That said, one of Paul’s concluding comments deserves more thought I think:

“…there were still Bolsheviks who disagreed with Lenin’s orientation later in 1917, but these were a clear minority, and while there were connections between the April debates and the October debates, they were not exactly the same debate.”

It may be true that the April and October disagreements were not identical, but Trotsky’s argument — as I understand it — is that they were over fundamentally the same issue. In “Lessons of October: Trotsky wrote:

“The fundamental controversial question around which everything else centered was this: whether or not we should struggle for power; whether or not we should assume power…we were not then dealing with a mere episodic difference of opinion but with two tendencies of the utmost principled significance…These two tendencies came into hostile conflict over every essential question that arose throughout the year 1917.”

Trotsky also reminds us that Lenin begin insisting on the need for insurrection in September. Others can correct me if I am wrong but it is also my understanding that Lenin made clear to the Bolshevik leadership that if he could not persuade them to act quickly — and I think it is clear Lenin was concerned he could not — he would take the dispute to the ranks of the party.

Finally, in recommending things to read about Lenin’s views on capitalism, you have to start with “The Development of Capitalism in Russia” that was written in 1899 and that established his reputation as a leading Marxist. It is basically a call for the overthrow of feudal relations in the countryside using the USA as a model rather than Junkers Germany. The word socialism is hardly mentioned.

Geoff notes that “earlier participants in this discussion have pointed to two articles by Trotsky, the pamphlet What Next, written in 1917 and Lessons of October, written in 1924,” he he goes on to emphasize that “Paul Le Blanc calls particular attention to the latter.” While I in no way disagree that Trotsky’s 1924 work is important, I actually do not utilize or comment on this in my contribution.

I am particularly reliant, instead, on the Reminiscences of Lenin by Nadezhda Kruspkaya (a central figure in the history of Bolshevism, a key eyewitness, and Lenin’s partner). In her account of the debate around Lenin’s April Theses. she writes: “A struggle started within the Bolshevik organization. It did not last long.” Following Krupskaya’s account, I suggest that Lenin won fairly easily because there was much common ground between Lenin most of his comrades — particularly around the long-standing Bolshevik orientation of proletarian hegemony in the revolutionary struggle, related to the call for a worker-peasant alliance.

Mirelowitz writes:”The point that I believe Paul Le Blanc missed in his reading of Lessons of October was Trotsky’s insistence that far from winning ‘easily,’ Lenin and those who shared his views had to continue to fight to rearm the party ‘throughout the year 1917.’”

As already indicated, in my contribution I was not offering a reading of Trotsky’s 1924 work. Also, I restricted my discussion there to April 1917, involving a relatively short debate in which (I argue) a Bolshevik majority cohered around Lenin’s perspective. As various historians and commentators have pointed out — including Trotsky and Mirelowitz — there were still Bolsheviks who disagreed with Lenin’s orientation later in 1917, but these were a clear minority, and while there were connections between the April debates and the October debates, they were not exactly the same debate.

That being said, I do not disagree with the broader point that Geoff is making here, regarding “Trotsky’s insistence that … Lenin and those who shared his views had to continue to fight to rearm the party ‘throughout the year 1917.’”

The fact that there was a debate at all should indicate a prima facia case for it