Post by @strypey@mastodon.nzoss.nz

Today I was reminded that there are grouplets in Aotearoa who think that supporting Ukraine's self-defence, against an imperial invader, is morally equivalent to supporting Israel's genocide in Gaza, or the US bombardment of Iran;

https://community.scoop.co.nz/2026/03/new-zealand-government-backs-criminal-war-against-iran/

This kind of Vulgar Marxist apologetics was already decades out of date when it was defending the USSR's imperial conquests. It makes absolutely no sense now that Russia is an openly capitalist state with a crypto-fascist dictator.

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Strypey

@strypey@mastodon.nzoss.nz 24 min. ago

You have to wonder what kind of a Marxist group would push this pro-Putin line, and why. In this case, I don't think it has much to do with Russian bots.

This piece was published on behalf of campus Marxists called the Socialist Equality Group. They're aligned with a Marxist faction in the UK, called the Socialist Equity Party. I suspect both groups would dismiss Wikipedia as a tool of US imperialism, but their article is nevertheless an eyebrow-raising read;

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/International_Committee_of_the_Fourth_International

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Strypey

@strypey@mastodon.nzoss.nz 11 min. ago

Both groups are part of international network of Marxists who consider themselves the inheritors of Leon Trotsky's Fourth International. Which according to Marxist lore, was formed in 1938, after Stalin ejected him from the USSR. There are 2 Marxist of groups in the UK alone who make this claim.

The whole thing reminds me of the guy who who thought he was the hidden king of the UK;

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1sPl1deOLps

Even in the unlikely event it's true, so what?

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Strypey

@strypey@mastodon.nzoss.nz 3 min. ago

When the USSR collapsed and stopped funding Marxist groups outside the Soviet bloc, it quickly became clear how little popular support they really had. Most of them collapsed by the end of the decade. Surviving only via bored retirees, recruiting students into groups like Social Equality.

Like the rest of them, Trotsky's splinter group and its successors didn't achieve anything of significance.
Why would any sensible political group fight over its inheritance?

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