ment and permanent revolution. This allowed an eco-
nomically underdeveloped country like Russia to have
a SOCIALISTworkers’ revolution, even though advanced
CAPITALISMhad not occurred there. According to tradi-
tional MARXISM, a socialist revolution could not succeed
in a society dominated by FEUDALISM. But Trotsky
claimed that sufficient development had occurred in
Russian urban areas (INDUSTRIALISM) to permit a Com-
munist Party–led workers’ revolution. This theory
became an integral part of MARXISM-LENINISM and
Lenin’s theory of capitalist IMPERIALISM. However, Trot-
sky insisted that although a socialist revolution could
start in a less-developed country like Russia, it would
need the assistance of socialist revolutions in sur-
rounding advanced countries (Germany, France, etc.)
to succeed fully. When those other nations did not
have workers’ revolutions, Trotsky despaired over the
prospect of communism in Russia. Contrary to this
view, Stalin put forward the theory of socialism in one
country, asserting that Soviet communism could exist
alone. Trotsky fell out of favor with Stalin and was
exiled from the Soviet Union in 1929. From his exile
in Mexico, Trotsky criticized the Soviet state under
Stalin, denouncing it as “BUREAUCRATICstate capital-
ism” a betrayal of the workers’ revolution, and a crimi-
nal DICTATORSHIP. He was assassinated, probably at
Stalin’s orders, in 1940.
Trotsky’s ideas and criticism of Soviet communism
created a branch of the Marxist socialist movement
called Trotskyism. It favored a more DEMOCRATICwork-
ers’ government (without abandoning socialist revolu-
tion as had the SOCIAL DEMOCRATS) and believed in
permanent or ongoing socialist reform. His conflict
with other Marxist revolutionaries is an example of the
complexity and quarrelsome quality of much of LEFTIST
IDEOLOGYand ACTIVISM.Further Readings
Day, R. Leon Trotsky and the Politics of Economic Isolation.Cam-
bridge, Eng.: Cambridge University Press, 1973.Trotsky, Leon 2971792 cartoon shows a woman wearing a liberty cap, representing the genius of France, holding a cat-o’-nine tails in one hand, acting as the
scourge of tyrants from many nations.(LIBRARY OFCONGRESS)