On the Development Process, Basic Characteristics and Trends of American Trotskyism

Since its emergence, American Trotskyism has maintained a fairly high level of activity, exerting an influence among the底层劳动者 and left-wing intellectuals of the United States that cannot be underestimated, and has become a typical representative of radical left-wing thought in the developed Western countries. In recent years, academic circles both domestically and internationally have focused their research on American Trotskyism in the following areas: first, research on the development trajectory, factional distribution, organizational status, and practical activities of major American Trotskyist parties and groups, such as the Socialist Workers Party (hereinafter referred to as the “SWP”), before the 1990s; second, analysis and reflection on its historical evolution and influencing factors, starting from the origins, revival, and decline of American Trotskyism; third, research on major representative figures such as James Cannon, the founder of American Trotskyism, especially on Cannon’s important position within American Trotskyism; fourth, transnational comparisons and contrastive analyses between the American Trotskyist movement and the French radical left, examining the conflict between radical left-wing theory and the political realities of various countries. These studies have significant reference value for understanding the rise and fall of American Trotskyism and the periodic factional struggles and organizational splits within American Trotskyism. However, academic circles rarely discuss the main Trotskyist groups still existing in the United States over the past twenty years and their development, and research on the theoretical content, stage characteristics, and development trends of American Trotskyism remains relatively weak. Based on the realistic background of the political, economic, social, and cultural environment of the United States, this article will systematically analyze the evolutionary trajectory of American Trotskyism from its rise to its decline, focusing on the stage characteristics presented by the interaction of theory and practice in its historical evolution, as well as the current development trends and the deep-seated reasons for this current situation, thereby providing a case study for academic circles to understand the development of the American socialist movement and promoting research on American Marxism.

美国托派自产生以来始终保持着相当高的活跃度，在美国底层劳动者和左翼知识分子中具有不可低估的影响力，成为西方发达国家激进左翼思潮的典型代表。近年来，国内外学界对于美国托派的研究聚焦于以下几方面：一是对20世纪90年代以前美国社会主义工人党（以下简称“社工党”）等美国主要托派政党和团体的发展脉络、派别分布、组织状况及实践活动的研究；二是从美国托派的起源、复兴和衰落入手，对其历史演进及影响因素的分析与反思；三是对美国托派创始人詹姆斯·坎农（James Cannon）等主要代表人物的研究，尤其是对坎农在美国托派中的重要地位的研究；四是将美国托派运动与法国激进左翼进行跨国比较和对比分析，考察激进左翼理论与各国政治现实的冲突。这些研究对于了解美国托洛茨基主义的兴衰及美国托派周期性的派系斗争和组织分裂，具有重要的参考价值。但学界对于近20年来美国尚存的主要托派团体及其发展状况鲜有述及，对于美国托洛茨基主义的理论内容、阶段特征及发展态势的研究还较为薄弱。本文将以美国的政治、经济、社会和文化环境等现实背景为基础，系统分析美国托派从兴起到式微的演变轨迹，重点探讨其历史演进过程中理论与实践相互作用下所呈现的阶段性特征，以及当前的发展态势和造成这一现状的深层原因，进而为学界了解美国社会主义运动的发展提供一个案例，以促进对美国马克思主义的研究。

I. Reasons for the Rise and Existence of Trotskyism in the United States

一、托洛茨基主义在美国兴起和存在的原因

The ability of Trotskyism to rise and develop in the United States, in addition to external factors such as the stimulation and influence of international Trotskyism and the Fourth International, also stems from the unique economic, political, social, and cultural environment of the United States and the psychology of its populace, which have provided fertile ground for Trotskyist activities.

托洛茨基主义能够在美国兴起和发展，除了国际托派和第四国际等外部因素的刺激和影响外，美国独特的经济、政治、社会、文化环境与民众心理也滋生了托派活动的土壤。

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International Trotskyism Provides Theoretical and Ideological Support for American Trotskyism

国际托派为美国托派提供理论与意识形态支持

Trotskyism is a ultra-left opportunist trend of thought within the international communist movement. The original Trotskyism was born out of the inner-party struggles of Soviet communism in the 1920s, criticizing the bureaucratization of Party organs and opposing the doctrine of “socialism in one country.” With Trotsky’s expulsion from the Soviet Communist Party and the Communist International in 1929, Trotskyism shifted its arena of struggle to the international stage. In 1930, representatives of Trotskyist organizations from the United States, Germany, and other countries met in Paris, marking the starting point for Trotsky’s establishment of an international left opposition. In 1938, the Fourth International was founded, and Trotskyism initially achieved an international scale, establishing a unified organizational and leadership core for American Trotskyism. The Fourth International integrated the scattered Trotskyist forces, proposed unified slogans and action programs, and provided theoretical guidance and an ideological foundation for American Trotskyism.

托洛茨基主义是国际共产主义运动中的一个极左机会主义思潮。最初的托派诞生于20世纪20年代苏联共产主义的党内斗争，它批判党内机关官僚化，反对“一国建成社会主义”学说。随着1929年托洛茨基被逐出苏联共产党和共产国际，托派将斗争舞台转向国际。1930年，美国、德国等托派组织代表在巴黎开会，成为托洛茨基建立国际左翼反对派的起点。1938年，第四国际成立，托派初成国际规模，为美国托派建立了统一的组织和领导核心。第四国际将分散的托派力量融合起来，提出了统一的口号和行动纲领，为美国托派提供了理论指导和意识形态基础。

Trotsky placed his hopes for developing the Fourth International on the United States. He personally visited the United States to expand the spread of Trotskyism there. In the view of Cannon, the leader of American Trotskyism, Trotsky’s theory not only answered the problems encountered in the early American communist movement but also provided the possibility for realizing his own political propositions. Therefore, Trotsky’s “theory of permanent revolution” and the concept of “world revolution” not only attracted left-wing figures like Cannon to join the Trotskyist camp but also became the “true insights” upon which early American Trotskyism relied for its faith. In 1934, Trotsky also provided support for the magazine *New International* founded by Cannon, creating public opinion for the “New International” then under construction. The United States had effectively become a laboratory for Trotskyism and has since remained one of the important strongholds of the Trotskyist socialist movement.

托洛茨基将发展第四国际的希望寄托于美国。他曾亲自到美国，扩大托洛茨基主义在美国的传播。在美国托派领袖坎农看来，托洛茨基的理论不仅解答了早期美国共产主义运动中遇到的问题，而且为实现他本人的政治主张提供了可能性。因此，托洛茨基的“不断革命论”及“世界革命”构想不仅吸引了坎农等左翼人士加入托派阵营，而且成为早期美国托派赖以信仰的“真知灼见”。1934年，托洛茨基还为坎农创办的《新国际》杂志提供支持，给正在筹建中的“新国际”制造舆论。美国俨然成为托洛茨基主义的实验场，后来也一直是托派社会主义运动的重镇之一。

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The Emergence of Revolutionary Forces and Mass Base for American Trotskyism under Economic Crisis

经济危机下美国托派的革命力量和群众基础的产生

The economic development situation and the living standards of the American people are objective factors affecting the Trotskyist movement. The Trotskyist movement belongs to radical social revolutionary movements, and poverty is a major breeding ground for revolution. Therefore, the impoverished living conditions of some Americans also laid the foundation for the emergence and development of American Trotskyism. The Great Depression of 1929 caused massive displacement among the American populace. A large number of unemployed workers, driven by the need to survive, openly engaged in illegal activities, displaying strong radicalism and revolutionary spirit. Farmers and African Americans, due to the extreme deterioration of their living conditions, also showed a strong spirit of resistance. American society during the Great Depression was filled with various injustices. Some segments of the populace were extremely dissatisfied with reality, hoping to change the status quo quickly and unable to accept gradual reform proposals. The economic collapse prompted “the masses urgently needed any guide or organizer to help them end this state of disorder.”

美国的经济发展状况及国民生活水平是影响托派运动的客观因素。托派运动属于激进的社会革命运动，而贫穷又是孕育革命的主要温床，因此，部分美国人民贫困的生活状况也为美国托派产生和发展打下了基础。1929年的经济大萧条造成大量美国民众的流离失所。大量失业工人迫于生计，公开参与违法活动，表现出极强的激进性和革命性。农民和黑人由于生活状况的极度恶化也表现出强烈的反抗精神。大萧条时期的美国社会充斥着种种不公正现象，部分群众对现实极度不满，他们希望尽快改变这种现状，无法接受渐进改良的主张。经济的崩溃，促使“民众迫切需要任何一个指引者或组织者来帮助他们结束这种无序状态”。

The distinctly anti-capitalist stance of American Trotskyism catered to the psychology of groups such as workers, farmers, and African Americans. It regarded capitalism as absolute evil, attributing all the ugly phenomena of American society, such as war, unemployment, and famine, to capitalism. Although the Trotskyist critique of capitalism was not entirely accurate, even biased and one-sided, it was precisely for this reason that it could consistently oppose capitalism, becoming a highly attractive political organization for some segments of the masses. American workers, farmers, and African Americans exhibited radicalism, revolutionary spirit, and rebelliousness, making them the revolutionary forces and mass base for Trotskyism in the United States.

美国托派鲜明的反资本主义立场，迎合了工人、农民、黑人等群体的心理。它将资本主义视为绝对的恶，把战争、失业、饥荒等所有美国社会的丑恶现象都归咎于资本主义。尽管托派对资本主义的批判并不完全准确，甚至是偏激和片面的，但正因如此，才使得它能够始终如一地反对资本主义，成为对部分群众极具吸引力的政治组织。美国工人、农民和黑人等群体呈现出激进性、革命性和反抗性，他们成为托派在美国的革命力量和群众基础。

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The Birth of American Trotskyism Was a Direct Result of Cannon’s Political Turn

美国托派的诞生是坎农政治转向的直接结果

At the beginning of the American communist movement, from the left wing of the Socialist Party of America (hereinafter referred to as the “SPA”) to the Communist Party of the United States of America (hereinafter referred to as the “CPUSA”), there existed factional struggles for control. After the formation of the Foster-Cannon and Pepper-Ruthenberg-Lovestone factions within the CPUSA in 1924, serious differences emerged between the two sides over struggle tactics. In the Soviet Union, Stalin had already launched a struggle against Trotskyism. The CPUSA adjusted its own stance based on the struggles within the Communist International. Cannon harbored dissatisfaction with the practices of the Communist International and the Soviet Communist Party’s expulsion of Trotsky, which became his main motivation for turning to Trotskyism.

