2016|p=39}} According to historian Paul Le Blanc, [[James P. Cannon|James Cannon]] and [[Max Shachtman]] were the most influential leaders of early US Trotskyism.{{sfn|Blanc|Wald|Breitman|2016|p=54}}

Trotsky engaged with members of the [[American Socialist Workers Party]] on reaching the Black population. He had correspondence with [[C.L.R. James]] on the question of [[African-American self-determination|self-determination]] and expressed support for Black Americans seeking equal rights and an autonomous state.{{sfn|Hirson|1992|pp=184–190}}

In 1953 there was a major split in the Fourth International between the [[International Secretariat of the Fourth International|International Secretariat of the Fourth International (ISFI)]] led by [[Michel Pablo]] and the [[International Committee of the Fourth International|International Committee of the Fourth International (ICFI)]] led iniatially by [[James P. Cannon|James Cannon]] of the [[Socialist Workers Party (United States)|SWP]]. While a decade later in 1963 the majority of the SWP reunited with Pablo's supporters, a minority group persisted in their independence and criticisms of what they deemed to be the ISFI's abandonment of Permanent Revolution and their promotion of Stalinst regimes and parties. This group that remained loyal to the ICFI would go on to become the [[Socialist Equality Party (US)]].<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.leftarchive.ie/international/1627/ |title=International Committee of the Fourth International |website=Irish Left Archive |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240823002105/https://www.leftarchive.ie/international/1627/ |archive-date=23 August 2024}}</ref> There is also another North American national section of the ICFI in Canada, also known as the Socialist Equality Party.

There is a Trotskyist-influenced caucus within the [[Democratic Socialists of America]], Reform and Revolution.<ref>{{Cite web |date=31 July 2019 |title=What We Stand For |website=Reform & Revolution |url=https://reformandrevolution.org/2019/07/30/what-we-stand-for/ |access-date=17 July 2024 |language=en-US |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20241214072613/https://reformandrevolution.org/2019/07/30/what-we-stand-for/ |archive-date=14 December 2024}}</ref>

=== Africa ===
{{See also|Trotskyism in South Africa}}
Trotsky had advocated for national self-determination for the black population in [[South Africa]]. In response to the programmatic document of the South African Left Opposition, he wrote in 1935:<ref name="Trotsky as Alternative">{{cite book |last1=Mandel |first1=Ernst |author1-link=Ernst Mandel |title=Trotsky as Alternative |date=5 May 2020 |publisher=[[Verso Books]] |isbn=978-1-78960-701-7 |page=141 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=xVmcEAAAQBAJ&q=ernest+mandel+trotsky+as+alternative |language=en}}</ref>

<blockquote>"We must accept decisively and without any reservation the complete and unconditional right of the blacks to independence. Only on the basis of a mutual struggle against the domination of the white exploiters can the solidarity of black and white toilers be cultivated and strengthened".<ref name="Trotsky as Alternative"/></blockquote>

The Left Opposition in South Africa had criticised the Stalinist [[Comintern]] for advocating a [[Two-stage theory|two-stage]] theory in which a bourgeois-democratic republic would precede a socialist transformation of the society. Through the 1930s, the first viable black trade unions in [[Transvaal (province)|Transvaal]] were established by Trotskyists.{{sfn|Hirson|1992|pp=177–181}}

The [[Democratic Socialist Movement (Nigeria)]] exists in [[Nigeria]], it was founded in 1986 among a confederation of labour and student socialists. It is affiliated to the [[Committee for a Workers' International (2019)|Committee for a Workers' International]], of which it is the second largest section.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.socialistworld.net/pubs/history2/p24.html |title=A Socialist World is Possible: the History of the CWI |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160304052337/http://www.socialistworld.net/pubs/history2/p24.html |archive-date=4 March 2016 |website=[[Committee for a Workers' International (2019)|Committee for a Workers' International]]}}</ref>

