In the following critical lines, we intend to dwell primarily upon two questions: the attitude of the ILP toward the general strike in connection with the struggle against war, and the position of the ILP on the question of the International. Trotsky’s comments on the slogan of the general strike reiterate the view of Marxism and should therefore help to eliminate the juvenile absurdities that have recently acquired a new popularity in the movement. Others, who have tirelessly immunized themselves against the teachings of Marxism, see in their belligerent advocacy of the general strike the mark that distinguishes them as the only authentic and authoritative revolutionists. Some groups, notoriously incapable of discerning the clear difference between Marxian politics and revolutionary phrasemongering, have converted the slogan of the general strike Into a talisman for solving the problem of the present isolation of the Marxists from the masses and big political problems in general. In recent times, the slogan of the general strike has been employed in various sections of the Fourth International with a thoughtlessness and looseness of which no serious Marxist could be guilty. Nevertheless, it is not only of universal interest but makes timely reading now. The article by Trotsky was written a dozen years ago and deals with the conception of the general strike as developed specifically by the ILP. The section deals with the question of the general strike, the part It should play In the activities of a revolutionary party and in the fight for socialist power. We publish below an extract from an article written by Leon Trotsky on September 18, 1935, on the British Independent Labour Party and the Fourth International, under the title In the Middle of the Road. Transcribed & marked up by Einde O’Callaghan for ETOL. Published in New International, Vol. 2 No. 7, December 1935. This is an extract from ILP and the Fourth International, originally
Leon Trotsky The Nature of the General Strike Critical Observations by Leon Trotskyįrom The New International, Vol. XIII No. 8, October 1947, pp. 246–249.
#General strike definition dubois archive
Leon Trotsky: The Nature of the General Strike (September 1935)Įncyclopedia of Trotskyism | Marxists’ Internet Archive
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