The international Trotskyist movement and the Soviet Bloc in 1956

Events in the Soviet Union and its ‘satellite states’ in East Europe were significant for all those affiliated with the communist tradition, including Trotskyists, in whose theoretical-programmatic framework the characterisation of the Soviet Union always played a central role. This paper discusses how the 1956 events in the Soviet Bloc impacted the then-divided Trotskyist forces. It first presents an overview of the international Trotskyist movement, to contextualise its reactions to the 1956 events. It then goes on to demonstrate how reactions and interpretations of those events help us to better understand divisions within international Trotskyism and the divergent paths taken by its different sections

Communism · Eastern Bloc · Iron Curtain · Soviet union · Communism, Protests, Social Movements · European history and politics · Historical Geopolitical and Social Dynamics