=== Asia ===
==== China ====
In China, various left opposition groups in the late 1920s sought to engage Trotsky against the Comintern policy of support for the Kuomintang.<ref>{{cite encyclopedia |first=Robert J. |last=Alexander |author-link=Robert J. Alexander |title=International Trotskyism |encyclopedia=Encyclopedia of Trotskyism Online}}</ref> In 1931, at Trotsky's urging, the various factions united in the Communist League of China, adopting Trotsky's document "The Political Situation in China and the Task of the Bolshevik-Leninist Opposition". Prominent members include [[Chen Duxiu]], [[Wang Fanxi]] and [[Chen Qichang (Trotskyist)|Chen Qichang]]. The League was persecuted by the Nationalist government and by the Chinese Communist Party.<ref>{{cite web |title=International Trotskyism – China: Early Years of the Chinese Communist Party |url=https://www.marxists.org/history/etol/writers/alex/works/in_trot/china1.htm |first=Robert J. |last=Alexander |author-link=Robert J. Alexander |access-date=22 June 2020 |via=[[Marxists Internet Archive]]}}</ref>

In 1939, [[Ho Chi Minh]], then a Comintern agent in southern China, reported that "everyone united to fight the Japanese except the Trotskyists. These traitors . . . adopted the 'resolution': 'In the war against the Japanese, our position is clear: those who wanted the war and have illusions about the Kuomintang government, those concretely have committed treason. The union between the Communist Party and the Kuomintang is nothing but conscious treason'. And other ignominies of this kind." The Trotskyists were to be "crushed".<ref>{{cite magazine |title=Vietnam & Trotskyism |first=Simon |last=Pirani |author-link=Simon Pirani |magazine=Workers Press |url=https://www.marxists.org/history/etol/document/vietnam/pirani/hochiminh.htm |via=[[Marxists Internet Archive]]}}</ref> In 1949, the [[Revolutionary Communist Party of China]] ({{lang-zh|中國革命共產黨}}; RCP) fled to Hong Kong. Since 1974, the party has been legally active as October Review, its official publication.<ref>{{cite news |title=Leftist Parties of the World – China |work=[[Marxists Internet Archive]]}}</ref>

==== Vietnam ====
In French Indochina during the 1930s, [[Vietnamese Trotskyism]], led by [[Tạ Thu Thâu]], was a significant current, particularly in Saigon, Cochinchina.<ref>{{cite book |editor-last=Richardson |editor-first=A. |title=The Revolution Defamed: A documentary history of Vietnamese Trotskyism |publisher=Socialist Platform Ltd |date=2003}}</ref> In 1929, in the French Left Opposition {{lang|fr|La Vérité}}, Ta Thu Thau condemned the Comintern for leading Chinese Communists (in 1927) to "the graveyard" through its support for the [[Kuomintang]]. The {{"'}}[[Sun Yat-sen]]-ist' synthesis of democracy, nationalism and socialism" was "a kind of nationalist mysticism". In Indochina, it could only obscure "the concrete class relationships, and the real, organic liaison between the indigenous bourgeoisie and French imperialism," in the light of which the call for independence is "mechanical and formalistic". "A revolution based on the organisation of the proletarian and peasant masses is the only one capable of liberating the colonies ... The question of independence must be bound up with that of the proletarian socialist revolution."<ref>{{cite web |last=Ngo |first=Van Xuyet |title=Ta Thu Thau: Vietnamese Trotskyist Leader |url=https://www.marxists.org/history/etol/revhist/backiss/vol3/no2/thau.html |website=[[Marxists Internet Archive]] |access-date=14 September 2019}}</ref>

