The Social and Political Thought of Leon Trotsky

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The subject of this book is, it would seem, sufficiently defined by its title; and the substantive issues which it proposes to deal with in the framework of a study of Leon Trotsky's social and political thought are set out in the introduction which follows this preface. Here I wish to describe the motives for undertaking such a study, the approach to the subject adopted, the problems encountered, and the manner of their resolution. This study has had its origins in the present writer's interest in the relationship between ideas and historical events in general, and between Marxist ideas and the Russian Revolution of 1917 in particular. To speak of such a relationship is to speak not only of the correspondence between ideas and events; as often as not, it is to dwell on the divergence and conflict between the two and on the significance of this. Trotsky once wrote that the 'ideas and aims of those engaged in revolutionary struggle form a very important constituent element of a revolution'. 1 With this I fully agree. Although Marxism. has traditionally frowned upon the notion that ideas shape history, the events of October 1917 and thereafter can hardly be comprehended outside the context of the impact of certain ideas-those of Marxism itself, or rather of a specifically conceived version of it-upon a small but quite extraordinary group of men and of their determination to implement, and if necessary impose, their intellectual convictions upon Russian society. But Trotsky went on to claim that 'never in all the past have the conceptions of a revolution in the minds of revolutionists approached so closely to the actual essence of the events as in 1917. ONTENTS Preface Explanatory Notes INTRODUCTION (BY WAY OF A PROLOGUE) Part I: The Theory of the Permanent Revolution ONE. MIND AND REALITY: IDEAS AND REVOLUTION TWO. THE POLITICS OF BACKWARDNESS: THE REVOLUTION OF 1905 1. Social Classes and Political Movements (a) The Bourgeoisie and Liberalism (b) The Peasantry and Agrarian Reform (c) The Proletariat and Social Democracy 2. The Emerging Pattern of Russian Politics THREE. THE SOCIOLOGY OF BACKWARDNESS: COMBINED DEVELOPMENT 1. Social and Economic Development of Russia: The Impact of the West 2. The Impact of Industrialization (a) Innovation and Backwardness (b) The Russian Town ( c) The Industrial Bourgeoisie (d) The New Proletariat 3. Backwardness and 'Combined Development' (a) The Unique and the Universal (b) 'The Law of Combined Development' Trotsky's Theory of Backwardness: An Overview and Evaluation Vll XXI 9 27 31 31 41 47 57 62 64 72 72 78 80 83 86 86 89 94 FOUR. THE REVOLUTION OF BACKWARDNESS: THE PERMANENT REVOLUTION I08 I. 1789-1848-1905 110 2. The New Model and the Old I I 3 3. The Proletariat and Revolution I I 8 4. The Proletariat and 'Socialist Consciousness' 122 XVlll FIVE. Contents 5. The Proletariat and the Peasantry: A National Uprising 12 6. The Permanent Revolution: Stages, Process, Momentum 12 7. The World Revolution 14 8. The Theory of the Permanent Revolution Restated 14, The Permanent Revolution: Scope and Limits 15~ THE SUBSTITUTE LINK: THE REVOLUTIONARY PARTY 1. Before 1905 (a) Centralism (b) 'Substitutionism' (c) Jacobinism 2. 1905 and After (a) The Party and the Soviets (b) The Party and Intellectuals Conclusion: 1917 and After 1 75 176 I 77 192 199 206 207 215 225 Part D: The Permanent Revolution: From Theory to Practice SIX. SEVEN. EIGHT. THE POLITICAL REVOLUTION 2 37 1. Insurrection and the Making of Revolution 239 2. Terrorism and the Dictatorship of the Proletariat 247 3. Civil War and the Red Army 253 THE SOCIAL REVOLUTION 1. Economic Reconstruction 262 (a) The Period of War Communism 262 (b) The Period of the New Economic Policy 269 2. Social and Cultural Reconstruction 280 (a) The Culture of Everyday Life 282 (b) Proletarian Culture and Socialist Culture 289 THE WORLD REVOLUTION 1. War and Revolution 2. Revolution in the West 3. Revolution in the East Conclusion: Theory and Practice 302 306 310 324 33 1 NINE. TEN. Contents Part m: The Perm.anent Revolution 'Betrayed' 'SOCIALISM IN ONE COUNTRY': THE END OF WORLD REVOLUTION 1. 'Socialism in One Country': Pro and Con 2. The Fate of World Revolution (a) Germany (b) China STALIN ISM: THE REVOLUTION BUREAUCRATIZED 1. The 'New Course' 2. Stalinism A. The Bureaucratic Phenomenon (a) Bureaucracy and Backwardness (b) 'What is the Soviet Union and Where is it Going?' B. The Bureaucratic Dictatorship (a) Thermidor (b) Bonapartism 3. The Future of the Soviet Union (a) 'The Degenerated Workers' State': For and Against (b) Bureaucratic Collectivism? Conclusion: The Bureaucratic Revolution- Backwardness, Bolshevism, Totalitarianism Part IV: The Revolutionary as Man of Letters ELEVEN. ON ART, LITERATURE, AND PHILOSOPHY 1. Art and Revolution 2. Literature and Society 3. Philosophy, Science and Marxism TWELVE. ON THE GENERAL AND THE PARTICULAR 1. History and Biography: Masses and Leaders (a) History as Drama (b) Biography as History 2. The Jewish Question: Nationalism and Internationalism XlX 337 339 348 350 358 385 392 394 400 410 410 418 445 447 454 476 495 497 497 513 533 xx Contents 3. Political Morality: Means and Ends 556 4. The Good Society, or: A Vision of the Communist Millennium 567 CONCLUSION (BY WAY OF AN EPILOGUE) 580 APPENDIX MARX ON BACKWARDNESS AND ON RUSSIA 585 BIBLIOGRAPHY 599 INDEX