ABSTRACT
In addition to their trade union work, Trotskyist groups have played a key role in creating some of the most successful social movements of recent times. This chapter begins by classifying the rich variety of social movements into a number of specific domains and further subdivides them according to the relationships between their Trotskyist and non-Trotskyist components. It examines some of the most successful social movements before looking in turn at those which have proved less successful and those in which Trotskyists have exerted relatively little influence. The chapter considers the terrain of gender and sexual politics where Trotskyists have faced a series of more far-reaching challenges and problems. Social movements can be further sub-divided according to the relationships between Trotskyists and non-Trotskyists. Organizational success has undoubtedly been facilitated by the substantial resources of Trotskyist organizations but has required core elements of Trotskyist doctrine to be firmly downplayed.