For a period in the 1930s, Ta Thu Thau's Struggle group, centred around the newspaper [[La Lutte (newspaper)|La Lutte]], was sufficiently strong to induce "Stalinists" (members of the then [[Indochinese Communist Party]]) to collaborate with the Trotskyists in support of labour and peasant struggles, and in the presentation of a common Workers Slate for Saigon municipal, and Cochinchina Council, elections. Ta Thu Thau was captured and executed by the Communist-front ''Viet Minh'' in September 1945. Many, if not most, of his fellow ''luttuers'' were subsequently killed, caught between the Viet Minh and the French effort at colonial reconquest.<ref>{{cite book |last=Ngô |first=Văn |title=In the Crossfire: Adventures of a Vietnamese Revolutionary |publisher=[[AK Press]] |location=Oakland, California |date=2010}}</ref>

==== Sri Lanka ====
[[File:Lsspoffice.JPG|thumb|right|[[Lanka Sama Samaja Party|LSSP]] main office in [[Colombo]], Sri Lanka]]

In Sri Lanka, a group of Trotskyists (known as the "T Group"), including South Asia's pioneer Trotskyist, [[Philip Gunawardena]], who had been active in Trotskyist politics in Europe, and his colleague [[N. M. Perera]], were instrumental in the foundation of the [[Lanka Sama Samaja Party]] (LSSP) in 1935. It expelled its pro-Moscow wing in 1940, becoming a Trotskyist-led party. After a prison break it helped form the short lived [[Bolshevik–Leninist Party of India, Ceylon and Burma]] (BLPI).

After the war, the Sri Lanka section split into the Lanka Sama Samaja Party and the [[Bolshevik Samasamaja Party]] (BSP). In the general election of 1947, the LSSP became the main opposition party, winning ten seats, the BSP winning a further 5. It joined the Trotskyist Fourth International after fusion with the BSP in 1950 and led a general strike ([[Hartal 1953|Hartal]]) in 1953.<ref name="Ervin">{{cite book |last=Ervin |first=W. E. |title=Tomorrow is Ours: The Trotskyist Movement in India and Ceylon, 1935–48 |location=Colombo |publisher=Social Scientists Association |date=2006}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |first=Y. Ranjith |last=Amarasinghe |title=Revolutionary Idealism & Parliamentary Politics – A Study Of Trotskyism In Sri Lanka |location=Colombo |date=1998}}</ref><ref>{{cite magazine |last=Goonewardena |first=Leslie |author-link=Leslie Goonewardene |date=1960 |url=https://www.marxists.org/history/etol/writers/goonewardene/1960/lssp.htm |title=A Short History of the Lanka Sama Samaja Party |magazine=What's Next? |via=[[Marxists Internet Archive]] |access-date=16 February 2019}}</ref>

In 1964, the LSSP joined a coalition government with [[Sirimavo Bandaranaike]], with three members, NM Perera, [[Cholomondeley Goonewardene]], and [[Anil Moonesinghe]], brought into the new cabinet. This led to the expulsion of the party from the Fourth International. A section of the LSSP split to form the LSSP (Revolutionary) and joined the Fourth International after the LSSP proper was expelled. The LSSP (Revolutionary) later split into factions led by [[Bala Tampoe]] and [[Edmund Samarakkody]]. Another faction, the "Sakthi" Group, led by [[V. Karalasingham]], rejoined the LSSP in 1966.

In 1968, another faction of the LSSP (Revolutionary), led by Keerthi Balasooriya split, to form the Revolutionary Communist League – more commonly known as the "''Kamkaru Mawatha'' Group", after the name of their publication – and joined the [[International Committee of the Fourth International]] (ICFI). In 1996, the group changed its name to [[Socialist Equality Party (Sri Lanka)|Socialist Equality Party]].<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.wsws.org/en/articles/2015/07/30/seps-j30.html |title=Sri Lankan SEP General Secretary Wije Dias interviewed on national election channel |date=30 July 2015 |website=[[World Socialist Website]] |archive-url= |archive-date=}}</ref> In 2024 with assistance from European comrades, particularly in France, many of who fled the [[Sri Lankan civil war|Sri Lankan Civil War]] a historic Tamil translation of Trotsky’s [[The Revolution Betrayed]] was published, accompanied with public meetings for the book’s launch.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.wsws.org/en/articles/2024/02/06/ulli-f06.html |title=SEP (Sri Lanka) public meetings to launch Tamil translation of Trotsky's the Revolution Betrayed |website=[[World Socialist Website]] |date=6 February 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20241116022934/https://www.wsws.org/en/articles/2024/02/06/ulli-f06.html |archive-date=16 November 2024}}</ref>

