Trotskyist

Debated comparison with Stalinism

Trotskyist theoreticians have disputed the view that the Stalinist dictatorship was a natural outgrowth of the Bolsheviks' actions as most of the original, central committee members from 1917 were later eliminated by Stalin. George Novack stressed the initial efforts by the Bolsheviks to form a multi-party government with the Left Socialist Revolutionaries and bring other parties such as the Mensheviks into political legality. Upon the Menshevik walkout from the Soviet congress, Trotsky released a number of arrested, socialist ministers of the Provisional government from prison, at the request of Julius Martov. Tony Cliff argued the Bolshevik-Left Socialist Revolutionary coalition government dissolved the Constituent Assembly due to a number of reasons. They cited the outdated voter rolls, which did not acknowledge the split among the Socialist Revolutionary party and the assemblies' conflict with the Congress of the Soviets as an alternative democratic structure.