ABSTRACT
This chapter argues that one key element in the resilience of Trotskyist organizations is their exceptional efficiency in the acquisition and deployment of such resources. It concentrates on material, social-organizational and cultural resources. An active membership is clearly a key resource for Trotskyist organizations, but it turns out that the members are also the chief source of income. Mainstream leftist political parties charge relatively modest annual membership fees and raise only modest sums through fund-raising drives. Trotskyist organizations are clearly very efficient in obtaining money from members yet one of their paradoxical features is that they are frequently wracked by major financial crises, marked by a significant excess of expenditure over income. Turning from organizational resources to cultural resources, it is clear that Trotskyists produce an array of publications that is astonishing for a movement with fewer than 10,000 members.