In 1974, a secret faction of the LSSP, allied to the [[Militant (Trotskyist group)|Militant]] group in the United Kingdom, emerged. In 1977, this faction was expelled and formed the [[Nava Sama Samaja Party]], led by [[Vasudeva Nanayakkara]].

==== India ====
In 1942, following the escape of the leaders of the Sri Lankan LSSP from a [[British Empire|British]] prison, a unified [[Bolshevik–Leninist Party of India, Ceylon and Burma]] (BLPI) was established in India, bringing together the many Trotskyist groups in the subcontinent. The BLPI was active in the [[Quit India Movement]] and the labour movement, capturing the second oldest union in India. Its high point was when it led the strikes which followed the [[Bombay Mutiny]].

In India, the BLPI fractured. In 1948, at the Fourth International's request, the party's rump dissolved into the [[Congress Socialist Party]] as an exercise in [[entryism]].<ref>{{cite journal |title=Trotskyism in India: Part One: Origins Through World War Two (1935–45) |journal=Revolutionary History |volume=1 |number=4 |date=Winter 1988–89 |via=[[Marxists Internet Archive]] |url=https://www.marxists.org/history/etol/document/india/india01.htm}}</ref><ref name="Ervin"/>

=== Europe ===

===Spain===
In the [[Spanish Civil War]], Stalinist-directed NKVD oversaw purges of anti-Stalinist elements in the Spanish [[Spanish Republican|Republican]] forces including [[Trotskyist]] and [[anarchist]] factions.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Sakwa |first1=Richard |title=Soviet Politics: In Perspective |date=12 November 2012 |publisher=[[Routledge]] |isbn=978-1-134-90996-4 |page=43 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=SQSiM2vPO54C&dq=spanish+civil+war+stalin+purged+nin&pg=PA43 |language=en}}</ref> Notable cases involved the execution of [[Andreu Nin]], former government minister in [[Revolutionary Catalonia]], [[Jose Robles]], a left-wing academic and translator along with many members of the Trotskyist-aligned [[POUM]] faction, such as [[Mary Stanley Low]].<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Bayó Belenguer |first=Susana |date=2018-11-26 |title=Mary Low: A Trotskyist with the POUM in Barcelona |url=https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/14753820.2018.1537285 |journal=Hispanic Studies and Researches on Spain, Portugal and Latin America |volume=95 |issue=9–10 |pages=311–324 |doi=10.1080/14753820.2018.1537285 |issn=1475-3820}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |last1=Whitehead |first1=Jonathan |title=The End of the Spanish Civil War: Alicante 1939 |date=4 April 2024 |publisher=Pen and Sword History |isbn=978-1-3990-6395-1 |page=81 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=7aLsEAAAQBAJ&dq=andreu+nin+stalin+purges&pg=PA81 |language=en}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |last1=Service |first1=Robert |author-link=Robert Service (historian) |title=Comrades!: A History of World Communism |date=2007 |publisher=Harvard University Press |isbn=978-0-674-02530-1 |page=212 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Frgm5QodnFoC&dq=andreu+nin+stalin+purged&pg=PA211 |language=en}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |last1=Kocho-Williams |first1=Alastair |title=Russia's International Relations in the Twentieth Century |date=4 January 2013 |publisher=[[Routledge]] |isbn=978-1-136-15747-9 |page=60 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Vu2kOJbrCuMC&dq=spanish+civil+war+stalin+purged+nin&pg=PA61 |language=en}}</ref>