美国共产主义运动诞生之初，从美国社会党（以下简称“社会党”）左翼到美国共产党（以下简称“美共”）内存在着为控制权而展开的派别斗争。自1924年美共形成福斯特—坎农和佩帕尔—鲁森堡—洛夫斯通两派后，双方就在斗争策略上存在严重分歧。而在苏联，斯大林已经发起了反对托洛茨基主义的斗争。美共根据共产国际内部的斗争，调整自身立场。坎农则对共产国际的做法以及苏联共产党开除托洛茨基心怀不满，这成为他转向托派的主要动机。

During the Sixth Congress of the Communist International in 1928, Trotsky’s *Critique of the Draft Program of the Communist International* convinced Cannon. Cannon believed that Trotsky’s critique could explain the reasons for the depressed state of the American communist movement. He said: “When I first read Trotsky’s *Critique of the Draft Program of the Communist International*, I immediately and forever believed that the theory of ‘socialism in one country’ was fundamentally counter-revolutionary. Trotsky and the Russian Opposition represent the true, original Marxist revolutionary program.” Cannon then turned to the line represented by Trotsky, and American Trotskyism began to sprout. In the same year, Cannon and others were expelled from the CPUSA for defending Trotsky, indirectly leading to the revolutionary group headed by Cannon developing its own organization around Trotskyism. The factional struggles and organizational splits caused by internal differences within the CPUSA also gave Trotskyist parties a certain “room” to maneuver. Therefore, American Trotskyism was not only a direct result of Cannon’s political turn but also a product of the power struggles within the CPUSA.

在1928年共产国际第六次代表大会期间，托洛茨基的《共产国际纲领草案批判》令坎农十分信服。坎农认为，托洛茨基的批判可以解释美国共产主义运动不景气状态的原因。他说：“当我初次读到托洛茨基的《共产国际纲领草案批判》时，我就立刻而且永远相信‘一国建成社会主义’理论基本上是反革命的。托洛茨基和俄国反对派代表着真正的、原初的马克思主义革命纲领。”坎农随即转向以托洛茨基为代表的路线，美国托洛茨基主义开始萌芽。同年，坎农等人因为托洛茨基辩护被美共开除，间接导致以坎农为首的革命团体围绕托洛茨基主义发展自己的组织。美共的党内分歧所造成的派系斗争与组织分裂，也给了托派政党一定的“发挥”空间。因此，美国托派不仅是坎农政治转向的直接结果，也是美共党内权力斗争的产物。

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Radical Trade Union Movements Created a Practical Arena for American Trotskyism

激进的工会运动为美国托派创造实践阵地

When the United States entered World War I in 1917, workers, troubled by the rapid rise in living costs, saw their fighting spirit grow increasingly high, and labor-capital conflicts became very prominent. During this period, the United States became a disaster area for labor unrest. After the victory of the October Revolution, a revolutionary storm swept across Europe. At this time, immigrants to the United States came mainly from Eastern and Southern Europe. Deeply inspired by the October Revolution, and facing economic hardship and various injustices in America’s large industrial cities, they began to pay attention to socialist and communist currents of thought advocating radical social change. Starting from the 1920s, the radical sentiment of American workers reached an unprecedented high, and the trade union movement gained strong momentum.

1917年美国加入第一次世界大战，工人们受生活费用迅速上涨的困扰，斗争情绪日益高涨，劳资矛盾十分突出。这一时期的美国成为劳工暴动的重灾区。十月革命胜利后，革命风暴席卷欧洲。此时，美国的移民主要来自东欧和南欧，他们深受十月革命的鼓舞，加之面临的经济困难和美国大工业城市的种种不公现象，开始关注对社会进行剧烈变革的社会主义、共产主义等思潮。从20世纪20年代开始，美国工人的激进情绪有了前所未有的高涨，工会运动势头强劲。

The labor movement is the main arena for the American Trotskyists to propagate and practice their theory. The first and second generations of Trotskyists were loyal to the proletariat, advocating for awakening the fighting consciousness of the working class, dismantling the counterattack forces of the bourgeoisie, and promoting the development of the labor movement. For example, they supported workers' actions to fight for their own rights and interests, calling for increases in real wages and reductions in actual working hours; when Trotskyist members had the opportunity to enter parliament, they often pushed for bills favorable to workers. It can be seen that the early Trotskyists provided a strong leadership and organizational core for the development of the labor movement. The birth of Trotskyism also laid a certain theoretical foundation for the arrival of the high tide of the labor movement. Therefore, even if the Trotskyists' propositions were somewhat divorced from reality, as long as they could do some practical things for the底层劳动者 [n1], they were bound to attract followers. This is the source of the vitality of American Trotskyism.

劳工运动是美国托派宣传和实践其理论的主要阵地。第一代和第二代托派忠于无产阶级，主张唤醒劳工的斗争意识，瓦解资产阶级的反扑力量，推动劳工运动的发展。例如，他们支持工人争取自身权益的行动，呼吁增加实际工资和减少实际工作时间；托派成员有机会进入议会，往往会推动有利于工人的议案。可见，早期托派为劳工运动的发展提供了坚强的领导和组织核心。托洛茨基主义的诞生，也为劳工运动高潮的到来奠定了一定的理论基础。因此，即使托派的主张有些脱离实际，但只要它能够为底层劳动者做一些实事，就势必会吸引到追随者，这是美国托派生命力的源泉所在。

Under the combined effect of these factors, American Trotskyism obtained favorable internal and external conditions and living space, and once developed to a certain extent.

在这些因素的共同作用下，美国托派获得了有利的内外部条件和生存空间，一度有所发展。

II. The Development Process and Stage Characteristics of American Trotskyism

二、美国托洛茨基主义的发展历程及阶段特征

Since its rise, American Trotskyism has long adhered to a clear anti-capitalist stance, taking the Americanization of socialism as its goal, carrying out both legal struggles and underground activities, and exerting an important influence on American society. Based on the differences in theoretical propositions and practical effects in different periods, the development process of American Trotskyism can be roughly divided into five stages.

自兴起以来，美国托派长期坚持鲜明的反资本主义立场，以社会主义美国化为目标，开展合法斗争与地下活动，对美国社会产生了重要影响。根据不同时期理论主张与实践效果的差异，大致可以将美国托派的发展历程划分为五个阶段。

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The Vigorous Rise of American Trotskyism and the Construction of the "Theory of Political Revolution" (1928–1938)

美国托派勃然兴起与“政治革命论”的建构（1928—1938）

In 1928, Cannon's political turn sounded the prelude to the birth of American Trotskyism. Unlike traditional left-wing parties such as the Communist Party USA, the Trotskyists from their inception tended to use Trotskyism to interpret American social problems, advocating for the revitalization of American socialism and the workers' movement through political revolution, rather than reform. During this period, the Trotskyists analyzed the problems of the American bureaucratic system from three aspects—the phenomena, roots, and methods of eradication of bureaucratism within the Communist Party—and constructed the core content of the "theory of political revolution."

1928年，坎农的政治转向为美国托派的诞生拉响了前奏。与美共等传统左翼政党不同，托派诞生伊始便倾向于用托洛茨基主义阐释美国社会问题，主张通过政治革命，而非改良的方式，振兴美国社会主义和工人运动。在这一时期，托派从共产党内的官僚主义现象、根源及根除方法三方面入手，分析了美国官僚体制存在的问题，构建了“政治革命论”的核心内容。

First, "substitutionism" was the direct manifestation of bureaucratic political degeneration. Cannon linked the suppression of ideological and political struggle within the CPUSA to bureaucratism, condemning its method of substituting bureaucratism for ideological and political leadership as "substitutionism," an attempt to control the will of the proletariat. Second, "socialism in one country" was the theoretical root of bureaucratic political degeneration. The Trotskyists believed that the degeneration of the Comintern and its American section stemmed from their replacement of the principle of revolutionary "internationalism" with the pseudo-socialist theory of "socialism in one country." This theory overestimated the strength of capitalism and the duration it could sustain, representing a pessimistic view of the world proletarian revolution. Third, political revolution was the only way to eradicate bureaucratic phenomena. The Trotskyists believed that the Comintern and its American section were "stumbling blocks" hindering the workers' movement and could not be eradicated through democratic reforms. Therefore, they opposed all tendencies toward compromise with reformism and bureaucratism, calling on the proletariat to establish a new revolutionary party and overthrow the bureaucratic regime through political revolution. Finally, the "unionization" of the revolutionary party was the tactical direction of the political revolution. The Trotskyists emphasized that trade unions were the main medium through which socialist ideas could be accepted by the masses and thus become a real force. A new Marxist party should develop in the direction of "unionization" and establish a united front with the political groups of the working class.

首先，“取代主义”是官僚政治堕落的直接表现。坎农将美共党内对思想和纲领斗争的压制与官僚主义联系起来，谴责其以官僚主义取代意识形态和政治领导的方法是试图控制无产阶级意志的“取代主义”。其次，“一国建成社会主义”是官僚政治堕落的理论根源。托派认为，共产国际及其美国支部堕落的根源，在于它们用“一国建成社会主义”的伪社会主义理论取代革命“国际主义”原则。这一理论高估了资本主义的力量及其能够持续的时间，是对无产阶级世界革命的悲观看法。再次，政治革命是根除官僚主义现象的唯一途径。托派认为，共产国际及其美国支部是阻碍工人运动的“绊脚石”，且无法通过民主改革加以根除。因此，他们反对一切同改良主义和官僚主义调和的倾向，号召无产阶级建立新的革命党，通过政治革命推翻官僚政权。最后，革命党的“工会化”是政治革命的战术方向。托派强调，工会是社会主义思想得以被群众接受，从而成为真正力量的主要媒介。新的马克思主义政党要朝着“工会化”方向发展，并与工人阶级的政治性团体建立统一战线。

Based on this, Cannon, along with Max Shachtman and Martin Abern, began to vigorously promote "political revolution" and were expelled from the CPUSA. In 1928, they established the first Trotskyist organization, the Communist League of America (hereinafter referred to as the "CLA"), and carried out the following activities around the political revolution. First, they turned to recruiting members from trade unions. After the workers' movement revived in the early 1930s, the CLA recruited members in Minneapolis and St. Paul based on trade unions. They actively contacted the unemployed, organized the labor movement, and gained a foothold in the trade union movement by leading the 1934 Minneapolis Teamsters Strike. Second, they implemented the "entryist" strategy. Cannon, as the core figure of the early Trotskyists, made regulations on a series of political access and party-building development matters. In 1934, he promoted the merger of the CLA with the Workers Party of the United States, increasing its membership to about 1,000. Influenced by Trotsky's "entryist" strategy, the Trotskyists joined the Socialist Party of America in 1936, expanding the Trotskyist ranks and organizational network. Third, they established the Socialist Workers Party. The Trotskyists founded the SWP in 1938, making it the American section of the Fourth International, which laid the organizational foundation for the development of Trotskyism in the United States. At this point, American Trotskyism became an independent political party, marking the formal formation of the American Trotskyist movement.

