The leader by will of the people differs from the leader by will of God in that the former is compelled to clear the road for himself or, at any rate, to assist the conjuncture of events in discovering him. Nevertheless, the leader is always a relation between people, the individual supply to meet the collective demand. The controversy over Hitler’s personality becomes the sharper the more the secret of his success is sought in himself. In the meantime, another political figure would be difficult to find that is in the same measure the focus of anonymous historic forces. Not every exasperated petty bourgeois could have become Hitler, but a particle of Hitler is lodged in every exasperated petty bourgeois.
~ Leon Trotsky
https://www.marxists.org/archive/trotsky/germany/1933/330610.htm
That can't be right. I read a book on this and I was told it was the argument over whether they should attach a dynamo to the old windmill.
I think this sort of statement is an overreach. I've known a few people who might be described as Trotskyist, and for all their sins they did seem very enthusiastic in their activism. I'd say the problem isn't so much that Trotskyists don't work well together as it is that building movements is hard. You're far more likely to find someone enraptured by Marxist theory who throws themselves into a movement half-cocked and fails, than someone who is well-read and practiced as well as charismatic and sociable to the point that they can build a large successful movement.
Trotsky is more accessible, particularly for academics. But there's no large social movement to interface with such that baby communists can be integrated into the fold. Plus, there's a ton of paranoia (plenty of it justified) such that newer organizations struggle to build steam.
So you've got these hot-blooded activist types pinballing around, desperately looking for an outlet for their energy. And the folks that don't get absorbed by mainstream political establishments or burn out, end up being these cantankerously stubborn zealots that we label "Trots" on impulse.
At some point, the problem of "Trots" is just the problem of organizing writ-large. Its hard. Its time consuming. And it requires the integration of a lot of activists with different perspectives and agendas.