( https://www.wsws.org/en/articles/2020/09/28/viet-s28.html )

1. “Ho bowed to Stalin’s dictates, while seeking to escape the consequences, particularly the large Kuomintang army in the north, where his Viet Minh forces had their strongest base. He sought to maneuver among the various hostile powers, China, France and Britain, rather than appealing to the working class in these countries for solidarity with the Vietnamese revolution.”

Why make this demand of the Stalinists?

2. “The political conditions in the workers’ movement of southern Vietnam between 1931 and 1936 were quite unusual, in that the Stalinist party was not following the Comintern line in relation to the forces affiliated with the Left Opposition led by Trotsky, and there was considerable contact and even joint work between the Stalinists and Trotskyists, who made common cause against the repression of the French colonial authorities…

“…(Another faction of Trotskyists opposed joint work with the Stalinists, and the political issues involved in this dispute are complex and require further analysis. Suffice it to say that under the impact of the Moscow Trials and the beginning of the political genocide against Trotskyists and Old Bolsheviks in the Soviet Union, the ICP ended all joint activity with the Vietnamese Trotskyists and the factional differences among the Trotskyists receded.)”

The impact of the Moscow Trials ended the factional differences or forced them to recede? It only hid their differences so that the bourgeois influence on the party could remain hidden and suppress the most revolutionary currents. What accounts for the complexity? It seems that the anti-colonial struggle, according to the writer, could make progress under Stalinist leadership, which only betrays the revolution in colonized countries.

The Stalinist leaders received their blessing from the Soviet Union bureaucracy, which represented its own interests, those of the counter-revolution, and those of imperialism. How can such leaders take on the task of freeing the colonized people? They only seek to raise the casualty rate through reckless policies, thereby preventing future struggle in other colonized countries, while also dividing the struggles to prevent the emergence of a unified leadership for the world revolution of workers, peasants, and all oppressed people. Trotsky could not have supported this collaboration after 1933 when he completely gave up hope in the Comintern following the victory of Hitler with Stalin’s support.

To suppose that further analysis can wait and that the differences among Trotskyists will recede once the Moscow Trials arrive clearly betrays the revolution. Any difference that arises between Trotskyists does not represent personal differences but differences in class policy. The bourgeoisie will use these divisions to suppress the revolutionary side and give material aid to those who introduce weaknesses into the proletarian strategy.