Leon Trotsky, The Lessons of October - Platypus

Leon Trotsky 13most important period in the development of our party.As has already been said, the disagreements centered around the questionof power. Generally speaking, this is the touchstone whereby the characterof the revolutionary party (and of other parties as well) is determined.There is an intimate connection between the question of power and thequestion of war which was posed and decided in this period. We proposeto consider these questions in chronological order, taking the outstandinglandmarks: the position of the party and of the party press in the first periodafter the overthrow of tsarism and prior to the arrival of Lenin; thestruggle around Lenin’s theses; the April Conference; the aftermath of theJuly days; the Kornilov period; the Democratic Conference and the Pre-Parliament; the question of the armed insurrection and seizure of power(September to October); and the question of a ”homogeneous” socialistgovernment.The study of these disagreements will, we believe, enable us to draw deductionsof considerable importance to other parties in the Communist International.