So a bit of context, the EFF is a prominent pan-African, ostensibly ML leftist party in South Africa. This is an FAQ from early 2024, that same year the country had an election in late May. Personally, I don't think the EFF arrived at these sentiments wanting to appeal to western liberals or whatever. If you know anything about Malema or the EFF, you'd know that they are not concerned with playing soft with right-wingers, much to the chagrin of the compromised ANC and white supremacist "Democratic" Alliance. Not sure who wrote it, but from the writing style I think it might have been written by either Shivambu or Malema himself.
Some quotes for those who don't want to read:
Stalin and Mao were NOT Marxists, they were actually quite anti-Marxist in that they led regimes based not on democratic control of the state by the workers, but rather based on totalitarian control by an elite stratum of bureaucrats who were a parasite on the workers' state.
The Stalinists were terrified of any potential opposition, and especially the intellectuals that they could not control. They were snuffed out, in many cases quite literally. Individual expression was portrayed as counter-revolutionary, even culture was subjugated to the "collective will" - not of society but of a handful of bureaucrats desperate to cling on to their power and privilege.
Had the Communist International remained firm on the positions of Lenin and Trotsky, the victory of the world revolution would have been ensured. Unfortunately, the Comintern's formative years coincided with the Stalinist counter-revolution in Russia, which had a disastrous effect on the Communist Parties of the entire world.
Yes, the number of times Lenin roasted Trotsky in the Soviet congress were countless. This info about his role being less than it was I am not aware. I mean, I know the role of the commissars of the Red Army wasn't of commanding the troops, but more akin to approving and disapproving decisions and keeping an eye on the ex-Tsar officials to avoid betrayal. But Trotsky became famous for this role.
he seems like the kind of guy who kept falling upwards as we say throughout his life. as you said he kept trying to split the party, was warned repeatedly over it, and even with consequences he kept doing it. there's no proof Stalin or even the USSR sent the assassin after him too, it's just an assumption we all make. It's certainly probable especially as other attempts had been carried against Trotsky before, but just as possible that Mercader acted on his own/mostly on his own. Either way everything that ties it to Stalin came from well after the fact from witnesses and conspirators, in the late 80s and early 90s, when it was trendy to hate on Stalin and anyone with some story to sell was trying to sell it (understandable tbh in the economic conditions).