===United Kingdom===
In Britain during the 1980s, the [[Entryism|entryist]] [[Militant (Trotskyist group)|Militant]] group operated within the [[Labour Party (UK)|Labour Party]] with three members of parliament and effective control of [[Liverpool City Council]]. Described by journalist [[Michael Crick]] as "Britain's fifth most important political party" in 1986,<ref>{{cite book |last=Crick |first=Michael |author-link=Michael Crick |title=The March of Militant |pages=2}}</ref> it played a prominent role in the 1989–1991 anti-poll tax movement, which was widely thought to have led to the downfall of British Prime Minister [[Margaret Thatcher]].<ref>{{cite news |url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/onthisday/hi/dates/stories/august/14/newsid_2495000/2495911.stm |title=BBC ON THIS DAY – 14 – 1990: One in five yet to pay poll tax |work=[[BBC]] |date=14 August 1990}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |first=Margaret |last=Thatcher |author-link=Margaret Thatcher |title=The Downing Street Years |date=1993 |pages=848–849}}</ref>

The most enduring of several Trotskyist parties in Britain has been the [[Socialist Workers Party (UK)|Socialist Workers Party]], formerly the International Socialists (IS). Its founder [[Tony Cliff]] rejected the orthodox Trotskyist view of the USSR as a "deformed worker's state". Communist-party regimes were "state capitalist".<ref>{{cite book |first=Tony |last=Cliff |author-link=Tony Cliff |title=The Nature of Stalinist Russia |date=1948}}</ref>{{page needed|date=August 2024}} The SWP has helped found several organisations through which they have sought to exert influence over the broader left, such as the [[Anti-Nazi League]] in the late 1970s and the [[Stop the War Coalition]] in 2001.<ref>{{cite book |last=Boothroyd |first=David |date=2001 |title=The History of British Political Parties |location=London |publisher=Politicos |pages=303}}</ref> It also allied with [[George Galloway]] and [[Respect Party|Respect]], whose dissolution in 2007 caused an internal crisis in the SWP. A more serious internal crisis, leading to a significant decline in the party's membership, emerged in 2013. Allegations of rape and sexual assault made against a leading party member<ref>{{cite news |last=Muir |first=Hugh |date=29 July 2013 |title=Diary: Adieu, Comrade Delta. The SWP leader at the centre of sex abuse allegations departs|url=https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2013/jul/29/adieu-comrade-delta-swp-sex-allegations |work=[[The Guardian]] |archive-url= |archive-date=}}</ref> developed into a dispute over the practice of democratic centralism (defended by the party's international secretary [[Alex Callinicos]]).<ref>{{cite magazine |first=Alex |last=Callinicos |author-link=Alex Callinicos |title=Is Leninism finished? |url=https://socialistworker.co.uk/socialist-review-archive/leninism-finished/ |magazine=[[Socialist Review]] |date=February 2013 |archive-url= |archive-date=}}</ref>

[[File:Dungavel3 (cropped).JPG|thumb|250px|Scottish TUSC members protesting against the [[Dungavel Immigration Removal Centre|Dungavel Detention Centre]]]]

The [[Trade Unionist and Socialist Coalition]] (TUSC) was formed in 2010 between the [[Socialist Party (England and Wales)|Socialist Party]], the SWP and [[Socialist Resistance]], along with the [[National Union of Rail, Maritime and Transport Workers|RMT]] union, has participated in several general elections.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Kelly |first1=John |title=Contemporary Trotskyism: Parties, Sects and Social Movements in Britain |date=14 March 2018 |publisher=[[Routledge]] |isbn=978-1-317-36894-6 |pages=157–310 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=0mJRDwAAQBAJ&q=trade+unionist+and+socialist+coalition+trotskyism |language=en}}</ref> The TUSC stood 40 candidates at the [[2024 United Kingdom general election]].<ref>{{Cite web |date=7 June 2024 |title=TUSC candidates in the general election |url=https://www.tusc.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/2024/06/TUSC-candidates-on-July-4.pdf |website=[[Trade Unionist and Socialist Coalition]] |archive-url= |archive-date=}}</ref>

