The Fourth International has been a communist international organisation working in opposition to both capitalism and Stalinism. Consisting of supporters of Leon Trotsky, it has striven for an eventual victory of the working class to bring about socialism. In Paris in 1938, Trotsky and many of his supporters, having been expelled from the Soviet Union, considered the Comintern to have become lost to "Stalinism" and incapable of leading the international working class towards political power. Thus, they founded their own competing "Fourth International". Throughout the better part of its existence, the Fourth International was hounded by agents of the Soviet secret police, repressed by capitalist countries such as France and the United States, and rejected by followers of the Soviet Union and later Maoism as illegitimate - a position these communists still hold today. The FI suffered a split in 1940 and an even more significant split in 1953. Despite a partial reunification in 1963, more than one group claims to represent the political continuity of the Fourth International. The broad array of Trotskyist Internationals are split over whether the Fourth International still exists and if so, which organisation represents its political continuity.

Read the rest of this article: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fourth_International

_______________________________ Today's selected anniversaries:

238: Gordian I and Gordian II were proclaimed Roman Emperors. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gordian_I) (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gordian_II)

1784: The Emerald Buddha of Thailand was installed at the Wat Phra Kaew on the grounds of the Grand Palace in Bangkok. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Emerald_Buddha)

1849: After capturing the fortress town of Mortara, forces led by Austrian General Joseph Radetzky von Radetz routed Piedmontese troops at the Battle of Novara. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Novara_(1849))

1963: Please Please Me, the first album recorded by The Beatles, was released. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Please_Please_Me)

1995: Russian cosmonaut Valeriy Polyakov of the Soyuz programme returned from the Mir space station after 437 days in space, setting a record for the longest spaceflight. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spaceflight_records)

_____________________ Wikiquote of the day:

Man’s destiny appears as a thread lost in an endless labyrinth... I have tried to shed some gleams of light on the shadow of man startled by his anguish. -- Marcel Marceau (http://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Marcel_Marceau)