基于此，坎农与马克斯·沙赫特曼（Max Shachtman）、马丁·阿本（Martin A.bern）开始大力宣传“政治革命”，被美共开除出党。1928年，他们建立了首个托派组织“美国共产主义者同盟”（以下简称“美共盟”），并围绕政治革命开展如下活动。其一，转向工会招募成员。工人运动在20世纪30年代初复苏之后，美共盟以工会为基础在明尼阿波利斯和圣保罗招募成员。他们积极接触失业者，组织劳工运动，并通过领导1934年的明尼阿波利斯卡车司机大罢工在工会运动中站稳了脚跟。其二，实施“打进去”策略。坎农作为早期托派的核心角色，对一系列政治准入和党建发展事务做出规定。1934年，他推进美共盟与工人党融合，使成员增加至1000人左右。受托洛茨基的“打进去”策略的影响，托派又于1936年加入社会党，扩大了托派队伍和组织网络。其三，成立社会主义工人党。托派于1938年成立社工党，使之成为第四国际的美国支部，这为托派在美国的发展奠定了组织基础。至此，美国托派成为独立的政党，标志着美国托洛茨基主义运动正式形成。

The 1920s and 1930s were the golden period for the development of American Trotskyism, and the political revolution of the Trotskyists achieved considerable results. The Trotskyists developed relatively rapidly, showing a continuous upward trend. By 1938, American Trotskyism had about 2,000 members, once becoming the center of the world Trotskyist movement, and its development momentum could not be underestimated.

20世纪二三十年代是美国托派发展的黄金时期，托派的政治革命效果可观。托派发展较为迅速，呈不断上升的趋势。至1938年，美国托派约有2000名成员，一度成为世界托派运动的中心，发展势头不容小觑。

02

02

The Slow Development of American Trotskyism and the Crisis of the "Theory of the End of Capitalism" (1938–1949)

美国托派缓慢发展与“资本主义末世论”危机凸显（1938—1949）

In the second stage, the Trotskyists used the "theory of the end of capitalism" to create public opinion for the American socialist revolution. This theory contained two basic points.

第二阶段，托派通过“资本主义末世论”为美国社会主义革命进行舆论造势，这一理论包含两个基本点。

First, the eschatological view that American capitalism had fallen into crisis. Influenced by the global economic crisis, American Trotskyists believed that unplanned capitalist economies could not escape periodic crises; on the contrary, the Soviet Union had confirmed the superiority of nationalization and planned economy. When these foundations were impacted by social crises, the superstructure and traditional democratic politics would become shaky. "American exceptionalism" was merely a reformist illusion about the long-term stability of American capitalism. Second, they determined that the conditions for carrying out a socialist revolution in the United States were already ripe. American Trotskyists believed that American capitalism itself provided the preconditions for social revolution: the capitalist economic and social crisis created the objective situation for revolution; the blind operation of the internal laws of capitalism also created its "gravedigger"—the American working class—forming the main force of the revolution. When these subjective and objective conditions were all present, the conditions for carrying out a socialist revolution in the United States were already ripe.

一是美国资本主义陷入危机的末世观。受全球经济危机影响，美国托派认为，无计划的资本主义经济无法逃脱周期性危机，相反，苏联证实了国有化和计划经济的优越性。当这些基础受社会危机冲击时，上层建筑和传统民主政治就会摇摇欲坠。“美国例外论”只是改良主义者对于美国资本主义长久稳定性的幻想。二是认定美国进行社会主义革命的条件已经成熟。美国托派认为，美国资本主义本身提供了社会革命的先决条件：资本主义经济和社会危机创造了革命的客观形势；资本主义内部规律的盲目作用又创造了它的“掘墓人”——美国工人阶级，形成革命的主力军。当这些主客观条件都具备的时候，美国进行社会主义革命的条件就已经成熟了。

Accordingly, the American Trotskyists asserted that the American socialist revolution would break out in the course of war. In this sense, the Second World War was a comprehensive test of the "eschatology of capitalism." However, the actual situation was vastly different from their设想, which placed the American Trotskyists in an extremely unfavorable position. First, the "eschatology of capitalism" encountered practical difficulties. In 1939, an anti-Soviet wave swept through Western democracies. Cannon and others believed that although the Soviet Union was a "degenerated workers' state," if the Soviet Union were defeated, it would mean the restoration of capitalism. Therefore, they advocated "unconditional defense of the Soviet Union" and called on workers to follow the principle of "revolutionary defeatism," but this anti-war propaganda of the American Trotskyists attracted few followers. In the later period of World War II, although the average number of workers involved in strikes per working day in the United States soared to 116 million person-days, workers' activities reached their lowest ebb, and there was no possibility of arousing a socialist revolution. Second, the "eschatology of capitalism" was deeply mired in a theoretical crisis. After World War II, the United States entered a new period of prosperity and development, and reformism won the recognition of the majority of workers. However, the American Trotskyists still insisted on the proposition that "the world revolution is about to break out," emphasizing that "the war is not over, nor has the revolution launched from Europe been aborted; it has only been delayed." Clearly, the American Trotskyists once again misjudged the situation and could not provide a reasonable explanation for new phenomena. For Trotskyists who claimed to adhere to the Marxist position, this undoubtedly faced theoretical embarrassment. The problem with the American Trotskyists lay in their emphasis on producers' own possession of the means of production, shortening the working day, and so on, but these propositions had to be realized through revolutionary means at the present stage. The Trotskyists always held a hostile attitude towards private ownership and the market economy, and when discussing how to replace capitalism, they still could not escape their utopian coloring. Third, the development of American Trotskyist organizations was not optimistic. After the outbreak of World War II, the Socialist Workers Party, due to its radical stance, was always a target of the U.S. government. Factional struggles also exposed potential weaknesses, including about 40% of party members, represented by Shachtman, who were expelled from the party for their bureaucratic collectivist stance. The membership of the Socialist Workers Party dropped from about 1,000 to less than 500. In addition, dissident organizations such as the "Marxist Workers League" and the "Marxist Workers Party" split off from within the party, leading to serious membership loss.

据此，美国托派断言，美国社会主义革命将在战争过程中爆发。从这个意义上讲，第二次世界大战是对“资本主义末世论”的全面检验，然而实际状况与其设想大相径庭，这导致美国托派的处境极其不利。第一，“资本主义末世论”遭遇实践困境。1939年反苏浪潮席卷西方民主国家。坎农等人认为，尽管苏联是“蜕化的工人国家”，但是如果苏联战败，则意味着资本主义复辟，因此，他们主张“无条件保卫苏联”，号召工人奉行“革命的失败主义”原则，但美国托派的这一反战宣传应者寥寥。二战后期，尽管美国的平均工作日罢工规模飙升至1.16亿人次，但工人活动却降至最低潮，根本不存在唤起社会主义革命的可能性。第二，“资本主义末世论”深陷理论危机。美国在二战后迎来新的繁荣发展期，改良主义赢得大多数工人的认可。然而，美国托派依然坚持“世界革命即将爆发”的主张，强调“战争没有结束，从欧洲发动的革命也没有夭折，它只是被延迟了”。显然，美国托派再次误判形势，不能对新现象做出合理的解释，这对于自称坚持马克思主义立场的托派而言，无疑面临理论上的尴尬。美国托派的问题在于强调生产者自己占有生产资料、缩短工作日等，但这些主张必须在现阶段通过革命手段来实现。托派对于私有制和市场经济总是持敌对态度，在论及如何取代资本主义时，仍然无法摆脱其乌托邦色彩。第三，美国托派组织发展状况并不乐观。二战爆发后，社工党因其激进立场，始终是美国政府的打击目标。派系斗争也暴露出潜在弱点，包括沙赫特曼在内的约40%党员因其官僚集体主义立场而被逐出党。社工党成员从约1000名降到500名以下。此外，党内还分裂出“马克思主义工人联盟”和“马克思主义工人党”等异见组织，成员流失严重。

Overall, the development of American Trotskyism during this period was relatively slow, characterized by factional struggles and the combination and recombination of factions. It is worth noting that the Socialist Workers Party, by participating in elections, promoting labor strikes, and organizing black civil rights struggles, continued to maintain its influence among the working masses and remained the largest Trotskyist party in the world.

总体说来，美国托派在这一时期发展相对缓慢，呈现出派系斗争和派系分化组合的特点。值得注意的是，社工党通过参与选举、推动劳工罢工及组织黑人民权斗争等活动，持续保持着在工人群众中的影响力，仍是全世界最大的托派政党。

03

03

The Low Tide of American Trotskyism and the Severe Setback of the "Americanization of Socialism" (1950–1970)

美国托派低潮期与“社会主义美国化”惨遭重挫（1950—1970）

The third stage was the period when American Trotskyism explored the Americanization of socialism. They focused on two main lines: establishing the vanguard position of the Trotskyist party in the workers' movement and rebuilding the main force of the working class. However, during this period, American Trotskyism suffered heavy blows from all sides and fell into a low tide.

