Will Podmore: Unsurprisingly, Trotskyism backed Gorbachev and Yeltsin. When Temps Nouveaux asked Ernest Mandel, the leader of Trotsky’s ‘Fourth International’, 'Mikhail Gorbachev, does he proclaim that perestroika is truly a new revolution?' Mandel replied, 'Yes, he actually proclaims this, and it is again very positive. Our movement has defended the same idea for 55 years, for which reason we have been taxed with being counter-revolutionary.' Mandel also praised Yeltsin, writing, 'The reformer Yeltsin represents the tendency which wants to reduce the gigantic state apparatus. Consequently he follows in Trotsky’s footsteps. wordsmith.social/protestation/…