Jacob Tierney on his new film "The Trotsky" Video
Writer-director Jacob Tierney discusses his new comedy "The Trotsky", starring Jay Baruchel as a Montreal high school student who is convinced he's the reincarnation of the Russian revolutionary Leon Trotsky. The movie, premiering at the 2009 Toronto International Film Festival, co-stars a who's who of Canadian actors, including Colm Feore, Saul Rubinek, Anne-Marie Cadieux, Jessica Paré and Genevieve Bujold. The soundtrack is by Montreal band Malajube. To read the CBC feature on "The Trotsky", go to: http://www.cbc.ca/arts/tiff/story/2009/09/11/f-jacob-tierney-the-trotsky.html
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Knoss: I think that this film portrays Leon Trotsky in a positive light and in doing so does a horrific disservice to history. Trotsky served with Lenin to overthrow the democratically elected government of Alexander Kerenski and imposed a Communist dictatorship which forced the country into civil war and began a reign of terror. During the time when Trotsky was in power 4 million people were systematically murdered in death camps, gulags or manufactured famine.
godlesskillingmachin: I think your Russian history is a little rusty. At the risk of oversimplifying, I might remind you that Trotsky was no fan of Stalin and was among those who died as a result of his tactics.
Knoss: I;m not talking about the Stalinist period. I am referring to the period before that. Also, Trotsky criticized Stalin for various thing one of which was that the Ukraine was not sufficiently militarized, in other words that Stalin was being to merciful. Not that one was any less evil.
godlesskillingmachin: "...when Trotsky was in power 4 million people were systematically murdered in death camps, gulags or manufactured famine" This is just false; he was in exile during the events you mention - and assassinated as part of the purges. Wikipedia tends to be a decent source on irrefutable facts such as these.
Knoss: NO I am reffering to the years 1917-1924 when Trotsky WAS leader of the red army. Trotsky WAS head of the red army burring the Volga Famine of 1920 and certainly played a role. He was head of the red army during the establishment of the gulags and only opposed the purges. Revolutionary holocaust was used by Engles to describe the elimination of undesired races and classes and revolutionary holocaust along with a socialist society was to lead to the new man.
godlesskillingmachin: Blaming Trotsky for the famine seems a little dubious, don't you think? India has seen a lot of people perish in famines, arguably caused by the failure of the state, yet we don't call Ghandi a genocidal maniac, or tend to blame him for the ongoing political instability. Gulag -- Guantanamo... Ok, you hate Trotsky. And ends/Means is a bad argument to have online. well - all youtube debate is bad...lol.
Knoss: Guantanamo Bay Detention Center is not a Gulag, in fact it is a paradise compared to where most Cubans live. It is heaven compared to the real Cuban gulags. Read Amrando Valladares' book. And such famine was the result of the collapse of Russia's economy due to Communism and the taking of the peasants' food. Systematic mass murder of undesired races and classes in a revolutionary holocaust was proposed by Engles and supported strongly by the Bolsheviks.
godlesskillingmachin: ...and Noam Chomsky calls every post-war US president a war criminal... The point is this: If you want to decontextualize everything that is fine, but such rhetoric is not only tiresome, it tends to produce the very political results you appear to be railing against.
Knoss: I could call Obama a Nazis; the papers called FDR a Bolshevik and Lincoln a dictator. I'm not talking about name calling. I am concerned that people like Noam Chomski have a wishy washy view of well documented political genocide. I think that if people understand what Trotsky believed they would not find this film to be light hearted fun. If this film was the Hitler people would be offended; the similarities between Nazis and Communists must not be overlooked.
godlesskillingmachin: Noam Chomsky is correct to point out that all presidents are war criminals. They don't adhere to the rules that they say they do - this is why I cite Guantanamo Bay. It isn't about "name calling" - it is about politics; you want them to be devoid of context...worse actually, you want to apply your own frame of reference to pass moral judgment across historical and cultural lines - again, this may make good cable news rhetoric, but it doesn't make for a productive discussion.
fjcf123: Provisional Government? Democratically elected? Thats sick.
Author: cbctheatre; Uploaded: Sep 10, 2009; Duration: 5:43; Views: 763
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