第三阶段是美国托派探索社会主义美国化的时期。他们将重点放在确立托派政党在工人运动中的先锋地位和工人阶级主体力量的重建两条主线上，但这一时期，美国托派遭受各方面的沉重打击，陷入低潮。

First, from the perspective of the political environment, the 1950s in the United States were a decade dominated by conservatism. After World War II, the U.S. economy continued to grow, and the living standards of the working class generally improved. The failure of socialist revolutions in Western Europe and the U.S. international economic advantages enabled large American enterprises to make concessions to workers on wages and cooperate with trade union bureaucrats to end the wave of strikes. The American working class did not, as the Socialist Workers Party predicted, quickly become the main force for the Americanization of socialism; instead, it showed characteristics of conservatism and passivity. The Trotskyists' political propositions could only gain the support of a very small number of workers. At the same time, with the prevalence of McCarthyism, anti-communist political persecution in the United States reached its peak. The Trotskyists were suppressed by the government and subjected to criticism and abuse from liberals, trade union bureaucrats, and radical leftists. Facing the challenges of the Cold War and the frenzy of McCarthyism, the socialist movement in the United States nearly died out, and the activities of the Socialist Workers Party could only be confined to the political margins.

首先，从政治环境来看，美国的50年代是保守主义主导的十年。二战后，美国经济持续增长，工人阶级生活水平普遍提高。西欧社会主义革命的失败和美国在国际上的经济优势，使美国大企业能够在工资上对工人做出让步，并与工会官僚合作结束罢工浪潮。美国工人阶级并非社工党预测的那样，迅速成为社会主义美国化的主体力量，反而呈现出保守、被动的特点。托派的政治主张只能得到极少数工人的支持。与此同时，随着麦卡锡主义的盛行，美国反共政治迫害达到顶点。托派遭受政府压制，受到自由主义者、工会官僚、激进左翼分子的批评与辱骂。面对冷战的挑战和麦卡锡主义狂潮，美国的社会主义运动几近夭折，社工党的活动只能局限在政治边缘地带。

Second, the extremism and closed nature of the American Trotskyist "vanguard party theory" limited the development space of Trotskyism. According to the theory of the vanguard party, only through the intervention of the vanguard party can the unconscious class consciousness of the working class be transformed into conscious consciousness. This theory exhibited a self-enclosed characteristic: the American Trotskyists took Lenin's slogan that "the party is the vanguard of the proletariat" to an extreme, viewing themselves as the "vanguard of the vanguard," and engaging in a so-called "cadre party." The American Trotskyists regarded their organization as the only correct revolutionary party, while viewing the broad masses as scattered "materials" to be integrated, believing that as long as the "cadre party" could control a "vanguard of the vanguard," the masses would follow. But this approach was vastly different from the view that socialism is the cause of millions of people, resulting in the sectarianism of the Trotskyist organization. The American Trotskyists emphasized that they were the "vanguard of the vanguard," focusing on the quality rather than the quantity of party members. This practice actually used narrow and harsh party membership standards to demand all workers; at the same time, the highly centralized leadership system determined that it could only be a self-enclosed organization, ultimately alienating the broad American working class.

其次，美国托派“先锋党理论”的极端性和封闭性限制了托派的发展空间。根据先锋党的理论，只有通过先锋党的介入，才能使工人阶级不自觉的阶级意识转变为自觉的意识。这一理论呈现出自我封闭的特征：美国托派将列宁提出的“党是无产阶级的先锋队”口号发展至极端，将自身看成“先锋队的先锋队”，搞所谓的“干部党”。美国托派将其组织视为唯一正确的革命党，而视广大群众为有待被整合的散乱的“材料”，认为“干部党”只要能控制住一支“先锋队的先锋队”，群众就会跟着走。但这种做法与社会主义是千百万人的事业的观点大相径庭，造成了托派组织的关门主义。美国托派强调自己是“先锋队的先锋队”，注重的是党员的质量而不是数量，这种做法实际上是用狭隘而苛刻的党员标准来要求所有的工人；同时，高度集中的领导体制决定其只能是一个自我封闭的组织，最终脱离了美国广大的工人阶级。

Third, a new round of sectarian disputes caused a large-scale split in Trotskyism. In 1953, influenced by Pabloism, Bert Cochran believed that under the situation of U.S.-Soviet confrontation, the Socialist Workers Party should join the Communist Party of the United States to form a broad organization. He accused Cannon's opposition to joining the CPUSA of being "Stalinophobia." Since the positions of the Cannon faction and the Cochran faction were irreconcilable, about 20% of the members represented by Cochran were expelled from the Socialist Workers Party. After being forced to withdraw from the party, the Cochran faction established the "Socialist Union," taking with them most of the activists in the trade union movement, weakening the Socialist Workers Party's base in the unions. After the victory of the Cuban Revolution, the judgment on the nature of the Cuban Revolution became another theoretical point of divergence for American Trotskyism. The mainstream view of the Socialist Workers Party classified Cuba, which had rapidly radicalized under the Castro regime, as a workers' state and praised Cuba's land reform, nationalization of industry and agriculture, and other measures, viewing them as a genuine socialist revolution. However, there was a minority faction within the Socialist Workers Party that believed the Cuban Revolution had led to a deformed workers' state that had accepted pseudo-Marxism, which was an ideological reflection of the bureaucratic system, not a genuine socialist revolution. The two sides debated incessantly, leading to ideological confusion within the Socialist Workers Party. To maintain party unity, some members of the minority faction were expelled from the party.

再次，新一轮宗派纷争造成了托派的大规模分裂。1953年，受帕布洛主义的影响，科克伦（Bert Cochran）认为，在美苏对峙的态势下社工党应加入美共，形成广泛组织。他指责坎农反对加入美共的立场是“斯大林恐惧症”。由于坎农派与科克伦派的主张无法调和，以科克伦为代表的约20%的成员被社工党开除。科克伦派被迫退党后，成立“社会主义联盟”，并带走了工会运动的大多数积极分子，削弱了社工党在工会中的基础。古巴革命胜利后，关于古巴革命性质的判断成为美国托派又一理论分歧点。社工党主流观点将卡斯特罗政权下急剧激进化的古巴列为工人国家，并赞扬古巴的土地改革、工业和农业国有化等举措，视之为真正的社会主义革命。然而社工党党内却存在一个少数派，他们认为古巴革命导致一个被迫接受伪马克思主义的畸形工人国家，是官僚体制的意识形态反映，不是真正的社会主义革命。二者争论不断，导致社工党党内出现意识形态混乱的局面，为了保持党内团结，部分少数派成员被开除出党。

Finally, American Trotskyism lost its traditional position in the labor movement. The Socialist Workers Party repeatedly emphasized linking the black civil rights movement with the Americanization of socialism, believing that the black liberation movement was a nationalist movement for the right to self-determination. Based on these considerations, the Socialist Workers Party nominated black candidates Clifton DeBerry and Paul Boutelle for president in 1964 and 1968, respectively. At the same time, the party participated in the vigorous women's liberation movement, advocating for changing the low status of women through a workers' government and collective ownership of the means of production. Throughout the 1960s, the Socialist Workers Party focused its main energy on identity politics such as black and women's issues, paying almost no attention to the labor movement, ultimately losing this traditional position in the labor movement.

最后，美国托派丧失了劳工运动传统阵地。社工党多次强调将黑人民权运动与社会主义美国化联系起来，认为黑人解放运动是争取自决权的民族主义运动。基于以上考虑，社工党于1964年和1968年先后提名黑人克利夫顿·德贝里（Clifton DeBerry）和保罗·布特勒（Paul Boutelle）为总统候选人。同时，该党参与了势头强劲的妇女解放运动，主张通过工人政权和生产资料集体所有制来改变妇女地位低下的状况。在整个20世纪60年代，社工党把主要精力都集中在黑人、女性等身份政治方面，几乎没有将注意力放在劳工运动上，最终丧失了劳工运动这一传统阵地。

During this period, the social composition of American Trotskyism underwent significant changes. The black movement, women's movement, and student movement in the United States rose one after another, while the workers' movement gradually declined. Replacing proletarian class struggle with identity politics became the central task of American Trotskyism during this period. The subject position of the proletariat was replaced by diverse "event subjects." The American socialist revolutionary movement entered a period of low tide.

这一时期美国托派的社会构成发生较大变化。美国黑人运动、妇女运动和学生运动相继兴起，工人运动却在逐渐衰落。以身份政治取代无产阶级斗争，成为这一时期美国托派的中心任务。无产阶级的主体地位被各异其是的“事件主体”取代。美国社会主义革命运动进入低潮期。

04

04

The Repositioning of American Trotskyism and the New Direction of "Cuban Centrism" (1970–1985)

美国托派的重新定位与“古巴中心论”新方向（1970—1985）

In the 1970s, with the successive deaths or retirements of the first-generation Trotskyist leader Cannon and the second-generation leader Dobbs, the leadership of the Socialist Workers Party (SWP) passed into the hands of younger leaders headed by Jack Barnes. The new generation of leaders reoriented the SWP’s direction of struggle and political stance, formulating a new direction of “Cuba-centrism.”

20世纪70年代，随着第一代托派领导人坎农和第二代领导人多布斯相继谢世或退隐，社工党的领导权转移到以巴恩斯（Jack Barnes）为首的年轻领袖手中。新一代领导人对社工党的斗争方向和政治立场进行重新定位，制定了“古巴中心论”新方向。

On the one hand, Barnes and other leaders believed that the center of gravity of the world socialist revolution had shifted to Cuba, and therefore proposed a “Cuba-centrism” of world revolution. In their view, the socialist revolution must adhere to the principle of public ownership of the means of production and must uphold the revolutionary subject status of the proletariat. In the Soviet Union at that time, the subject status of the proletariat had disappeared, and the principle of public ownership had been undermined to a certain extent. In contrast, Cuba had achieved the nationalization of the means of production, and Cuba’s worker-peasant coalition government had re-established the revolutionary subject status of the proletariat, making Cuba a socialist workers’ state. Under Cuba’s influence, Grenada and Nicaragua had also established the two major principles of socialism. Accordingly, the new generation of leadership headed by Barnes abandoned the traditional political positions and views of the Trotskyist movement, instead supporting the Castro regime in Cuba, and expressing deep approval for Cuba’s various policies and measures, such as the planned economy, nationalization, and support for revolutions in Latin American countries, declaring themselves a “sister party” of the Cuban Communist Party. Barnes also pointed out that class struggle worldwide was mainly manifested as the struggle between US imperialism and the countries of the Caribbean, that the Central American countries headed by Cuba, Nicaragua, and Grenada had become the front line of the world revolution, had realized the principle of proletarian internationalism, and represented the revival of the communist movement; therefore, the American Trotskyists should unite with the communist parties of these countries to establish a new international organization of the proletariat.

