Eighty years ago, the Fourth International was founded, inspired by the ideas of Leon Trotsky. The tool created in the aftermath of October 1917, the Third (Communist) International, had been transformed into a branch of of the diplomacy of the Soviet Union, purged the national parties, and ended in Germany in a defeat without a fight to Nazism.
Victor Serge described the period on the eve of the second world war, with Stalin in power in the Soviet Union and Hitler in Germany, as ‘midnight in the century’. In the face of the coming war, Trotsky and his comrades tried to continue the path opened by the Communist International in 1919 and to organize anew.
Eighty years later, what is the continuing use of an international? The world has changed dramatically in the last eighty years. But still, people all over the world are seeking ways toward a democratic society free from exploitation and oppression. Hundreds of thousands of people are driven out of their homes by war, global warming threatens millions, new reactionary and authoritarian governments and movements threaten social rights and democratic freedoms in many parts of the world. There is still a world to win.
The IIRE will host a meeting on 80 years since the foundation of the Fourth International. Speakers include Michael Löwy, fellow of the IIRE, ecosocialist activist and author of many works on Marx and Marxism, such as The Theory of Revolution in the Young Marx, Marxism in Latin America from 1909 to the Present, and Morning Star. Surrealism, Marxism, Anarchism, Situationism, Utopia
Doors: 19.30
Drinks will be available afterwards.
This event will be in English.
Location: IIRE, Lombokstraat 40, Amsterdam