Shachtmanism

Shachtmanism is a form of Socialism. It is mainly a hybrid between Trotskyism and Social Democracy, in varying degrees. Max Shachtman, Tony Cliff, CLR James, James Abern and many others are considered the main contributors to this theory. Shachtmanism is usually described as a form of Trotskyism, however neither Trotsky nor Shachtman refered to Shachtman's ideas as Trotskyist.

Origin
Shachtmanism comes from the theories of Max Shachtman, an associate of Trotsky. he concluded that the Stalinist Soviet Union had created a new ruling class. Shachtmanites generally fall into two groups, left wing and right wing. The left wing considers Stalinism just as bad as capitalism and the right wing considers Stalinism even worse then capitalism.

Left Shachtmanism, "Third Camp Trotskyism"
These Shactmanists see Stalinism and Capitalism as equally bad and see that neither represent any progress for the working class.

Social Democratic Shachtmanism
They see Stalinism as even worse then capitalism and tend to side with America on issues like foreign policy.

Sources and More Reading

 * | Shachtman writings
 * Shachtman was still writing for The Daily Worker in 1924