On 2012-01-11, at 12:01 PM, Doug Henwood wrote:
>
> On Jan 11, 2012, at 11:26 AM, nathan tankus wrote:
>
>> This is the reference i found.
>>
>> "The tactical, or of you will 'technical' task was quite simple-grab
>> every fascist or every isolated group of fascists by their collars,
>> acquaint them with the pavement a few times, strip them of their
>> fascist insignia and documents and without carrying things any
>> further, leave them with their fright and a few black and blue marks"
>> -ultraleft tactics in fighting the fascists (March 2, 1934).
>
> What was the context? Was Trotsky pro or con?
Pro. The line we learned in the Trotskyist movement was to "smash fascism in the egg." In other words, don't look to hate legislation to counter fascism because the state would also use these repressive laws against the Left at some point. Instead, mobilize the unions, workers' parties, and other progressive forces to defeat the far right in the street. Inevitably, this would lead to violent clashes, hence the reference to the pavement. Trotsky had not been opposed to the KPD meeting the Nazis blow for blow. He was opposed to the party's political line of rejecting a united front with the social democratic SPD. By 1934, he was using the result of the Comintern's disastrous "third period policy" in Germany to call for united fronts (as opposed to popular fronts) against fascism throughout Europe.