i am going to very intentionally ignore whatever sectarian infighting usually happens when the name trotsky is involved and get into the thick of it:

trotsky has some insights as to how fascism forms in reaction to the decay of capitalist society—and his comment about the petit-bourgeoisie latching onto extreme ideologies in time of decay proves rather timely with how global politics has developed in the past decade or so. neofascists have been emboldened, and people of modest means—disaffected, world-weary people down on their luck who might have been the leftists' target demographic—are being converted to spew racial, sexist, homophobic, and transphobic hatred instead of singing the internationale as they could have been had circumstances been different.

as it is, trotsky only serves to outline the genealogy of fascism. the actual definition of fascism is never, strictly speaking, articulated. that said, fascism being undefinable in terms of ideology might actually be a fault of fascism and not trotsky, so make of that what you will.

onto the second part of this pamphlet's title: trotsky actually spends the better part of this book outlining how to fight fascism. you only have to wade through countless snide remarks about the failure of the italian and german communists to do it. is he right about his assessment? i genuinely do not have the authority to say. that said, ceteris paribus, is his message of building a united front correct? i would like to think so. leftist infighting tires me, speaking from my own perspective as a leftist, and insistence on sectarianism and ideological purism could only serve the fascists' interests.

i'm not going to make a judgement on trotsky's philosophy vis à vis other leftists' philosophies. still, as a whole, this is a rousing call to action and revolutionary pathos is something that trotsky doesn't lack.