一方面，巴恩斯等领导者认为，世界社会主义革命的重心已经转移到古巴了，因而提出了世界革命的“古巴中心论”。在他们看来，社会主义革命必须坚持生产资料的公有制原则，必须坚持无产阶级的革命主体地位。在当时的苏联，无产阶级的主体地位已经消失，公有制原则也在一定程度上遭到破坏。与此相对的是，古巴实现了生产资料国有化，古巴的工农联合政府也再次确立了无产阶级的革命主体地位，古巴成为社会主义的工人国家。在古巴的影响下，格林纳达和尼加拉瓜也确立了社会主义的两大原则。据此，以巴恩斯为首的新一代领导集体放弃了托派传统的政治主张和观点，转而支持古巴卡斯特罗政权，并对古巴实行的计划经济、国有化、支持拉美各国革命等各项主张和措施深表赞同，宣称自己是古巴共产党的“姐妹党”。巴恩斯还指出，全世界的阶级斗争主要表现为美帝国主义和加勒比海各国的斗争，以古巴、尼加拉瓜、格林纳达为首的中美洲国家已成为世界革命的前沿，实现了无产阶级的国际主义原则，代表着共产主义运动的复兴，因此，美国托派应与这些国家的共产党联合起来，建立新的无产阶级的国际组织。

On the other hand, the SWP gradually drifted away from the international Trotskyist movement. During this period, opposition groups and organizations within the SWP against Barnes’s new line, such as the “Trotskyist Tendency” and the “Fourth Internationalist Group,” began to form. In response, the SWP leadership carried out a large-scale purge within the party, which severely damaged inner-party democracy and organizational norms. Hundreds of members left the party in the wave of expulsions from 1983 to 1984. The SWP’s opposition in California subsequently formed three independent groups: the “Fourth International Tendency,” “Socialist Action,” and the “North Star Network.” This struggle against the internal opposition was one of the most serious setbacks the SWP had ever experienced, causing the party, as a Trotskyist organization, to largely abandon the consistent characteristics of international Trotskyism, terminate its ties with the “Fourth International,” and draw a clear line of demarcation from other Trotskyist organizations in various countries.

另一方面，社工党与国际托派渐行渐远。在这一时期，社工党党内反对巴恩斯的新组织和团体如“托洛茨基主义者倾向”和“第四国际主义者小组”开始形成。对此，社工党领导层对党内进行了大范围清洗，导致党内民主及组织规范遭到严重破坏。数百名成员在1983年至1984年的驱逐浪潮中退党。社工党在加州的反对派随即组成“第四国际倾向”、“社会主义行动”和“北极星网络”三个独立团体。这场与党内反对派的斗争，是社工党经历的最严重的挫折之一，这使该党作为一个托派组织在很大程度上放弃了国际托洛茨基主义的一贯特征，终止了与“第四国际”的联系，并与各国的其他托派组织划清界限。

The SWP’s reorientation indicated that it was moving further and further away from Trotskyism. It can be seen that although the SWP claimed to be the backbone of the socialist revolution in the United States and the world, its actual strength was grossly disproportionate to its proclaimed mission, and its revolutionary theory could not find a foothold in the United States.

社工党的重新定位，表明它与托洛茨基主义渐行渐远。可见，社工党虽号称是美国及世界社会主义革命的中坚力量，但它的实际力量与所宣称的使命极不相称，其革命理论也无法在美国找到立足点。

05 [3]3 The Socialist Workers Party (SWP) is the main Trotskyist political party in the United States, founded in 1938.

05

The SWP under Severe Shock and the Spread of a Survival Crisis (1985–present)

美国社工党备受冲击与生存危机蔓延（1985年以来）

After 1985, although the SWP still regarded Trotskyism as one of its ideological sources, in practice it leaned more towards the communism of Cuba’s Castro. Traditional Trotskyist thought was increasingly marginalized within the American leftist camp and gradually declined.

1985年之后，社工党虽然还是把托洛茨基主义视为其思想来源之一，但实际上更倾向于古巴卡斯特罗的共产主义。传统托派思想在美国左翼阵营中不断被边缘化，日渐式微。

First, the SWP was impacted by new American left-wing political organizations such as the “Democratic Socialists of America” and new social movement organizations like the feminist movement, the ecological movement, and the anti-war peace movement, becoming a marginalized organization among American leftist forces. In the early 1980s, the Democratic Socialists were very popular among young people of all strata, thereby replacing the Trotskyists as the main left-wing force dominating American campuses and active in the labor movement. After the mid-1980s, organizations such as the anti-apartheid movement, feminist organizations, and gay rights organizations grew in importance on the American political landscape. The SWP failed to penetrate or establish connections with these, becoming a marginalized organization within the new social movements.

首先，社工党受到美国新型左翼政治组织“民主社会主义者”及女性主义运动、生态运动、反战和平运动等新社会运动组织的冲击，成为美国左翼力量中的边缘化组织。20世纪80年代初，民主社会主义者深受各阶层年轻人欢迎，它由此取代托派，成为主导美国校园并活跃于劳工运动的主要左翼力量。80年代中期以后，美国反种族隔离运动组织、女权主义者组织、同性恋权利组织等在美国政治版图中的重要性与日俱增。社工党未能打入其中或与之建立联系，成为新社会运动中的边缘化组织。

Second, the SWP was mired in a survival crisis, with its influence waning. After experiencing the internal split and purge of the early

其次，社工党深陷生存危机，影响式微。在经历了80年代初的党内分裂与清洗之后，社工党经历了较为漫长的内部和平时期，其成员人数以及在美国左翼的政治影响力逐步下降。多数党员在士气低落的情况下逐渐离去。1990年，社工党只剩下约500名党员。2003年，该党以2000万美元出售了位于纽约市的总部大楼，并搬到曼哈顿。社工党领袖巴恩斯和沃特斯（Mary-Alice Waters）随后以187万美元出售了他们的西村公寓，以缓解党内财务危机。在2008年、2012年、2016年和2020年的美国总统选举中，社工党只有2016年获得12467张选票，其他年份所获选票均未超过1万张，这说明社工党在选举中表现不佳。

However, although the American Trotskyist movement is currently in a marginalized state, it has never completely died out, and from time to time it erupts with a certain amount of political energy, attracting people’s attention. Although Trotskyist activists do not win a high percentage of votes in elections, Trotskyist ideas still hold a certain appeal among specific groups such as lower-level workers and left-wing intellectuals. The Socialist Workers Party now concentrates most of its energy on running for public office, hosting radical labor forums, distributing the socialist weekly *The Militant*, and publishing related books through Pathfinder Press. In addition to theoretical propaganda, they are also organizers or participants in some important political activities, such as organizing picket lines for striking workers and movements against racism and police brutality. In short, although the Trotskyist movement cannot possibly become a mainstream political force in the United States at present, its propositions and activities still influence American political life.

不过，美国托派目前虽处于边缘化状态，但又始终未消亡，每隔一段时间就会爆发出一定的政治能量，引起人们的关注。尽管托派活动家在选举中得票率不高，但托派思想在下层劳动者和左翼知识分子等特定群体中仍具有一定的吸引力。社工党现在将大部分精力集中在参与竞选公职、主持激进劳工论坛、分发社会主义周刊《战斗者》以及在探路者出版社出版相关书籍上。除了理论宣传外，他们还是一些重要政治活动的组织者或参与者，例如，组织罢工工人纠察线运动和反对种族主义与警察暴行的运动等。总之，尽管托派在当前不可能成为美国的主流政治力量，但其主张和活动依旧影响着美国的政治生活。

III. Analysis of the Development Trends and Causes of American Trotskyism

三、美国托洛茨基主义的发展态势及其原因探析

Looking at the entire history of the American Trotskyist movement, periodic factional struggles and splits have occurred within Trotskyist parties, ultimately leading the Trotskyist movement to abandon the Trotskyist tradition and identify with the positions of the Cuban Communist Party led by Castro. This indicates that American Trotskyism has gradually declined. So, what are the specific manifestations and causes of the decline of this current of thought?

纵观美国托派的发展历史，托派政党内部出现周期性的派系斗争与分裂，最后导致托派放弃托洛茨基主义传统，认同卡斯特罗领导的古巴共产党的主张，这表明美国托洛茨基主义已逐渐衰落。那么，这一思潮衰落的具体表现和原因是什么呢？

01

01

Diversification of Trotskyist Ideology, Dilution of Trotskyist Coloration

托派意识形态多元化，托洛茨基主义色彩淡化

American Trotskyism has repeatedly contradicted itself or been falsified in practice, leading Trotskyist parties to begin downplaying their own Trotskyist coloration, with their ideological stances and systems of thought gradually becoming more diversified. This is mainly manifested in two points. First, “Cuba-centrism” has become the guiding ideology of the main American Trotskyist party, the Socialist Workers Party. Although this party is still active today, it no longer represents the intellectual tradition of Trotskyism. Second, other Trotskyist organizations besides the Socialist Workers Party no longer consider themselves Trotskyists. Although some organizations still retain residual Trotskyist elements, these American organizations, once rooted in international Trotskyism, have developed in different directions. After breaking away from the Trotskyist camp, they adopted different stances, even jumping from the far left to the far right. Typical examples include the Workers World Party, which transformed into a Maoist organization, and the National Labor Committee Caucus, which became an extreme right-wing organization.

