What is Trotsky's theory of permanent revolution?
The theory of the permanent revolution, as articulated in my writings, posits that in countries with a backward bourgeoisie, the proletariat, in alliance with the peasantry, must seize power and carry out the democratic revolution. Crucially, however, this cannot halt at the bourgeois stage. The workers' government must immediately proceed with socialist measures and, most importantly, extend the revolution internationally. The victory of socialism in a single country is a utopian notion; the international character of the socialist revolution is not a matter of choice but of historical necessity. This process is inherent in the dialectic of historical development.
Ask Leon Trotsky the follow-up →