J. Posadas
Workers of the world, to the stars
Trotskyism's most cosmic offshoot.
Progressive PosadistOne of 729 ideologies · enter the Posadist hall →- Role
- Revolutionary theorist
- Era
- 1912–1981
- Region
- Argentina
- Social band
- Progressive
- Placement
- −95 · +30 · +65
§ Where J. Posadas stands
3 axesPosadas was a revolutionary collectivist who sought the abolition of capitalism everywhere. Like other Trotskyists he demanded the expropriation of the bourgeoisie and central planning under workers' control, and after founding his International in 1962 he defended the nationalised economies of the Soviet bloc, China and Cuba as conquests to be protected and extended.
Posadas believed in a disciplined vanguard party and in history's iron logic, to the point of welcoming catastrophe: in the 1960s he argued that a nuclear exchange between imperialism and the workers' states was inevitable and that revolutionaries should prepare to build socialism from its ruins. His International was run as a tightly centralised organisation around his own authority.
Posadas's futurism was boundless. His 1968 essay on flying saucers folded science, space travel and contact with other civilisations into humanity's socialist destiny, treating the future as a break with every inherited limit, and his movement championed anti-imperialist revolutions across Latin America.
How close are you to J. Posadas?
Three statements, one per axis. Answer them and we’ll drop you on the compass next to them.
§ The story
HistoricalJ. Posadas was the pseudonym of Homero Rómulo Cristalli (1912–1981), an Argentine Trotskyist who led one of Latin America's most energetic and eccentric revolutionary currents. He rose in the post-war Fourth International to head its Latin American Bureau in the 1950s, building groups across the continent. In 1962 he broke with the International's European leadership and founded his own Fourth International (Posadist), which he led until his death, with sections in Latin America and Europe.
Posadism was orthodox in much of its Trotskyism, demanding the expropriation of capital and defending the Soviet Union and other workers' states against imperialism, but Posadas added theses that made him notorious. He argued that nuclear war between imperialism and the workers' states was inevitable and would open the way to socialism, and in 1968 that flying saucers must come from advanced socialist civilisations. After his death the movement shrank to a few groups, and his ideas found a second life as an internet meme.
Notable for
- 01Founded Posadism
- 02UFO and nuclear-war theses
- 03Eccentric Trotskyist legend
Key works & moments
- 1950sHeads the Fourth International's Latin American Bureau, building Trotskyist groups across the continent.
- 1962Breaks with the International's European leadership and founds his own Posadist International.
- 1960sArgues that nuclear war between imperialism and the workers' states is inevitable.
- 1968Publishes his essay arguing that flying saucers come from advanced socialist civilisations.
- 1981Dies; his movement splinters into a handful of small groups.
- 2010sBecomes an internet meme as leftists rediscover his UFO theses.
§ Minds closest to J. Posadas
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§ Also in the Posadist hall
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§ Common questions
4 answersWhat was J. Posadas's political ideology?
J. Posadas was a Trotskyist revolutionary Marxist whose tendency became known for its cosmic and apocalyptic theses: on the 99ideologies three-axis compass, a Progressive Posadist. Economically he sat at the collectivist extreme (−95), seeking the expropriation of capital worldwide. On governance he leaned moderately authoritarian (+30), committed to a disciplined vanguard and to defending the Soviet bloc. Socially he was strongly progressive (+65), folding science, space and even flying saucers into a vision of humanity's socialist future.
Was J. Posadas left-wing or right-wing?
Far left. Posadas belonged to the Trotskyist tradition, which seeks world socialist revolution, and he spent his life building revolutionary parties in Latin America and Europe. His eccentric theses on nuclear war and UFOs made him an outlier even among Trotskyists, many of whom treated him as an embarrassment, but they were extensions of a revolutionary Marxist framework rather than a departure from the left.
Did J. Posadas want a nuclear war?
In effect, yes: he treated it as inevitable and as a path to socialism. From the early 1960s Posadas argued that nuclear war between the imperialist powers and the workers' states could not be prevented, that it would destroy capitalism, and that the surviving masses would build socialism in its aftermath, so revolutionaries should prepare for it rather than fear it. Other Marxists condemned this as catastrophism, and it became, with his UFO writings, the main reason Posadism is remembered.
Which minds are closest to J. Posadas?
On the 99ideologies three-axis compass, the minds closest to J. Posadas are The Posadist Dolphin (meme) (98% alike), The Cosmic Optimist (archetype) (97% alike) and Revolutionary Vanguard (archetype) (95% alike). The furthest is Hans-Hermann Hoppe (0% alike).