Defending Ernest Mandel's Legacy: A Call for Reviewers and Co-Authors to Reply to the AWL's Distortions
Thirty years after Mandel's passing, it's time to correct the record and defend the authentic tradition of revolutionary Trotskyism against systematic falsification
Shortly after the dissolution of the USSR, Sean Matgamna of the Alliance for Workers' Liberty (AWL) published an "Open Letter to Ernest Mandel", titled "Trotskyism after the collapse of Stalinism". This letter made a sweeping claim that the collapse of Stalinism "shows conclusively" that Mandel's version of Trotskyism was "radically wrong, false, and disorienting". The AWL just republished the open letter in a new book, The Fall of European Stalinism: Russia and Eastern Europe, 1989-91.
Reading the letter at the time presented a fundamental problem. As experiences from our tradition had already noted, Matgamna's method demonstrated such profound bad faith that meaningful debate became virtually impossible. Major sections of his argumentation were based on systematic and deliberate deformation of the positions it polemicizes against, taking forms so outrageous and slanderous that it borders on the grotesque, effectively creating straw men that replaced real positions. He attributed views that Mandel and the Fourth International (FI) explicitly rejected.
This approach strongly suggested the letter's real purpose was not genuine theoretical debate, but rather to homogenize and fanaticize the membership of his own faction. Furthermore, it became clear that the AWL's understanding of Mandel's positions seemed to derive more from the long-standing polemics and falsification of rival currents like Healy and Lambert, rather than a diligent study of Mandel's actual theoretical contributions and the FI's history.
The sheer volume of falsehoods and caricatures meant that, at the time, a direct, honest reply addressing every point would have been a Herculean task, perhaps leading to the conclusion that the open letter was not, in fact, truly seeking a reply. It appeared to be using the collapse of the USSR as a pretext for a wholesale assault on the theoretical and political heritage of the Fourth International.
However, with the 30th anniversary of Ernest Mandel's passing approaching, now is a good opportunity to outline Mandel's real positions, defend the legacy of the Fourth International, and correct the record. We have developed a five-part plan to reply to Matgamna's letter, drawing on the detailed analyses and historical documents of the Fourth International tradition.
Our Five-Part Reply:
Article 1: The Method of Distortion - Exposing how Matgamna's straw dolls make honest debate impossible, including his systematic misrepresentation of the FI's actual positions on the nature of post-capitalist societies.
Article 2: The Collapse of Stalinism - Demonstrating how the USSR's demise confirmed rather than refuted Trotskyist analysis, and contrasting this with the AWL's dangerous support for Yeltsin's capitalist restoration.
Article 3: World Revolution vs. "Socialism in One Country" - Clarifying the FI's dialectical understanding of anti-imperialist struggles and its unwavering commitment to internationalism.
Article 4: Materialism vs. Idealism - Critiquing the AWL's retreat from revolutionary solutions in Ireland and Palestine toward bourgeois-democratic accommodations.
Article 5: The Living Tradition - Highlighting the ongoing theoretical contributions of Mandel, the Fourth International and others in developing revolutionary Marxism for contemporary struggles.
We seek subscribers who want to help review or co-author this five-part reply. This project offers an opportunity to engage deeply with crucial questions of revolutionary theory and strategy, while defending the authentic tradition of Trotskyism against distortion and slander.
If you are interested in contributing to this important work—whether through research, writing, editing, or translation—please review this backgrounder and get in touch through Substack! We particularly welcome subscribers familiar with the theoretical debates within the Fourth International, the history of post-war Trotskyism, or contemporary analyses of imperialism and capitalist crisis.
Let's engage in the kind of open, and rigorous debate necessary for building a truly effective international revolutionary movement capable of leading the working class to its emancipation.