Michel Pablo

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Michel Pablo (born August 24, 1911 in Alexandria , † February 17, 1996 in Athens ), pseudonym of Michel N. Raptis , was a leading Greek Trotskyist .

Life

In 1944, Pablo was appointed head of the European Bureau of the Fourth International , which had just been established. At the end of the war he and Ernest Mandel (better known at the time under the name "Germain") formed the central leadership of the Fourth International with the support of the American Socialist Workers Party and James P. Cannon .

In the years that followed, Pablo and Mandel played an important role in persuading the Fourth International to believe that the Eastern European states conquered by the Soviet army during World War II were deformed workers' states . Anyone who contradicted this belief was expelled from the Fourth International.

From 1951 Pablo proposed a new strategy for the Fourth International. He argued that an imminent Third World War a new outbreak of the revolution (as after the First World War would mean) and that the Trotskyist minority to the Stalinist mass parties and the Social Democratic must connect parties (Theory of War Revolution).

In 1953 the American, British and parts of the French Trotskyists declared their opposition to this course, henceforth known as Pabloism , and left the Fourth International to found the " International Committee of the Fourth International " (ICFI). After the split, the majority faction under Pablo called itself the " International Secretariat of the Fourth International " (ISVI).

In the 1960s, Pablo was of the opinion that revolutionary perspectives could best be realized in the so-called Third World . For this reason he was involved in the Algerian national liberation struggle against France , for which he was sentenced to prison there. A campaign led by Jean-Paul Sartre resulted in his release in 1961. After the victory of the Algerian Revolution, Pablo became Minister of the FLN government.

From 1963 there were efforts to reunite the International Secretariat and the International Committee, in the same year the United Secretariat of the Fourth International was formed. Pablo became head of the African Bureau in 1964 but refused to join and was expelled. He founded the “Revolutionary Marxist Direction” and the “International Marxist Direction” with headquarters in France. The organization could not numerically compete with large Trotskyist groups. Pablo's influence at this time was based primarily on his publications. In the 1970s, Pablo was a proponent of workers' self-government.

His funeral was drilled like a state affair in Greece because of his friendship with Andreas Papandreou , who was a Trotskyist in his youth.

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personal data
SURNAME Pablo, Michel
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Raptis, Michel N. (real name)
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Greek Trotskyist
DATE OF BIRTH August 24, 1911
PLACE OF BIRTH Alexandria
DATE OF DEATH February 17, 1996
Place of death Athens