Trotsky, Marxism and the Revolution of Backwardness

Abstract

From the endless welter of partisan polemics, diatribes and recriminations which weigh down upon the name and thought of Leon Trotsky, actual stature and character of his contribution to Marxist theory are understandably difficult to unearth. His followers and opponents alike, each for obviously different purposes and in different ways, have for the most part distorted, exaggerated and generally misconstrued his views and ideas. To read the Trotskyist and anti-Trotskyist literature of the 1930s, or even that which to this day continues to appear, is to wonder whether Trotsky was a modern saviour or the incarnation of the devil himself.¹ And as for the recent revival and contemporary re-interpretation of Trotsky amongst young radical circles in the West, the less said the better; the curious transmutation, in such circles, of his theory of the “permanent revolution” into what may be called the existential concept of “permanent revolt”, has absolutely nothing to do with any of his writings or ideas. He is hardly to be blamed for such metaphysical acrobatics; they are a caprice and a reflection of our times and concern, not his.²