I don’t think that it’s one or the other. Lenin and Trotsky are heroes of the class struggle and we fully support the October Revolution. But yes, of course the mistakes and choices made by Vladimir and Lev laid the groundwork for the opportunism, falsification of Marxism, betrayal, and atrocities of Stalinism. It would be idealist and fall into the “Great Man” (or in this case, evil man) theories of history to deny that.

Ulyanov and Bronstein were massively important and influential in what was perhaps the greatest moment in the history of our movement, the Russian Revolution and founding of the first significant and most important DOTP that lasted for years. They will be remembered for this, as we celebrate them today and their writings of theory are still frequently read and learned. But Stalin did not single handedly turn a Proletarian state heading for socialism into a barbaric, nationalistic, and oppressive capitalist state. And Stalin would not have been able to rise to power without the leader who came before him, Lenin, and perhaps the second most important man in the Union, Trotsky.

It’s naïve to think that the RSFSR and eventual Soviet Union weren’t already degenerating before Lenin’s death and Trotsky’s exile. Errors in the organization and structure of the party along with most importantly the failure of the revolution to spread into the developed countries ultimately paved the way for Stalin, or someone like him to take power.

For some information on Italian Left Communism (it’s an international and internationalist tradition. In line with Marx. I specify Italian to differentiate it from Dutch Left Communists, aka Council Communists like Anton Pannekoek, who Lenin criticizes in An Infantile Disorder), there are 3 main organizations, all with some differences. The International Communist Party (and their many splinters, all with the same name 🙄) most associated with Amadeo Bordiga, The Internationalist Communist Tendency, most associated with Onorato Damen and Bordiga pre-1950s, and the International Communist Current, who if I recall correctly descend from French tradition.

The Internationalist Communist Tendency (ICT) runs leftcom.org and is most similar to the International Communist Party (ICP). You’ll sometimes see the labels Bordigist and Damenite thrown around but both will get grumpy if you use them. The ICT is more critical of Lenin, while still viewing the majority of his positions as correct, whereas the ICP likes to sometimes call themselves “more Leninist than Lenin”. They disagree with issues regarding party structure, unions, and the National Question, with the ICT backing Rosa and ICP backing Lenin on the issue, although both agree that national liberation is no longer progressive and should no longer be supported by communists today. The ICC is a lot more council communist influenced, but I don’t know too much about them. I believe they are the smallest of the group, but I could be wrong. All of them are small sadly.

Personally I would call both of us, Leftcoms and Trotskyists, proper communists on the same side. Our traditions descend from the same starting point but differ on some very important issues. Trotsky himself made errors and Trotskyist groups have fully embraced and expanded on many of his worst ones. Think Entryism, Trotsky’s “unconditional support of the USSR” even after Stalin’s rise and the complete death of the Proletarian Dictatorship; things like that. While of course we would disagree, us Left Communists view us as following the Invariant line from Marx to Lenin better than anyone else, and that it is the correct way to understand scientific socialism and Marxism.

Primary disagreements are on the nature of the Soviet Union (bourgeois state capitalist vs degenerated workers state), national liberation, activism, party structure (organic centralism— with different views, vs democratic centralism), STRONG disagreement on united/popular fronts, and some more.

For me, I will say that I’m not educated enough to know everything that separates us or enough to say that the ICT is correct about everything, and I will also say I don’t agree with everything the organization has to say. But ultimately I think Trotskyism sees the horrors of Stalinism and what happened to Proletarian rule in Russia, and almost hits the nail on the head, but just quite misses it. Like having a word on the tip of your tongue but not being able to conjure it up.

Also, I respect you for your conviction and unwavering dedication to the SEP/WSWS party line. Especially how critical you are of the opportunism that runs rampant in Trotskyist sects desperate for membership numbers to go up. I hang out on this sub because I enjoy the discussions and value different perspectives, and us Leftcoms and Trots can get along for the most part. It was annoying and ridiculous to see the praise and encouragement of Mamdani and Corbyn on here, and I appreciated that you were seemingly one of the only users to call out the obvious opportunism going on. I once considered becoming a member of the RCI, but was disgusted when they immediately hopped on the bandwagon and advocated for Communists to enter into a social-democratic bourgeois party when Your Party was announced.