In April 2019, a 1970s splinter from IS made headlines when three former members of the [[Revolutionary Communist Party (UK, 1978)|Revolutionary Communist Party]] campaigned in the European Parliamentary election as candidates for the [[Brexit Party]],<ref name="Walker, 2019">{{cite news |first=Peter |last=Walker |date=23 April 2019 |title=Former communist standing as MEP for Farage's Brexit party |url=https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2019/apr/23/former-communist-claire-fox-standing-as-mep-for-farages-brexit-party |work=[[The Guardian]] |archive-url= |archive-date=}}</ref><ref>{{cite tweet |user=JamesHeartfield/ |number=1121719607671382018 |title=Glad to announce that I am contesting the Yorkshire and Humber constituency for the @brexitparty_uk in the European elections. |first=James |last=Heartfield |date=26 April 2019 |access-date=28 April 2019}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |title=Former Revolutionary Communist Party's Spiked: Alka Sehgal Cuthbert Candidate for Farage's Brexit Party |url=https://tendancecoatesy.wordpress.com/2019/04/13/former-revolutionary-communist-partys-spiked-alka-sehgal-cuthbert-candidate-for-farages-brexit-party/ |date=13 April 2019 |website=Tendance Coatesy |archive-url= |archive-date=}}</ref> and a fourth, [[Munira Mirza]], was appointed head of the Number 10 [[Downing Street]] policy unit by the new Conservative Prime Minister [[Boris Johnson]].<ref>{{cite news |first1=Rajeev |last1=Syal |first2=Rowena |last2=Mason |first3=Lisa |last3=O'Carroll |title=Sky executive among Johnson's first appointments |url=https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2019/jul/23/sky-executive-among-johnson-first-appointments-andrew-griffith-munira-mirza |work=[[The Guardian]] |date=23 July 2019 |access-date=25 July 2019 |archive-url= |archive-date=}}</ref> The RCP's rejection of the SWP's critical engagement with the Labour Party and trade unions had morphed into embracing right-wing libertarian positions.<ref name="Walker, 2019"/>

===Ireland===
The [[Socialist Party (Ireland)|Socialist Party]] in Ireland was formed in 1996 by members who had been expelled from the [[Labour Party (Ireland)|Labour Party]] in 1989 under the leadership of [[Dick Spring]]. It achieved electoral success at the [[1997 Irish general election|1997 general election]] with the election of [[Joe Higgins (politician)|Joe Higgins]] in [[Dublin West (Dáil constituency)|Dublin West]]. The Socialist Party has been part of electoral alliances such as the [[United Left Alliance]], [[Solidarity (Ireland)|Solidarity]] and [[People Before Profit–Solidarity]]. {{As of|2024}}, it is represented at a national level by [[Mick Barry (Irish politician)|Mick Barry]], a TD for [[Cork North-Central (Dáil constituency)|Cork North-Central]]. It contests [[elections in Northern Ireland]] as part of the [[Cross-Community Labour Alternative]].

===Portugal===
In Portugal's [[2015 Portuguese legislative election|October 2015 parliamentary election]], the [[Left Bloc (Portugal)|Left Bloc]] won 550,945 votes, translating into 10.19% of the expressed votes and 19 (out of 230) ''deputados'' (members of parliament).<ref>{{cite web |url=https://dre.pt/application/file/70722536 |title=Comissão Nacional de Eleições |trans-title=National Election Commission |language=pt-PT |website=Diário da República, 1ª série – Nº 205 |date=20 October 2015 |access-date=18 May 2016 |archive-url= |archive-date=}}</ref> Although founded by several leftist tendencies, it still expresses much of the Trotskyist thought upheld and developed by its former leader, [[Francisco Louçã]].

===Turkey===
In [[Turkey]], there are some Trotskyist organizations, including the [[International Socialist Tendency]]'s section (Revolutionary Workers' Socialist Party), [[Coordinating Committee for the Refoundation of the Fourth International]]'s section (Revolutionary Workers' Party), [[Permanent Revolution Movement]] (SDH), ''Socialism Magazine'' (sympathizers of the [[International Committee of the Fourth International]]) who in 2022 were officially recognized as the ICFI's section in Turkey under the name Sosyalist Eşitlik Grubu (Socialist Equality Group),<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.wsws.org/en/articles/2022/06/27/truk-j27.html |title=A historic advance in the fight for Trotskyism: The International Committee of the Fourth International accepts application of the Sosyalist Eşitlik Grubu to become its section in Turkey |date=27 June 2022 |website=[[World Socialist Website]] |archive-url= |archive-date=}}</ref> and several small groups.

===Russia===
In Russia on 23 February 2018, the centenary of the formation of the Red Army under the leadership of Leon Trotsky, a group named the Young Guard of Bolshevik Leninists (YGBL) was formed. They made contact with the [[International Committee of the Fourth International]] shortly before the [[Russian invasion of Ukraine]] and has since declared its solidarity with the ICFI and intention to become its official section in Russia as well as throughout the former USSR.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.wsws.org/en/articles/2023/02/28/jvtr-f28.html |title=Young Guard of Bolshevik Leninists celebrates 5-year anniversary |date=28 February 2023 |website=[[World Socialist Website]] |archive-url= |archive-date=}}</ref> On 25 April 2024 a leading Ukrainian member of the YGBL, Bogdan Syrotiuk, was arrested by the [[Security Service of Ukraine]] on charges of being a Russian agent and undermining the territorial integrity of Ukraine, claims that the ICFI and [[David North (socialist)]], chairman of the International Editorial Board of the [[World Socialist Web Site]], have completely rejected and say are the “latest example of the Zelensky regime’s brutal repression of left wing movements whose opposition to the war is finding a growing response within the Ukrainian working class”.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.wsws.org/en/special/pages/freebogdan.html |title=Demand the freedom of Ukrainian socialist and anti-war activist Bogdan Syrotiuk! |website=[[World Socialist Website]] |date=16 July 2024 |archive-url= |archive-date=}}</ref>

===France===
{{main|Trotskyism in France}}
[[Image:Manif Paris 2005-11-19 dsc06344 cropped.jpg|thumb|[[Revolutionary Communist League (France)|LCR]] protesters marching in a workforce demonstration in favour of public services and against privatization]]
The [[Communist League (1930)|Communist League]] was formed in 1930, becoming the first Trotskyist group in the country.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Nick |first=Christophe |title=Les Trotskistes |publisher=Fayard |year=2002 |page=26}}</ref> French Trotskyists have historically faced internal splits and external repression, notably during World War II when their activities were banned.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Charpier |first=Frédéric |title=Histoire de l'extrême gauche trotskiste de 1929 à nos jours |publisher=Éditions 1 |year=2002 |page=85}}</ref>{{verify source|date=January 2024}} Postwar, French Trotskyism was shaped by significant divisions, such as the 1952 split between [[Lambertist]] and [[Pabloist]] factions, reflecting global tensions within the [[Fourth International]].<ref>{{Cite book |last=Bensaïd |first=Daniel |title=Les Trotskysmes |publisher=PUF |year=2001 |page=46}}</ref>{{verify source|date=January 2024}} The movement gained public attention during events like the [[May 1968 protests]], where Trotskyist groups, including the [[Revolutionary Communist League (France)|Revolutionary Communist League]] (LCR), played a prominent role.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Marie |first=Jean-Jacques |title=Le Trotskysme |publisher=Armand Colin |year=2002 |page=102}}</ref>{{verify source|date=January 2024}}

