My mis-reading of the headline of Dave’s piece yesterday brought back some wonderful memories of the maddest moments of the ultra-left. These days, of course, they just write silly manifestos about reforming international law, call for random invasions of foreign countries, attack human rights organisations or give support to reactionary, homophobic, misogynist, antisemites.

But back in the old days Trots had a far grander perspective.

J. Posadas (1912–1981) (occasionally referred to as Juan Posadas), was the pseudonym of Homero Rómulo Cristalli Frasnelli, an Argentine Trotskyist whose personal vision is usually described as Posadism. Posadas became the leader of the Latin America Bureau of the Fourth International and, under his guidance, the movement gained some influence in the region, particularly among Cuban railway workers, Bolivian tin miners and agricultural workers in Brazil.

When the Fourth International split in 1953, Posadas and his followers sided with Michel Pablo and the International Secretariat of the Fourth International. By 1959, however, he and his followers were quarrelling with the leadership of the ISFI accusing them of lacking confidence in the possibility of revolution. They also differed over the issue of nuclear war with Posadas taking the view that “War–Revolution” would “settle the hash of Stalinism and Capitalism” and that nuclear war was inevitable and desirable as a socialist society would rise from the ashes. Posadas and his international followers, who were concentrated in Latin America, split from the ISFI in 1962 prior to its rectification of the 1953 split with the International Committee of the Fourth International.

Posadas wrote that “Nuclear war [equals] revolutionary war. It will damage humanity but it will not – it cannot – destroy the level of consciousness reached by it… Humanity will pass quickly through a nuclear war into a new human society – Socialism.” J. Posadas’ enthusiasm for nuclear war and “worker’s bombs” escalated in the 1970s with the Posadist movement issuing demands that the Soviet Union and People’s Republic of China begin a “preventative war” against the United States in order to finish off capitalism.

Beginning in 1968, Posadas also became known for his theories concerning UFOs. He believed that the existence of UFOs demonstrated the existence of socialism on other planets and that only a socialist society could produce the technology needed for interplanetary travel. Moreover, he argued that as the occupants of UFOs (who were either socialists from other planets or socialists from a future earth travelling back in time) were advanced communists they should be urged to help lead the terrestrial socialist revolution. The obsession of the Posadist movement with UFOs has led others to quip that while Trotsky argued against the theory of socialism in one country, Posadas argued against “socialism on one planet”.

Posadas speculated that the reason UFOs do not stay very long is because “Capitalism doesn’t interest the UFO pilots, which is why they do not return. Similarly, the Soviet bureaucracy (doesn’t interest them) as they don’t have perspective.” His work ends by pleading that ““We must call upon beings from other planets when they come to intervene, to collaborate with the inhabitants of the Earth to overcome misery. We must launch a call on them to use their resources to help us.”

· About the author: Conor Foley is a regular contributor to Liberal Conspiracy. As a humanitarian aid worker he has worked for a variety of human rights and humanitarian aid organizations, including Liberty, Amnesty International and the UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), in Kosovo, Afghanistan, Colombia, Sri Lanka, Indonesia and Bosnia-Herzegovina. He currently lives and works in Brazil, and is a research fellow at the Human Rights Law Centre at the University of Nottingham. His books include Combating Torture: a manual for judges and prosecutors (2003, published by the Human Rights Centre at the University of Essex) and A Guide to Property Law in Afghanistan (2005, published by the Norwegian Refugee Council and UNHCR). Also at: Comment is free

· Other posts by Conor Foley

· Filed under: Blog , Foreign affairs , Humour

Reactions: Twitter, blogs

1. Liberal Conspiracy
   

   :: Loony Trots on Mars http://bit.ly/15nhuR

2. Martin Coxall
   

   “Humanity will pass quickly through a nuclear war into a new human society – Socialism.” http://is.gd/4ONz1

3. Neil Robertson
   

   RT @libcon: :: Loony Trots on Mars http://bit.ly/15nhuR

4. maximal is me
   

   RT @libcon :: Loony Trots on Mars http://bit.ly/15nhuR

5. Liberal Conspiracy
   

   :: Loony Trots on Mars http://bit.ly/15nhuR

6. Martin Coxall
   

   “Humanity will pass quickly through a nuclear war into a new human society – Socialism.” http://is.gd/4ONz1

7. Neil Robertson
   

   RT @libcon: :: Loony Trots on Mars http://bit.ly/15nhuR

8. maximal is me
   

   RT @libcon :: Loony Trots on Mars http://bit.ly/15nhuR

9. worldufos
   

   Liberal Conspiracy » Loony Trots on Mars http://bit.ly/2eeXu4

10. worldufos
    

    Liberal Conspiracy » Loony Trots on Mars http://bit.ly/2eeXu4

11. andrew
    

    Liberal Conspiracy » Loony Trots on Mars: About the author: Conor Foley is a regular contributor to Liberal Con.. http://bit.ly/1wgHxj

Reader comments