AUT: Re: Trotsky, Cohn-Bendit

["cwright" <cwright@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

Hey Nate,

Communism and Terrorism and his Military Writings are great sources for
really bad stuff.  But there is a lot that is in bits and pieces all over
the place.  Get the Kronstadt book put out by Pathfinder Press for some
choice materials and look at the suppression of the Workers' Opposition in
the 1921 Congress.  Victor Serge's biography has some stuff worth looking at
at that time as well.  Also try Voline's book on the Russina Revolution.

Maurice Brinton's book on the Bolsheviks and Workers Control is a good
source for nasty quotes from Trotsky and especially Lenin.

His writings on literature and art are in two main collections, his book
Literature and Revolution and a collection piece call Trotsky on Art and
Literature and Problems of Everday Life has some stuff.  Some of it is good.
Trotsky is more given to appreciating contemporary art than say Lenin, but
it all pales in comparison to the SI.  But it is not his worst stuff and he
makes sensible arguments against 'proletarian culture' nonsense.

Cheers,
Chris

----- Original Message -----
From: "Nate Holdren" <nateholdren@xxxxxxxxxxx>
To: <aut-op-sy@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
Sent: Tuesday, October 15, 2002 9:16 PM
Subject: AUT: Trotsky, Cohn-Bendit


> Greetings listmates-
> I'm reading Cohn-Bendit's _Obsolete Communism_ (yes I know about his later
> carreer, no diatribes please).
> He quotes Trotsky saying all these horrible things, it's really great, but
> he doesn't cite a source or anything, other than remarks Trotsky made to
> some party congress (#9 I think) and that he wrote some of this in
> DIctatorship vs Democracy, which I can't find.
>
> Leon says things like "the workers must not be allowed to roam all over
> Russia. They must be sent where they are needed, called up and directed
like
> soldiers. Labour must be directed most intensely during the transition of
> capitalism to socialism" and "was it true that compulsory labour was
always
> unproductive?" and "coercion, regimentation, and militarization of labour
> were no mere emergency measures ... the workers' State normally had the
> right to coerce any citizen to perform any work at any place of its
> choosing."
> And on the Workers' Opposition, Trotsky says "We must bear in mind the
> historical mission of our Party ... to maintain its dictatorship without
> stopping for these vacillations, nor even the momentary falterings of the
> working class."
>
> Any one know where I could chase up sources for these or similar remarks
by
> Trotsky, particularly relating to the militarization of labor?
>
>
>
> Also, I heard someplace that Trotsky wrote on literature? What's that
like?
> Did he write anything on music anywhere?
>
> The reason I ask is that I'm thinking of putting together a slanderous
> character assassination pamphlet employing some Situationist stuff against
> Trotsky and Trokskyist organizations, centering mainly around how here in
> Chicago they played a big role in derailing the post 9/11 antiwar movement
> and that the events they hold are almost invariably boring dreary affairs
> with no rhythm or music (other than maybe a martial or assembly line style
> march beat) and little smiling beyond sneers and smug grins. The second is
> linked to the first above, in that the killed the movement in part because
> they're so dull and predictable and depressing. I want to do something I
> could take out of my pocket and handover as a self-satisfied explanation
for
> why I don't want to buy their stupid papers or come to their meetings.
>
> Any input, much appreciated.
>
> Nate
>
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