88 years since the founding of the Fourth International

The Paris suburbs served as the venue for the founding Conference of the Fourth International on September 3, 1938, attended by delegates representing much of the world. The successful convening of that meeting itself was an achievement, as Stalinism employed every possible maneuver to prevent it. Let us recall that one of the organizers, Rudolph Klement, was assassinated before the Conference, and many important documents were lost. Erwin Wolf and Leon Sedov (Trotsky’s son) were also assassinated by the GPU shortly before the event. Trotsky was unable to participate because he was in exile in Mexico.

The creation of the new International took place against a global background in which the great Powers were preparing for World War II, following several defeats of revolutionary movements—for example, in Spain and Germany—where Stalinism had reinforced its role as a counterrevolutionary leadership. The task was to restore the theoretical and political continuity of revolutionary Marxism in the face of the setbacks suffered during that period.

The Fourth International sought to form a new revolutionary leadership with a transitional program, which was the expression of the conclusions drawn from the Russian Revolution as they concerned to an entire historical period. It set forth the historical tasks of the proletariat to destroy the capitalist system, in programmatic continuity with the Third International prior to its Stalinization. The theoretical and political superiority of Trotskyism over the political tendencies that appropriated the banner of communism only to discredit it stems from the method and program established to confront the capitalist system, prepare for the revolution, and manage the subsequent transition. No other current can consistently uphold the perspective of socialist revolution for new generations. That is why, even 88 years after its founding, it remains so relevant.

Today, we revolutionaries are facing unprecedented and novel historical processes. U.S. imperialism is amid its historic collapse, and in its decline, which originates warmongering tendencies: the U.S. attack on Iran, Russia’s open war in Ukraine, and the genocide in Gaza perpetrated by the imperialist enclave of Israel. China is advancing on the world stage amid a tortuous process of capitalist assimilation. The economic decline of the imperialist Powers and the conflict-ridden global landscape are leading to the reappearance of widespread inflation, political crises, and a historic crisis in the modes of capitalist domination. This global scenario reflects the breakdown of the unstable equilibrium that developed in the postwar period and paves the way for a process of imperialist decomposition and the assimilation of the former workers’ States.

Eighty-eight years after its founding, the historic tasks set forth by the Fourth International remain unchanged. We have the theoretical and political tools bequeathed to us by Marxism: the works of Marx and Engels, the theory of imperialism, the theory of the revolutionary party, the program of the Internationals in their revolutionary phase, the theory and program of the Permanent Revolution, the Transitional Program, and so many programmatic lessons drawn from ongoing processes of class struggle. As Trotsky explained, the crisis of revolutionary leadership that is holding back the world revolution and prolonging the life of this rotten capitalist system still persists. Among the most important tasks of the new generation of revolutionaries is that of reclaiming the Transitional Program and putting it into practice in a revolutionary way, after it was distorted by postwar centrist tendencies under the influence of statist, redistributionist, trade-unionist, and reformist views. Many of these centrist currents ultimately degenerated and adapted to the capitalist system.

Rebuilding the Fourth International means attempting to solve the crisis of revolutionary leadership, launching revolutionary action in the face of a global crisis that continues to unfold, and preparing the struggle for power. In light of this situation, we at the TRFI maintain that an International Conference is necessary, bringing together the currents that still uphold the dictatorship of the proletariat, to advance the task of providing revolutionary leadership to the ongoing class struggle phenomena that are taking place.

Eighty-eight years after the founding of the Fourth International, we embrace Trotsky’s programmatic definition of the Fourth International. The Fourth International can be defined in these words: For the dictatorship of the proletariat!