The French section of the Fourth International was the Internationalist Communist Party (PCI). In 1952 the party split when the Fourth International removed its Central Committee and split again when in 1953, the Fourth International itself divided. Further divisions occurred over which independence faction to support in the Algerian War. In 1967, the rump of the PCI renamed itself the "[[Internationalist Communist Organisation]]" ({{lang|fr|Organisation Communiste Internationaliste}}, OCI). It proliferated during the May 1968 student demonstrations but was banned alongside other far-left groups, such as the {{lang|fr|Gauche prolétarienne}} (Proletarian Left). Members temporarily reconstituted the group as the Trotskyist Organisation but soon obtained a state order permitting the reformation of the OCI. By 1970, the OCI was able to organise a 10,000-strong youth rally. The group also gained a strong base in trade unions. However, further splits and disintegration followed.

Today, France remains a hub for Trotskyist activity, represented by groups such as {{lang|fr|[[Lutte Ouvrière]]}} which advocates a revolutionary program rooted in Marxist principles.<ref>{{Cite web|title=Lutte ouvrière|url=https://www.lutte-ouvriere.org|access-date=2024-05-27}}</ref> In [[2002 French presidential election|2002]], three trotskyist candidates ran in the election. [[Arlette Laguiller]] of {{lang|fr|Lutte Ouvrière}} got 5.72%, [[Olivier Besancenot]] of the [[Revolutionary Communist League (France)|Revolutionary Communist League]] ({{lang|fr|Ligue communiste révolutionnaire}}) got 4.25% and [[Daniel Gluckstein]] of the [[Workers' Party (France)|Workers' Party]] ({{lang|fr|Parti des Travailleurs}}) got 0.47%.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Election Results 2002 |url=http://www.interieur.gouv.fr/sections/a_votre_service/elections/resultats/presidentielle/presidentielle-2002 |publisher=Ministère de l'Intérieur |access-date=2024-05-27}}</ref> In 2016 [[Jean-Luc Mélenchon]], formerly of the ICO, launched the left-wing political platform {{lang|fr|[[La France Insoumise]]}} (Unbowed France), subsequently endorsed by several parties, including his own [[Left Party (France)|Left Party]] and the [[French Communist Party]]. In the 2017 French Presidential Election, he received 19% in the first round. In the same election, [[Philippe Poutou]] of the [[New Anticapitalist Party]], into which the Revolutionary Communist League dissolved itself in 2008, won 1.20% of the vote. The only openly Trotskyist candidate, [[Nathalie Arthaud]] of Workers' Struggle, won 0.64% of the vote.

In November 2016 a long-standing sympathizing group of the [[International Committee of the Fourth International]] held a founding congress to establish themselves as a full section of the ICFI. As part of the congress international delegates of the ICFI ratified their membership as the {{lang|fr|[[Socialist Equality Party (France)|Parti de l'égalité socialiste]]}} (PES) in French.<ref>{{cite web | url=https://www.wsws.org/en/articles/2016/11/15/icfi-n15.html | title=The International Committee of the Fourth International founds its French section | date=15 November 2016 }}</ref> PES includes a number of members of Sri Lankan origin who sought asylum in France due to the effects of the [[Sri Lankan civil war|Sri Lankan Civil War]], some of whom were members of the [[Socialist Equality Party (Sri Lanka)]] or its predecessor organization, the Revolutionary Communist League, at the time of their flight while many were won to Trotskyism during their exile.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.wsws.org/en/articles/2022/06/20/bnmf-j20.html |title=Third National Congress of the SEP (Sri Lanka): Greetings from the French and German sections of the world Trotskyist movement |date=20 June 2022}}</ref> These Sri Lankan PES members played a leading role in making a historic translation of Trotsky’s seminal work, [[The Revolution Betrayed]], into Tamil in 2024.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.wsws.org/en/articles/2024/02/06/ulli-f06.html |title=SEP (Sri Lanka) public meetings to launch Tamil translation of Trotsky's the Revolution Betrayed |date=6 February 2024}}</ref>