Trotsky’s own words on revolutionary organization, from 1917 to 1940, highlight the dynamics of democratic initiative and principled centralism.

Paul Le Blanc is author of a number of widely-read studies, including Lenin and the Revolutionary Party, and Marx, Lenin and the Revolutionary Experience. With Michael Yates he has written the widely-acclaimed A Freedom Budget for All Americans. He has co-edited a selection of Leon Trotsky's Writings in Exile.

Prefatory Note from the Authors (2010) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . iii
Introductory Note by George Breitman . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . vi

Leon Trotsky and the Organizational Principles of the Revolutionary Party . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1

I. The Revolutionary Party: Its Function and Consequent Norms . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2

II. The Challenge of the Left Opposition . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6
1. Function of Democracy in Democratic Centralism . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9
a) The Responsibility of the Ranks . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9
b) How the Party Builds Itself . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10
c) The Responsibility of the Leadership . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12
2. The Bureaucratic Mode of Functioning . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13
a) What Were the Objective Reasons for the Rise of the Bureaucracy? . . . . . . . . . . . 14
b) How the Bureaucratic Apparatus Functioned . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 17
3. Inner-Party Groups and Party Norms . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 22
4. The Program to Restore Party Democracy . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 23

III. Toward the World Party of Socialist Revolution . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 27
1. The Integrity of the Revolutionary Program . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 28
2. Functions of Party Democracy . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 30
3. Stressing Centralism . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 33
4. The Crisis of the French Section . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 37
a) Principled Politics . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 38
b) Democratic Centralism . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 39
c) Party Building and Responsibilities of Leadership . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 40
d) The Turn to Workers and Mass Struggles . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 42
5. Crises of the American Section . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 43
a) Averting an unprincipled Split . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 43
b) Against Freelancing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 48
c) The Sectarian Opposition . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .