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Simpósio Internacional Passado e Presente do Socialismo –
50° Aniversario da Morte de Leon Trotsky
(São Paulo [Brazil], Sept. 10-14, 1990)

In 1990, marking the fiftieth anniversary of Trotsky’s assassination, several major international congresses were held in different parts of the world, e.g. in Wuppertal (Germany) and Aberdeen (Britain). On September 10-14, 1990, academics and other experts on the life and work of Leon Trotsky came together in São Paulo (Brazil) in order to hold another Trotsky symposium entitled Passado e Presente do Socialismo - 50° Aniversario da Morte de Leon Trotsky [Past and present of socialism - 50 years since the death of Leon Trotsky]. This conference was organized by the Departamento de História and the Reitoria da Universidade of the São Paulo University. Osvaldo Coggiola, a historian from Argentina and author of a dissertation on the history of Trotskyism in Latin America, functioned as organizer and director of this lively and eminent 5-day conference and as editor-in-chief of a book (published in 1994, contents see below) containing a compilation of about a half of the papers read at the symposium which had - as was told by some participants - a more political flavour than the chiefly academic conferences of Wuppertal and Aberdeen, for example by more discussion on contemporary issues.
Some 70 scholars as well as devoted Trotskyists actively participated in the São Paulo conference. The lectures and debates were attended by several hundred students and workers in the overflowing auditorium of the History Faculty building. According to Esteban Volkov (Trotsky’s grandson) who attended several Trotsky conferences in 1990 all over the world, in terms of interest, public participation and youthful enthusiasm the São Paulo symposium  was the greatest of those events taking place in 1990.
Among the some 40 participants who featured papers were - like in Wuppertal and Aberdeen - some representatives from Eastern Europe (USSR, Poland, Hungary); other speakers chiefly came from France, Brazil, Argentina, Chile and Mexico. Most of the contributions read and discussed at the São Paulo symposium focused on recent historical research on Trotsky’s ideas, struggles and political action, on the history of Trotskyism in Latin America, on the question of the character of the Soviet state and society and its perspectives in view of recent developments in the Eastern Bloc and in relation to Trotsky’s prognoses and programmes. Two of the Eastern European guests, M. Kun and A.M. Podshchekol’din, presented remarkable papers based on thorough study of primary sources available only in Moscow archives preserving the documents of the highest CPSU party ranks.
Some 4 years after the event, the following book containing selected proceedings of the São Paulo symposium was published:


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International Symposium to Commemorate the
50th Anniversary of Trotsky's Death
(Tokyo [Japan], Nov. 2-4, 1990)

After a considerable number of conferences and symposia on the occasion of the 50th anniversary of Leon Trotsky’s assassination already had taken place in 1990 in various parts of the world (e.g. Wuppertal, London, São Paulo, Aberdeen, Mexico), another Trotsky congress was convened in Tokyo on November 2-4. P. Broué, E. Volkov, B. Tampoe, N. Shida, S. Nishijima, T. Kamijima, F. Setsuo, K. Takahashi, Y. Shiokawa, A.V. Pantsov, A.M. Podshchekol’din et al. participated in the Tokyo Trotsky symposium. To our regret, we neither have substantial information regarding its programme nor can we provide a complete list of participating scholars. It seems likely that at least some of the papers presented at the conference were published in Japanese language while only a modest portion of them appeared in Western or Russian journals (see the following list) as far as we know.


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Mezhdunarodnaia Nauchnaia Konferentsiia
Ideinoe Nasledie Trotskogo

= International Scientific Conference
The Ideological Legacy of Leon Trotsky

(Moscow [Russia], Nov. 10-12, 1994)
[=1st Conference of the Committee for the Study of Leon Trotsky’s Legacy]

The first international scholarly conference devoted to Trotsky which was ever held in Russia took place in Moscow on November 10-12, 1994, on the occasion of the 115th anniversary of Trotsky’s birth. This remarkable conference was entitled The ideological legacy of Leon Trotsky: its historic and contemporary significance (Russian title: Ideinoe nasledie Trotskogo: istoriia i sovremennost’). It was co-sponsored by the international association Scholars for Democracy and Socialism and by the Center for Problems of Democracy and Socialism of the Institute of Economics of the Russian Academy of Sciences; the main organizer of the conference was M.I. Voeikov, head of the Economics Institute of the Russian Academy of Sciences, Moscow. Some 60 invited scholars and Trotskyists participated in the conference and some 80 guests attended it; the contributors came chiefly from Russia and from adjacent countries like the Ukraine, Belorussia and Lithuania; some two dozen participants came from the United States, Britain, France, Japan, The Netherlands, Greece, Brazil and Argentina. The contributed papers focused on
— the theoretical legacy of Leon Trotsky,
— the historic role and significance of the Left Opposition in the USSR in the 1920s,
— the struggle of Trotsky and his followers against Stalinism,
— interpretations of the proletarian state and
— Trotsky’s prognoses about the fate of the USSR and of the world revolutionary movement in view of Stalinism and World War.
All these subjects were lively discussed from various political points of view. A round table within the conference, in which academics as well as activists of Russian left and Trotskyist political parties and groups participated, discussed about the theme Trotsky and left political movements in Russia.
Some 25 papers were presented by scholars and by some workers from Russia as well as by some participants from abroad: A.P. Butenko, P. Broué, M.I. Voeikov, V. Rogovin, N.S. Shukhov, A. Gusev, M.N. Gretskii, A.A. Kurenyshev, S. Dzarasov, V.K. Mamutov, V.B. Volodin, H.H. Ticktin, J. Miles, S. Michael-Matsas, J. Barr, S. Pirani, M. Vogt-Downey, C. Edwards and others. A selection of the papers featured at the Moscow conference were published in both Russian and English-language publications (contents see below), the English version being edited by M. Vogt-Downey, the Russian version [both versions are not fully identical with regard to the selection] being edited by M.I. Voeikov and A.V. Gusev.
At the end of the conference a group of interested participants founded an international Committee for the Study of Leon Trotsky’s Legacy (CSLTL) (Mezhdunarodnyi Komitet po Izucheniiu Naslediia L.D. Trotskogo); Pierre Broué was elected president of this committee and A.V. Gusev and M. Vogt-Downey international co-ordinators. The committee organized some subsequent Trotsky conferences in Moscow and St. Petersburg, respectively, in 1995, 1996, 1997 and 1999, and issued a number of publications both in Russian and in English language. The committee’s statement of purpose is printed in the appendix to the conference proceedings mentioned in the next paragraph. The launching of the committee was undoubtedly one of the most important achievements of the conference. [For further information about the 1994 Moscow conference see below.] It should be mentioned that the Moscow 1994 conference later was also designated as First Conference of the Committee for the Study of Leon Trotsky’s Legacy.


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As mentioned above, the Committee for the Study of Leon Trotsky’s Legacy (CSLTL) organized some follow-up conferences to the Moscow 1994 conference - all these conferences took place in Russia - between 1995 and 1999. The following brief listing provides the dates and themes of these conferences; unfortunately, proceedings have not been published (as far as we know), only a few of the papers presented at the conferences have been published in one form or the other, but at least there are some useful and informative summary reports about the four conferences, chiefly written by the American Trotskyist Marilyn Vogt-Downey who as an international co-ordinator of the CSLTL can be called the moving spirit of all these events:

International Conference The Fate of Soviet Democracy
(St. Petersburg [Russia], Dec. 4, 1995)
[=2nd International Conference of the Committee for the Study of Leon Trotsky’s Legacy]

Publications relating to this conference:
  • Barr, Geoffrey: The legacy of Leon Trotsky / Geoff Barr and Marilyn Vogt-Downey, in: The  International / Workers International to Rebuild the Fourth International, 1996 (18) : p.18-19
  • Barr, Geoffrey: Midday in Leningrad / Geoff Barr, in: In Defense of Marxism, 14.1996 (1=30) : p.35
  • Barr, Geoffrey: An old story : Trotsky and democracy soviets versus parliaments / Geoff Barr, in: The International / Workers International to Rebuild the Fourth International, 1996 (18) : p.20-27
  • Brotherstone, Terry: Trotsky in Russia, in: The International / Workers International to Rebuild the Fourth International, 1996 (17) : p.31
  • Vogt-Downey, Marilyn: Conference on Trotsky held in St. Petersburg : commemorating the 1905 revolution, in: In Defense of Marxism, 14.1996 (1=130) : p.34-35
  • Vogt-Downey, Marilyn: Trotsky in St. Petersburg : conference report / Marilyn Vogt-Downey (with additional information contributed by Geoff Barr), in: International Viewpoint, 1996 (273) : p.33-34

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    International Conference The Revolution Betrayed – 60 Years Later
    (Moscow [Russia], Nov. 22-24, 1996)
    [=3rd International Conference of the Committee for the Study of Leon Trotsky’s Legacy]

