I live in the UK and nearly every older Communist you meet is a Trot and all the protests that I've been to that have had communists at them were mostly Trot orgs but online everyone just seems to shit on them for no clear reason. Am I missing something? Or is it just regular leftist infighting
That's a fair point, I see what you mean.
You are describing a Liberal organization using DemCen. I'd consider splitting a rejection of DemCen, even if I agree with rejecting DemCen in that case.
A Leninist party is a revolutionary Marxist party guided by DemCen. Trotskyists generally emphasize their interpretation of "revolutionary Marxist" over DemCen. MLs tend to put more weight in DemCen.
Could be, I only have real experience with my particular org, and for us demcent is our core tenant
Fair. I'm talking about very broad trends in these movements. I'm hopeful the splitting in US parties is coming to an end.
Random musings below, feel free to ignore lol
ML parties tend to be extremely unified, even when radically changing political course. Vietnam, China, the Soviet Union, Cuba, etc.
Trotskyists see cults of personality, bureaucracy, and a dictatorial nature in these parties. MLs see a strict adherence to DemCen and unity in action which enables them to struggle for their people. At least, that is how I see these disagreements often play out.
Also, I'm a candidate for PSL. Our political history comes from countless splits, so I can't claim to be above it lol