By HECTOR BENOIT*
Considerations on the analyzes of the alleged Trotskyists
I write this text in front of many other texts that I have read on the site the earth is round and on the internet network, commenting on so-called “narrations on Ukraine-Russia issues”. I am particularly concerned about the so-called “Trotskyist” “narrations”.
During my more than 40 years of militancy, I practically personally met all the main post-war international “Troskyist” leaders: Gerry Healy, Dave North, Bill Auken, Löwy, Mandel, Altamira, Cogiolla, Lora, Lambert, and all Latin American 'morenism', among others, I remember the members of the current PSTU, Brazilian, such as Cerdeira, and other more inexpressive ones, who are today from the Psol, such as Valério Arcary.
Sad theoretical memories, I saw in them, dogmatism, and basic errors, fundamentally, in the reading of Das Capital. Work that most only know very poorly read. Moreno, for example, mixed Marx's dialectic with Piaget! Healy, 'great orthodox' mixed with a totally superficial reading of the Logic of Hegel, his superficial readings of Hegel and Marx. Mandel, on the other hand, had an economistic reading, and did not understand the Marxist theory of history as a revolutionary program, expressed, particularly, in the so-called Transition Program, the true program of the IV International.
More than 70 years after this program was written, The Program of the IV International, I dare say, as I have already expressed in articles published in the magazine Marxist Criticism, this program has never been understood as the 'program that synthesizes Das Kapital”, he summarizes, as he understands it dialectically.
I return to these old questions, because my articles are widely known, and many say they follow them. But alas, when I see the practical applications of my teachings: I am ashamed! It seems that they did not understand anything, absolutely nothing that I wrote with so much care!
Well, suffice it to say, that the group I founded, the last of them, was called, precisely, Denial of Denial. I was practically excluded from this group, which is now called Socialist Transition, org. When I read your texts, I am scandalized! On 02/03/2022, the website of the aforementioned group writes as a headline: (I note that as postmodern resources, they are sometimes case-insensitive). All good! But, they write in the headline: “for the defeat of putin in ukraine”
And they continue: “Anyone who wants to see – beyond the simplistic analyzes of the orphans of Stalinism – will notice the imperialist aggression against a fragile nation [yes, so fragile that it is supported by the USA, by NATO, by the European Union, a country that receives billions of dollars to finance the neo-Nazi brigades active in the war – my additions – HB] The Russian action must be completely condemned. More than that: Putin's defeat in the Ukrainian invasion must be defended.
Now, we can say that the socialist transition was completely taken over by the misleading analyzes of so-called 'post-war Trotskyism'. Their analyzes are gross copies of the non-dialectical analyzes of the IWL (International Workers' League) and other post-war non-dialectical sectors!
Of course the USA, NATO, the European Union are Ukraine's biggest enemies and aggressors! They already lost the war! But not only militarily!
They lost the war economically! If militarily, there is nothing to discuss! Well, let's discuss economically!
From this point of view, the data is even clearer! Studies published in international journals, such as the Financial Times, translated, to a large extent, even by Brazilian economic organizations, such as the studies of the economist Barry Etchegreen, clearly show the “evolution” or “transformation” of the so-called “world economy”. The dollar, some time ago, ceased to be the so-called 'world currency'.
In other words, the dollar is no longer the ballast of the world economy! Its role in this regard has been drastically reduced since 1999! The dollar's share in the world's reserves of central banks around the world has fallen sharply. In 1999, the dollar's share in world banks was 71%. In 2021, the dollar only represented 59% of the international reserves of the various central banks in the world.
Well, this drop in the dollar, with the war in Ukraine, only deepened this collapse. Of course there is the rise of the Chinese yuan, which already in 2021 reached 23% of the international reserves of banks around the world! With the war in Ukraine, now, in 2022, the rise of the ruble and the yuan is unpredictable! As Putin said; “pay in rubles!”
Take our example of the Real, a year ago, the dollar was worth 5.50 on average, today it is, almost one real lower, at 4.60! The dollar, post-Ukraine is the most devalued currency or among the most devalued in the world.
Well, to sum up: in this mobilization of Russian troops over Ukraine, the military defeat of Ukraine and its allies USA, NATO, etc. it was devastating. Despite the ridiculous narrations that the troops of Ukraine are still heroically resisting! Economically, much more! The defeat is much greater for the US, NATO, not to mention Ukraine.
Now, to finish, I ask: where are the post-war analyzes of these supposed Trotskyists left? In the trash can!
Who is the real killer? Undoubtedly, Zelenky, an adventurer, but directly responsible for the largest post-World War II migration! More than 5 million women and children. Of course with US and NATO support! In addition to forcing Ukrainian men by martial law to defend their puppet government, supported by the bourgeois humanism of Human Rights, violated by himself on a daily basis to keep himself in power!
Who, in order to stay in power, decreed martial law and forced all male Ukrainians, those aged 16 to 60 to fight to defend their “homeland”? What was your 'program'? Defense of the “Homeland” allied and supported by neo-Nazi battalions, allied and financed, with weapons and millions of US and NATO dollars! Or would it be to defend his puppet government, a grotesque parody of a leadership that isn't anyone's leadership, it just uses that crap from the virtual world and as a video actor it gets into power.
The worst thing is for those who call themselves “Trotskyists” to fall into such grotesque simulacra!
*Hector Benoit He is a professor at the Department of Philosophy at Unicamp. Author, among other books, of Plato's Odyssey: The Adventures and Misadventures of Dialectics (Annablume).
References
BENOIT, H. “On the (dialectical) critique of The capital“. In: Marxist Criticism, n.o. 3, Sao Paulo, Brasiliense, 1996.
BENOIT, H. “From logic with a big 'L' to the logic of The capital". In: Boito et al (orgs). Marxism and Human Sciences. FAPESP/Cemarx, Sao Paulo 2003.
BENOIT, H. “The Transition Program and America”. In: Marxist critic, v. 18, Revan, 2004.
EICHENGRENN, Barry. The Rise and Fall of the Dollar and the Future of the International Monetary System.