美国托洛茨基主义在实践中多次自相矛盾或被证伪，以致托派政党开始淡化自身的托洛茨基主义色彩，意识形态立场和思想体系渐趋多元化。这主要表现在两点。其一，“古巴中心论”成为美国主要托派政党——社工党的指导思想。虽然该党至今仍在开展活动，但已不再代表托洛茨基主义的思想传统。其二，社工党以外的其他托派组织也不再以托洛茨基主义者自居。虽然部分组织仍保留着残余的托洛茨基主义元素，但这些曾植根于国际托洛茨基主义的美国组织，已朝着不同的方向发展了。他们在脱离托洛茨基阵营后，采取了不同的立场，甚至从极左跳到极右，其中较为典型的是转变为毛派的工人世界党以及变为极右组织的全国劳工委员会核心小组。

This change is nothing other than a manifestation of the difficulties encountered by the American Trotskyist movement in practice. On the one hand, American Trotskyism is a self-enclosed ideological system. The Trotskyist positions have never transcended the rut of Trotsky’s theory; it completely negates the several decades of postwar development of American capitalism, always firmly believing that the conditions for socialist revolution are already ripe, promoting Trotskyism in a dogmatic and absolutist manner, unable to make corresponding adjustments according to changes in the situation, and therefore lacking vitality. On the other hand, the highly developed capitalist economy of the United States and its capacity for self-adjustment have weakened the potential radical tendencies of the masses, preventing the Trotskyist theory of capitalist crisis from finding a foothold in the United States, thereby depriving the spread and development of Trotskyism in America of a mass base, which determines its inevitable fate of decline.

这一变化无非是美国托派在实践中遭遇困境的表现。一方面，美国托洛茨基主义是一个自我封闭的思想体系。托派的主张始终没有超越托洛茨基理论的窠臼，它全盘否定了美国资本主义战后几十年的发展，始终坚信社会主义革命的条件已经成熟，以教条化、绝对化的方式推行托洛茨基主义，无法根据形势的变化做出相应调整，因而缺乏生命力。另一方面，美国高度发达的资本主义经济及其自我调适能力，削弱了群众潜在的激进主义倾向，使托派的资本主义危机理论无法在美国找到立足点，从而使托洛茨基主义在美国的传播和发展缺乏群众基础，决定了其必然衰落的命运。

02

02

Trotskyist parties are marginalized in status, their influence waning day by day

托派政党地位边缘化，影响日渐式微

As an influential Trotskyist party, the Socialist Workers Party once had nearly 2,000 members and held a certain influence in the American radical movement. Today, the Socialist Workers Party is gradually being marginalized in American political life, its influence waning day by day. This is mainly because the special political environment of the United States restricts the development of Trotskyist parties. As a bastion of Western liberalism, the United States has long held a hostile attitude toward radical left-wing currents such as Trotskyism, and Trotskyist parties often become the primary “targets” of government attacks and suppression.

作为一个有影响力的托派政党，社工党曾经拥有近2000名成员，在美国激进运动中拥有一定的影响力。如今，社工党在美国政治生活中逐渐被边缘化，影响日渐式微。这主要是因为美国特殊的政治环境制约了托派政党的发展。美国作为西方自由主义的堡垒，长期对托洛茨基主义等激进左翼思潮持敌对态度，托派政党在政府的打击和镇压中往往成为最主要的“靶子”。

First, the American bourgeoisie manipulates the state apparatus and political life through the alternating governance of the Democratic and Republican parties, obstructing Trotskyist parties from propagating their positions, and Trotskyist parties find it difficult to compete with them in terms of funding and sources of votes. At the same time, the single-member district plurality system in the United States is unfavorable to the growth and development of Trotskyist parties; therefore, Trotskyism, with the Socialist Workers Party as its organizational vehicle, has no market in mainstream American ideology and has a generally limited impact on the populace. Second, the legal framework of American capitalism restricts the development of Trotskyist parties. In describing Trotskyism, the U.S. government propagates it as a terrorist ideology that advocates revolutionary violence, monitoring and cracking down on it everywhere. Therefore, even the legally existing Socialist Workers Party must conduct its activities in accordance with the rules and regulations issued by the bourgeois government. Under these circumstances, Trotskyist organizations and parties find it difficult to achieve their own “breakthrough” in the process of striving for socialism. Finally, after World War II, the deeply entrenched ideology of anti-communism in the United States made it very difficult for Trotskyist parties to gain a substantial mass base. Trotskyism and mainstream American ideology are opposed in their value systems; the latter regards radical socialist ideas like Trotskyism as the greatest obstacle to achieving the goals of American imperialist expansion. Moreover, Trotskyist parties have long adhered to a radical revolutionary stance and failed to achieve united struggle with traditional left-wing parties such as the Communist Party USA, naturally making it impossible for them to integrate into mainstream American society.

首先，美国资产阶级通过民主党和共和党轮流执政，来操纵国家机器和政治生活，阻挠托派政党宣传其主张，托派政党在资金及选票来源等方面也难以与之抗衡。同时，美国单一选区的多数决定制不利于托派政党的发展壮大，因而以社工党为组织载体的托洛茨基主义在美国主流意识形态中没有市场，对民众影响总体有限。其次，美国资本主义法制框架限制了托派政党的发展。在对托洛茨基主义的描述中，美国政府宣传其为一种崇尚革命暴力的恐怖主义思潮，处处加以监视与打击，因此即便是获得合法存在的社工党，也必须按照资产阶级政府出台的规章制度开展活动。在这种情况下，托派组织和政党难以在争取社会主义的进程中实现自身的“突破”。最后，二战之后，美国反共主义的意识形态根深蒂固，托派政党很难获得大量的群众基础。托洛茨基主义与美国的主流意识形态在价值体系上是对立的，后者视托洛茨基主义等激进的社会主义思想为实现美国帝国主义扩张目标的最大障碍。此外，托派政党长期坚持激进的革命立场，未能与美共等传统左翼政党实现联合斗争，自然无法融入美国的主流社会。

03

03

Trotskyist organizations are fragmented, with a clear tendency toward member centrifugalization

托派组织支离破碎，成员离心倾向明显

Sectarian splits are the most obvious characteristic of the evolution of American Trotskyist organizations. Currently, each Trotskyist organization acts independently, the ranks are extremely unstable, presenting a highly discordant situation, and the tendency toward centrifugalization among members of Trotskyist organizations is evident.

宗派主义分裂是美国托派组织演变的最明显特征。目前，各托派组织各行其是，队伍极不稳定，呈现出极不协调的状况，托派组织的成员离心倾向明显。

First, American Trotskyist organizations have moved from relative unity to fragmentation. Since the founding of the largest American Trotskyist party, the Socialist Workers Party, in 1938, Trotskyist organizations have undergone multiple splits, and the state of the organizations is like a heap of loose sand. Before 1985, due to the existence of the Socialist Workers Party, the Trotskyists maintained a relatively unified state. After 1985, on average, a new Trotskyist organization emerged in the United States every three years, forming a situation where more than ten organizations, such as the Socialist Equality Party, the Internationalist Group, the Socialist Organizer, and the International Workers Alliance, coexisted and attacked each other. In terms of scale and influence, none of the remaining organizations has yet reached the level of the Socialist Workers Party in its heyday, and no dominant Trotskyist organization has ever reappeared in the United States.

一是美国托派组织由相对统一走向支离破碎。自1938年美国最大托派政党——社工党成立以来，托派组织历经多次分裂，组织状态如同一盘散沙。在1985年以前，由于社工党的存在，托派保持着相对统一的状态。1985年后，美国平均三年增加一个托派组织，形成了社会主义平等党、国际主义者小组、社会主义组织者、工人国际同盟等十余个组织同时存在、彼此攻讦的局面。从规模和影响来看，尚存的组织还没有一个达到社工党当年的水平，美国再也没有出现具有主导力量的托派组织。

Second, the number of American Trotskyist members has declined sharply, with a clear tendency toward centrifugalization. With the end of the anti-Vietnam War movement and the regression of the Black civil rights movement, Trotskyist supporters began to take an interest in immediate and tangible benefits, gradually tending to work within the established capitalist order. In particular, young students generally care about daily issues such as grades, further education, and employment, and their interest in radical political activities has declined sharply. For example, looking at the membership numbers of major American Trotskyist organizations, since 1981, the number of formal members of the Socialist Workers Party plummeted from 1,250 to 500. Changes in the environment have led to a sharp decline in the number of Trotskyist members, and there is a centrifugal tendency between Trotskyist organizations and their members, making it difficult to unite.

二是美国托派成员数量大幅下降，离心倾向明显。随着反越战运动的终结及黑人民权运动的倒退，托派的支持者开始对立竿见影的利益感兴趣，逐渐倾向于在既定资本主义秩序内工作。尤其是青年学生普遍关心成绩、深造和就业等日常问题，对激进政治活动的兴趣急剧下降。例如，从美国主要托派组织的会员数量来看，自1981年起，社工党的正式成员数量从1250人急速下降至500人。环境的改变导致托派成员数量大幅下降，托派组织和成员之间呈离心倾向，难以团结在一起。

There are three reasons for this situation. First, American Trotskyist parties often emphasize freedom of factions within the party and advocate inner-party democracy, which leads to a proliferation of factions within the party, making ideological and strategic differences difficult to bridge and preventing the formation of a unified ideological foundation. Second, individualism prevails within the American Trotskyist movement. For example, even when Cannon was imprisoned during World War II, he firmly controlled the minutiae of the Socialist Workers Party. This led to constant conflicts among core leaders with dissenting views within the party, causing severe “internal attrition” of organizational strength. Third, periodic organizational splits and inner-party purges have continuously shrunk the strength of Trotskyist organizations. On the one hand, inner-party purges and destructive waves of expulsion led to a massive loss of radical members from the organizations, intensifying Trotskyist fragmentation; on the other hand, frequent factional struggles and splits have left Trotskyist organizations lacking cohesion and unable to achieve unified action, severely weakening the organizations’ influence on the public and their capacity for social mobilization, and reducing popular identification with Trotskyism.

