I received this book as a Christmas gift. As a teacher of children and adults, I am well aware that the people who are hardest to teach are those who think they know everything already. I learned a lot from reading this book and I have been a Socialist for a good fifty years. Trotsky's classic "Death Agony of Capitalism" was a major part of my education fifty years ago. "In Defence of Trotskyism" is about reasserting the working-class basis of Socialism. For Socialists, the key to the future is the role of the working class. This is often expressed through the trade union movement. My own union, UNITE is cited in the book as an example of how the working class can transform a bureaucratic body into one which actively campaigns for workers' rights, advances the cause of Socialism and provides hope for the future.
The book refers to "Mandelism"
which is a term I remember from the past. It simply means the seeking
of a short cut to Socialism which bypasses the working class and is
therefore doomed to failure.
The struggles of the next period will
test all organisations which claim the mantle of Trotskyism and some
will be found wanting. The CWI (Committee for a Workers'
International) has been refounded on fundamental principles which
will stand it in good stead.
I enjoyed reading this book and I would recommend it to anybody.
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