ABSTRACT
Trotskyists have not led a revolutionary struggle for power in any country; they have never won a national election; and they have never built an enduring mass party anywhere, at any time. For the most part, the Trotskyist movement is organizationally small, politically irrelevant and deeply fragmented. The largest organizations exist in countries that are home to at least ten Trotskyist groups, viz. Argentina, Brazil, Britain, France, Germany, Mexico, Spain and the USA whilst the number of Fourth Internationals now stands at 32. For a movement that was officially launched in 1938 with such high hopes, the results of almost a century of sustained political activity are utterly dismal. The argument of this book is that the failings of Trotskyism are chronic, deep-rooted, persistent and pervasive because they are rooted in an inflexible attachment to an outmoded and irrelevant doctrine and sectarian hostility to those who disagree, not least other Trotskyists.