这种状况的出现有三个原因。其一，美国托派政党往往强调党内派别自由，推崇党内民主，这导致党内派别林立，意识形态和策略分歧难以弥合，无法形成统一的思想基础。其二，美国托派内部个人主义盛行。例如，即便坎农在二战期间被关进监狱，也牢牢控制着社工党的细枝末节。这就使得党内持不同政见的核心领导人物冲突不断，严重“内耗”了组织力量。其三，周期性的组织分裂及党内清洗活动，使托派组织实力不断萎缩。一方面，党内清洗及破坏性的驱逐浪潮，使组织中的激进成员大量流失，托派分化加剧；另一方面，频繁的派别斗争与分裂，使各托派组织缺乏凝聚力更无法达成统一行动，严重削弱了组织对公众的影响力和社会动员能力，降低了民众对托洛茨基主义的认同。

04

04

The Trotskyist ranks are “de-proletarianized,” with the main force tending toward moderation

托派队伍“去工人化”，主体力量趋于温和

From 1928 to 1978, the first and second generations of American Trotskyist members were predominantly from the working class, and the tradition of Trotskyist labor radicalism exhibited continuity. However, after 1978, with the successive advancement of neoliberalism and financial capitalism in the United States, Trotskyist organizations gradually became “de-proletarianized,” and advocates of identity politics gradually became the main body of the Trotskyist movement. The struggle attitudes of these new main forces have tended toward moderation. The reasons for this phenomenon are as follows.

1928年至1978年，美国第一代和第二代托派成员以工人阶级为主体，托派劳工激进主义传统存在连续性的特点。但是，1978年之后，随着新自由主义和金融资本主义在美国的相继推进，托派组织逐渐“去工人化”，身份政治的拥护者逐渐成为托派的主体，这些新生主体力量的斗争态度趋于温和。出现这一现象的原因有如下几方面。

First, the new generation of leadership in the Socialist Workers Party prompted a decisive change in the party’s organizational structure and overall tone. As Trotskyist cadres rich in experience in the workers’ movement, such as Cannon and Farrell Dobbs, gradually left the political stage, party leadership passed into the hands of younger cadres like Barnes and Peter Camejo. Barnes and others emphasized that orthodox Trotskyism violated Leninism; they criticized Trotsky’s theory of “permanent revolution” for neglecting the importance of the worker-peasant alliance. They argued that a revolution against capitalism required the establishment of a “worker-peasant government,” not simply a “workers’ government” as Cannon and others claimed. Cannon once criticized this tendency of the new generation of leaders: “The main body of the movement today is young people. Are they fully aware that state power lies in the hands of the working class?”

第一，社工党新一代领导层促使党组织结构和党的总体基调发生决定性变化。随着富有工人运动经验的托派干部坎农、多布斯（Farrell Dobbs）等人逐渐离开政治舞台，党的领导权转移到巴恩斯、卡梅霍（Peter Camejo）等年轻干部手中。巴恩斯等人强调，正统托洛茨基主义违背了列宁主义，他们批评托洛茨基“不断革命”理论忽视了工农联盟的重要性。他们认为，反资本主义的革命需要建立“工农政府”，但并非坎农等人所谓的单纯的“工人政府”。坎农对新一代领导人的这一倾向曾提出过批评：“今天的运动主体是年轻人，他们是否充分意识到国家的权力在工人阶级手中？”

Second, the focus of the Trotskyist work exacerbated the separation between party members and workers. Since the 1960s, the Socialist Workers Party believed that the new wave of revolution came from the middle-class strata, and its work focus should be concentrated on middle-class movements such as Black civil rights and feminism. It concentrated its recruitment targets on youth from the upper-middle class, ethnic minorities, and special-interest constituencies with no overall connection to the working class, causing the party to become a middle-class group organization, with only a very small number being members of the organized labor movement. From that time onward, identity politics replaced class struggle as the primary task of the Socialist Workers Party’s work, causing the party to deviate from the historical mission of the vanguard of the working class that it had proclaimed for itself. In addition, the “colonized trade union movement” launched by the Socialist Workers Party in the 1970s was limited to manufacturing, and party members were prohibited from seeking any responsible union positions, so that the party did not regain the influence it had previously enjoyed in the unions. Of course, the fact that American Trotskyism chose to stay outside the workers’ movement is also related to the condition of the American working class in the contemporary era. After the 1970s, the American working class experienced a phenomenon of privilege among native workers and the emergence of “aristocratic unions,” [10]10 “Aristocratic unions” (贵族工会) refers to trade unions representing a privileged stratum of skilled, native-born workers whose relatively high wages and job security lead them to adopt a reformist, economistic orientation rather than a revolutionary one. providing a deep foundation for reformism. Workers were concerned with economic and interest issues, and the aristocratic unions catered to this demand. The Trotskyists failed to put forward a worker policy that kept pace with the times and conformed to the characteristics of the era, and were unable to win the recognition of the working class.

第二，托派的工作重点加剧了党员与工人的隔绝。自20世纪60年代起，社工党认为新一轮革命浪潮来自中产阶级群体，工作重点应集中在黑人民权主义、女权主义等中产阶级运动上。他们把招募对象集中在中上层阶级的青年、少数族裔和与工人阶级没有整体联系的特殊利益选区，致使该党成为一个中产阶级群体组织，只有极少数是有组织的劳工运动的成员。自那时起，身份政治就取代了阶级斗争，成为社工党工作的首要任务，导致社工党背离了它自己所标榜的工人阶级先锋队的历史使命。此外，社工党在20世纪70年代发起的“殖民工会运动”局限于制造业，且禁止党员寻求任何负责任的工会职位，以致该党并未在工会中获得它在以前所享有的影响力。当然，美国托派之所以选择游离于工人运动之外，也与美国当代工人阶级的状况有关。20世纪70年代之后，美国工人阶级出现了本土工人的特权化现象和“贵族工会”，有了改良主义的深厚基础。工人关心的是经济和利益问题，贵族工会迎合了他们的这种要求。托派未能提出与时俱进的符合时代特征的工人政策，无法获得工人阶级的认同。

Third, young new forces replaced the working class as the main body of Trotskyism. With the rise of the student movement, the Trotskyists became beneficiaries of the radicalization of young students. Youth groups, as new forces, were added to the Trotskyist ranks, becoming the source of strength for Trotskyist organizations, and the focus of Trotskyist activity also shifted from trade unions and the Communist Party to the student body. Because the newly joined young students mostly came from middle-class or above families, their values and life experiences were completely different from those of the proletariat. The majority of young members did not understand Trotskyism, and their activities were limited to campus political movements, lacking experience in struggle, causing the Trotskyist movement in the new period to tend toward moderation.

第三，青年新生力量代替工人阶级成为托派主体。随着学生运动的兴起，托派成为青年学生激进化的受益者。青年团体作为新生力量补充到托派队伍，成为托派组织的力量来源，托派的活动重心也从工会和共产党转移到学生群体。由于新加入的青年学生多来自中产阶级及以上的家庭，其价值观和生活经历与无产阶级截然不同。多数青年成员并不了解托洛茨基主义，且他们的活动局限于校园政治运动，缺乏斗争经验，导致新时期托派运动趋于温和化。

IV. Critical Reflections on American Trotskyism

四、对美国托洛茨基主义的批判性反思

American Trotskyism is essentially a utopian radical trend of thought divorced from American political reality. The rise and fall of American Trotskyism is the result of the combined effect of its inherent defects in theory, organization and practice.

美国的托洛茨基主义本质上是一种脱离美国政治现实的乌托邦主义的激进思潮。美国托派从勃兴到衰落是其理论、组织和实践上的固有缺陷综合作用的结果。

First, the first- and second-generation American Trotskyist leadership collectives were excessively constrained by the original theoretical framework of Trotsky, and their theoretical conceptions lacked contemporaneity, causing them to lack persuasiveness in explaining American reality. They turned Trotsky’s theory, which arose under specific historical conditions, into a rigid dogma divorced from American national conditions and changes in the situation, blindly negating the positive role of new changes in capitalism in mitigating conflict and prolonging revolution, causing their “capitalist eschatology” to be highly utopian in character. In addition, the first- and second-generation Trotskyist leadership collectives repeatedly emphasized that the objective conditions for the American socialist revolution were already ripe, only that the revolutionary consciousness of the working class was not yet mature, thereby unrealistically insisting on the position of the proletariat as the subject of revolution, and resorting to class consciousness to realize the “Americanization of socialism.” But in fact, the revolutionary consciousness of the proletariat is organically unified with the vitality of the capitalist mode of production. The American proletariat’s contentment with the status quo is itself a reflection of the strong self-regulating capacity of American capitalism. At this time, American Trotskyism ignored the decisive reshaping of the class consciousness of the working class by new changes in capitalism, resulting in a transhistorical application of the “theory of permanent revolution,” plunging itself into the quagmire of utopianism.

其一，第一代和第二代美国托派领导集体过分拘泥于托洛茨基原有的理论窠臼，理论构想缺乏时代性，致使其在解释美国现实时缺乏说服力。他们使产生于特定历史条件下的托洛茨基理论成为一种脱离美国国情和形势变化的僵化教条，盲目否定资本主义新变化在缓和冲突、延长革命方面所呈现的积极作用，致使其“资本主义末世论”极具空想色彩。此外，第一代和第二代托派领导集体反复强调美国社会主义革命的客观条件已经成熟，只是工人阶级的革命意识尚未成熟，从而不切实际地坚持无产阶级革命主体的立场，并诉诸阶级意识来实现“社会主义美国化”。但事实上，无产阶级的革命意识与资本主义生产方式的生命力是有机统一的。美国无产阶级安于现状，本身就是美国资本主义强大自我调节能力的反映。此时的美国托派忽视了资本主义的新变化对工人阶级的阶级意识的决定性重塑，造成对“不断革命论”的超历史运用，使自身陷入了乌托邦主义的泥潭。

Second, an extremist and dogmatic application of Marxism. According to American Trotskyist theory, class is far more important than the nation-state, and world revolution can break through the boundaries of the nation-state, causing the outbreak of the American socialist revolution. However, the situation in the United States is relatively complex. When class antagonism is severe, national struggle is temporarily subordinate to class struggle; this was also one of the roots of the Trotskyists’ winning widespread support from workers and their brief period of glory in the 1930s and 1940s. After this special period passed, national interests became prominent, and “world revolution,” because of its stance transcending the nation-state, was difficult for the masses to accept. Marx described the trend of capitalism’s global expansion in the *Communist Manifesto*, but there is no final conclusion on when the proletarians of the whole world can transcend national and ethnic boundaries to achieve unity. In an era where the concept of the nation-state remains deeply entrenched, American Trotskyism ignored the interests of their own country and nation, blindly followed the principle of internationalism, failed to grasp that Marxism is a theory that keeps pace with the times, distorted Marxism in its true sense, and caused its propositions to lack the necessary mass base.

