Don León

How Leon Trotsky predicted Mexico's Bonapartist turn

Leon Trotsky, central leader of the Russian Revolution and architect of the Bolshevik Insurrection, in Mexico where he spent the last years of his life.

As Mexico celebrates 201 years of hard-won independence from Spain, it now finds itself in the shadow of and in conflict with the greatest colonial, imperial power in history, while itself descending potentially into military dictatorship as national conflicts rise globally and as class conflicts intensify domestically. An elderly Russian exile who spent his last days in the old Mexico of the late 1930s, on the eve of WWII, correctly anticipated these junctures.

In recent days, the Mexican Senate passed through legislation spearheaded by the President that would bring municipal policing under military control, although it’s questionable if it will pass Congress. “Leftist” President, Adres Manuel Lopez Obrador (AMLO), has said he would bypass Congress via executive fiat, should the bill fail. These moves come as a longtime internal co…