    Publications relating to this conference:
  • Pirani, Simon: 'Revolution betrayed' discussed in Moscow, in: Workers International Press, 1997 (1) : p.16
  • Podshchekol’din, Aleksandr Mikhailovich: La "Révolution trahie" – comment et par qui? : contre quelle politique, de quel parti, se battait Trotsky en 1923? / Alexandre Mikhaïlovitch Podchtchékoldine, in: Cahiers du mouvement ouvrier, 1999 (6) : p.49-59 [Title according to table of contents: Par qui et quand a été trahie la révolution?]
  • Vogt-Downey, Marilyn: Betrayal remembered : Moscow conference discusses Trotsky's key work / M. V.-D., in: International Viewpoint, 1997 (285) : p.26
  • Vogt-Downey, Marilyn: Moscow conference marks 60th anniversary of Trotsky's classic 'The revolution betrayed', in: Socialist Action, 15.1997 (1) : p.22-23
  • Vogt-Downey, Marilyn: Moscow conference marks 60th anniversary of Trotsky's Marxist classic. New York City, 1996. 10 p. [Unpubl. ms.]
  • Vogt-Downey, Marilyn: Third conference on Trotsky's legacy held in Moscow : 60th anniversary of "Revolution betrayed", in: In Defense of Marxism, 15.1997 (1=135) : p.3

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    International Conference on Leon Trotsky and the Russian Revolution 1917-1997
    (Moscow [Russia], Oct. 10-12, 1997)
    [=4th International Conference of the Committee for the Study of Leon Trotsky’s Legacy]

    Publications relating to this conference:
  • Pirani, Simon: Conference marks 80th anniversary of Russian revolution, in: International Socialist Forum, 1.1997/98 (2) : p.34-35
  • Vogt-Downey, Marilyn: Fourth annual Russian conference on Trotsky / MVD [i.e. Marilyn Vogt-Downey], in: International Viewpoint, 1998 (296) : p.34-35
  • Vogt-Downey, Marilyn: 80 years since the Russian revolution : 1917-1997 ; fourth conference on Trotsky held in Russia, in: Socialist Action, 1997 (Nov.)

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    International Conference on Trotsky’s World - 120 Years of Struggle
    (Moscow [Russia]), Oct. 29-30, 1999)
    [=5th International Conference of the Committee for the Study of Leon Trotsky’s Legacy]

    Publications relating to this conference:
  • Vogt-Downey, Marilyn: Fifth Conference on Leon Trotsky highlights the relevance of his work : report from the October 1999 Moscow Conference on Trotsky.  New York, NY : Committee for the Study of Leon Trotsky's Legacy, [2000]. 15, [2] pp
  • Vogt-Downey, Marilyn: Die 5. [Fünfte] Trotzki-Konferenz betont die Aktualität seines Werkes / Übers. aus dem Engl.: Walter Wiese, in: Inprekorr, 2000 (345/346) : p.28-34

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    International Conference
    Explorations in the History of U.S. Trotskyism
      (New York, NY [USA], Sept. 29 - Oct. 1, 2000)

    Some 200 participants and guests from the U.S., Canada, Mexico, Puerto Rico, France, Germany, Britain, South Africa and India attended a three-day conference on Explorations in the History of U.S. Trotskyism which was held at New York University on September 29 - October 1, 2000. The conference was chiefly sponsored by Tamiment Library, an outstanding resource centre on the history of the left movements in the U.S., affiliated to New York University. As organizers of the conference functioned Peter Filardo, Tamiment’s chief archivist, and some renowned experts on the history of American Trotskyism: Alan Wald, Paul Le Blanc and Bryan Palmer. The conference was opened by Paul Le Blanc and Peter Filardo, and during the next two and a half days some dozen papers were read, discussed and commented by the participants (besides renowned academic scholars, a considerable number of Trotskyist militants took part in the conference, too) within the framework of 12 panels:

    Unfortunately, most of the papers read and discussed at the Tamiment conference have remained unpublished so far.
    Three invited experts on U.S. Trotskyism could not participate in the conference for various reasons: Marilyn Vogt-Downey, Morris Slavin and Paul Lee; a paper prepared by Lee was read by Cynthia Young.

    *) These title records are based on: American communism and anticommunism : a historian’s bibliography and guide to the literature / comp. and ed. by John Earl Haynes, last rev. 15 Apr. 2005, URL:
    http://www.johnearlhaynes.org/page94.html


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    Selective list of other conferences (brief listing)
    (with bibliographical notes)


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    Rev. July 2008


    © by Wolfgang & Petra Lubitz 2004 —  http://www.trotskyana.net