Trotsky’s Marxism

It was one of the many ironies of Trotsky’s life that, as one of the major architects of the October revolution of 1917 and organiser of the Red Army, it fell to him to analyse and chronicle the degeneration of the new regime in Russia. No serious attempt to understand the tragedy of that revolution and its relevance to the building of socialism in the world today can afford to ignore the unique contribution that Trotsky made.In this introduction to the politics of Leon Trotsky, Duncan Hallas has selected four major strands in Trotsky’s the theory of “permanent revolution”, in which Trotsky elaborated a scenario for the revolution of 1917 and for understanding the subsequent developments in the “Third World”.On the consequences of the October revolution and the development of Stalinism, in which Trotsky made the first sustained attempt at a materialist analysis.On the strategy and tactics of mass revolutionary parties in a wide variety of situations.On the relationship between the revolutionary socialist party and the working class in periods of mass upheavals and od decline.As far as possible Trotsky’s ideas are presented in his own words.