The crimes of Stalin and Mao are frequently held up to demonstrate the apparent failure of socialism and communism; to invalidate the ideas of Marxism. But what failed in the Soviet Union and China, as Maciej of the Swansea Marxists explains in this latest video from the Myths of Marxism series, was not socialism or communism, but a bureaucratically controlled society – a caricature of Marxism.

77 years ago, on 20th August 1940, Leon Trotsky – the great Marxist, international socialist, and Russian revolutionary – was struck down by a Stalinist agent in his home in Mexico. He died the following day. To commemorate Trotsky’s life and ideas, we republish this article by Alan Woods, originally written in January 2000.

In the latest video from the Marxist Student Federation’s Myths of Marxism series, Stephen Agnew of the Sheffield Marxists examines whether capitalism – based on the market, competition, private ownership and production for profit – really is the most efficient economic system possible for society.