其二，对马克思主义极端化、教条化的运用。依据美国托派理论，阶级的重要性远大于民族国家，世界革命可以突破民族国家的界限，造成美国社会主义革命的爆发。然而美国的情况相对复杂，当阶级对立严重时，民族斗争暂时从属于阶级斗争，这也是20世纪三四十年代托派赢得工人普遍支持，辉煌一时的根源之一。这一特殊时期过后，民族利益便凸显出来，“世界革命”因其超越民族国家的立场难以被群众接受。马克思在《共产党宣言》中描述了资本主义向全球扩展的趋势，但对全世界无产者何时才能超越国家和民族界限实现联合尚未有定论。在民族国家观念依旧根深蒂固的时代，美国托派忽视本国、本民族利益，盲目遵循国际主义原则，没有领会马克思主义是与时俱进的理论，曲解了真正意义上的马克思主义，使其主张缺乏应有的群众基础。

Third, the inherent defects in American Trotskyist theory caused Trotskyist organizations to constantly encounter setbacks in practice. The inherent sectarian tendency of Trotskyist organizations weakened their already meager party membership strength and mass base. From the perspective of the practice of American Trotskyism, it is undeniable that it responded to “American exceptionalism” from the standpoint of Trotskyism, attempted the possibility of the Americanization of socialism, explored the path of carrying out proletarian revolution and establishing a workers’ state in developed capitalist countries, and to a certain extent defended the interests of ordinary laborers. However, the Trotskyists lacked a sober understanding of the political reality within the United States, were never able to shake off their utopian character, merely repeating the abstract rhetoric of the “theory of permanent revolution,” and were even less able to provide a set of short-term, feasible reform plans to effectively solve America’s real problems. After the 1960s, American Trotskyism pinned its revolutionary hopes on identity politics, deviating from the original intention of proletarian struggle, which determined that it could not complete the mission of thoroughly transforming capitalism in practice.

其三，美国托派理论中的固有缺陷导致托派组织在实践中不断碰壁。托派组织固有的宗派主义倾向，削弱了其本就微弱的党员力量和群众基础。从美国托派的实践来看，不可否认，它从托洛茨基主义的角度回应了“美国例外论”，尝试了社会主义美国化的可能性，探索了在发达资本主义国家进行无产阶级革命并建立工人政权的道路，一定程度上维护了普通劳动者的利益。然而，托派对于美国国内政治现实缺乏清醒的认识，始终无法摆脱空想色彩，只是重复着“不断革命论”的抽象论调，更无法提供一套着眼于近期的、切实可行的改革方案，以此有效解决美国的现实问题。在20世纪60年代之后，美国托派把革命希望寄托在身份政治上，背离了无产阶级斗争的初衷，这就决定了它不可能在实践中完成彻底改造资本主义的使命。

Clearly, the decline of American Trotskyism is the inevitable result of the concentrated exposure in practice of its theoretical and organizational weaknesses. In view of this, theoretically breaking free from the shackles of rigid dogma, putting forward theoretical propositions that keep pace with the times, strengthening problem awareness, ending the fragmented state of Trotskyist organizations, strengthening democratic centralism, following the mass line, and thereby establishing a broad mass base in practice, are the directions in which contemporary American Trotskyism urgently needs to strive. American Trotskyism is not only an important component of international Trotskyist socialist politics, but also an important component of contemporary world socialist currents; it provides lessons for the development of socialism and Marxism in the 21st century. In the 21st century, although socialism still faces severe challenges, the inevitable demise of capitalism and the inevitable victory of socialism are equally unavoidable. The development process and decline of American Trotskyism provide the following insights for us to continue developing socialism in the 21st century.

显然，美国托派走向衰落，是其理论和组织上的弱点在实践中集中暴露的必然结果。有鉴于此，从理论上摆脱僵化教条的束缚，提出与时俱进的理论主张，强化问题意识，结束托派组织四分五裂的状态，强化民主集中制，走群众路线，进而在实践中建立广泛的群众基础，是美国当代托派亟须努力的方向。美国托派不仅是国际托派社会主义政治的重要组成部分，也是当代世界社会主义流派的重要组成部分，它为21世纪社会主义和马克思主义的发展提供了经验教训。在21世纪，虽然社会主义依然面临着严峻挑战，但资本主义的必然灭亡和社会主义的必然胜利同样不可避免。美国托洛茨基主义的发展历程及其衰落，给我们在21世纪继续发展社会主义提供了如下启示。

First, it is necessary to correctly understand the nature, positive roles and negative drawbacks of the world’s main socialist currents, correctly handle the relations among various currents, parties or organizations, and achieve the unity of socialist forces. Currently, the socialist currents sharing the same world political left are scattered in strength, especially the communist parties in developed capitalist countries, which have long failed to break out of their marginalized state. Each current should take the socialist ideal as a common value pursuit, actively face common problem domains, break the hostile situation of mutual recrimination, establish multilateral links and coordination mechanisms, and expand the breadth of mass mobilization and the depth of social influence. At the same time, they cannot remain confined to the level of political protest without practical significance, but should coexist and co-grow with the overall struggle of the world socialist movement, reconstruct the “broad left” forces opposing capitalism, and push the world socialist movement out of its trough.

第一，要正确认识世界主要社会主义流派的性质、积极作用与消极弊端，正确处理好各流派、政党或组织的关系，实现社会主义力量的团结。当前同处世界政治左翼的社会主义流派力量分散，尤其是发达资本主义国家的共产主义政党长期未能打破边缘化状态。各流派应以社会主义理想为共同价值追求，积极面对共同的问题域，打破彼此攻讦的敌对局面，建立多边联系和协调机制，拓展群众动员的广度和社会影响的深度。同时，不能局限于毫无实际意义的政治抗议水平上，而应与世界社会主义运动的整体斗争共存共生，重构反资本主义的“大左翼”力量，推动世界社会主义运动走出低谷。

Second, while keeping pace with the times and enhancing the theoretical vitality and epochal adaptability of left-wing political parties, it is necessary to adhere to the general direction of socialism. In the current era, new social movements and identity politics, due to their keen response to the development of the times, have entered a new period of activity, becoming an important frame of reference for gaining insight into the new changes in contemporary capitalism. However, one must not confine oneself to the partial level of new social movements and identity politics; the struggle at the micro level must be combined with the struggle at the macro level, and empirical analysis of society must be combined with structural analysis of society. One must not, because of attention to new social movements and identity politics, forget or obscure class struggle, thereby losing the forward direction of socialism. If left-wing parties incorporate the propositions of new social movements and identity politics, which contain "destructive adaptation," into the scope of capitalist critique, they can, while exposing the various new forms of alienation under capitalism, once again find a realistic foothold and further tear open the cracks in the capitalist system.

第二，在与时俱进、提高左翼政党的理论生命力和时代适应性的同时，要坚持社会主义的大方向。当今时代，新社会运动和身份政治因其对时代发展的敏锐反应而进入新的活跃期，成为洞悉当代资本主义新变化的重要参照系。但是，不能局限于局部层面的新社会运动和身份政治，要将微观层面的斗争与宏观层面的斗争结合起来，要将对社会的实证分析与对社会的结构分析结合起来，不能因为关注新社会运动和身份政治，就遗忘或者遮蔽了阶级斗争，从而迷失了社会主义的前进方向。如果左翼政党将包含“破坏性适应”的新社会运动和身份政治主张糅合到资本主义批判的范围内，就可以在揭露资本主义的各种新异化现象时，再次找到现实落脚点，进一步撕开资本主义制度的裂缝。

Third, the Communist Party of China has created a new path of Chinese-path modernization. This path is clearly superior to the Western modernization path; it has absorbed the positive achievements of Western modernization while resolving the domestic and international problems brought about by the Western modernization path. This path not only has reference value for the left in developing countries but also has a certain reference value for the left in Western developed capitalist countries. In particular, in the principles of Party building such as democratic centralism, the principle of unifying ideological Party building, political Party building, disciplinary Party management and organizational Party management, and the concept of building an innovative, learning-oriented and service-oriented Party, it can provide valuable experience for Western left-wing political parties.

第三，中国共产党创造了中国式现代化新道路，这条道路明显优越于西方现代化道路，它吸收了西方现代化的积极成果，又解决了西方现代化道路所带来的国内和国际问题。这条道路不仅对发展中国家的左翼具有借鉴价值，而且对于西方发达资本主义国家的左翼，也具有一定的借鉴价值，尤其在民主集中制的建党原则，思想建党、政治建党、纪律管党和组织管党相统一的原则，建立创新型、学习型和服务型政党的理念等方面，都可以为西方左翼政党提供宝贵的经验。

In summary, the rise, fall and evolution of American Trotskyism provide a typical case for studying the laws of the development of the socialist movement in Western developed capitalist countries. Systematically reflecting on this, while summarizing the experiences and lessons of the rise and fall of the Western left, including American Trotskyism, can not only advance the academic enterprise of China's research on American Marxism and the world communist movement, but also enable a profound understanding and grasp of the new changes in American and Western capitalist societies, explore possible paths for socialist revolution in Western developed capitalist countries and provide theoretical resources, and offer forward-looking and constructive opinions and suggestions for the possible development of socialism in Western developed capitalist countries.

总之，美国托洛茨基主义的兴衰演进，为研究西方发达资本主义国家的社会主义运动发展的规律提供了一个典型案例。对此进行系统反思，同时总结包括美国托洛茨基主义在内的西方左派的兴衰成败的经验和教训，不仅可以推进我国的美国马克思主义和世界共产主义运动研究的学术事业，而且可以深刻理解和把握美西方资本主义社会的新变化，探索在西方发达资本主义国家进行社会主义革命的可能路径并提供理论资源，为社会主义在西方发达资本主义国家的可能发展提供前瞻性和建设性的意见和建议。

(Author biographies: Liu Shanshan, doctoral student at the School of Marxism, Southwest University; Huang Qihong (corresponding author), professor and doctoral supervisor at the Center for Marxist Theory Studies and the Institute of Western Marxism, Southwest University)

（作者简介：刘珊珊，西南大学马克思主义学院博士研究生；黄其洪（通讯作者），西南大学马克思主义理论研究中心暨西方马克思主义研究所教授，博士生导师）

Online editor: Tongxin

网络编辑：同心