Opposition to Stalinism within the Communist Left

http://mruniversity.com/courses/economic-history-soviet-union/opposition-stalinism-within-communist-left

There were some in the party

who argued against
some of the tactics that were used.

A lot of people
will look back on it and say,

"Oh, look! They were more democratic,

they were against Stalinism."

And Trotsky argued
that he was against Stalinism.

However, on their own platform
that they put forward

as what they would do
if they were to take power,

did they really differ in a way

that would have produced
different results?

Or were they only arguing
against the results that they saw,

the outcome of the policies?

And the actual policies that they had

wouldn't have differed
in a meaningful way.

There's a book called
"The Russian Communist Left,"

it's a collection of essays.

The author writes,

"At every step in its degeneration," -

the degeneration into Stalinism -

"voices were raised
inside the party in protest."

But I wonder whether the policies,

that were agreed upon between Stalin
and the Communist Left of the party,

weren't the ones that actually
led to those results

that they were protesting against.

Transcriber: Michel Smits
Reviewer: Maurício Kakuei Tanaka