Trotskyism

A photograph of the Bolshevik revolutionary Leon Trotsky, taken in June 1917. Trotsky came to prominence as one of the main organizers of the October Revolution of 1917. An advocate of world revolution, as opposed to Stalin's ‘socialism in one country,’ Trotsky was exiled by Stalin in 1929 and was murdered in Mexico in 1940.

Form of Marxism advocated by Leon Trotsky. Its central concept is that of permanent revolution. In his view a proletarian revolution, leading to a socialist society, could not be achieved in isolation, so it would be necessary to spark off further revolutions throughout Europe and ultimately worldwide. This was in direct opposition to the Stalinist view that socialism should be built and consolidated within individual countries.

Trotskyism developed in an attempt to reconcile Marxist theory with actual conditions in Russia in the early 20th century, but it was never officially accepted within the USSR. Instead it found much support worldwide, primarily in countries of the developing world, and the Fourth International, which Trotsky founded 1938, has sections in over 60 countries.