The collapse of the Fourth International – a reading guide

The following is a reading list dealing with the key political mistakes made by the leadership of the Fourth International following the end of the Second World War and during the post-war period. 

The texts cover the key issues of the post-war period: the economic boom, the new international relationship of forces that had arisen from the war, the role of the Soviet Union, the nature of the new regimes in Eastern Europe and the colonial revolution. Taken together, they provide a thorough analysis of the entire epoch.

As explained in the accompanying document – which will be discussed at the upcoming congress of the Revolutionary Communist International –  at the end of the war, the Revolutionary Communist Party (RCP) in Britain, led by Ted Grant, found itself in opposition to the leadership of the Fourth International. This expressed itself in sharp differences on a number of different questions, including post-war economic perspectives, the question of Bonapartism and democracy, and the character of the new regimes that had emerged in Eastern Europe, in particular in Yugoslavia.

The leadership of the Fourth ended up making one mistake after another, which destroyed the International that Trotsky had painstakingly built in the 1930s. Their political weakness led the leaders of the Fourth into one split after another. Through their antics, they succeeded in blackening the name of Trotsky and Trotskyism for generations. 

Ted Grant, on the other hand, through his application of the Marxist method, managed to understand and analyse the events as they unfolded. His writings, unlike those of the leaders of the Fourth, have stood the test of time. Today, they represent a treasure trove for those trying to understand the post-war period.


Key historical texts

More recent key texts

Additional important material

Audio/Video

Key documents produced by the leadership of the Fourth International after Trotsky's death

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