Radical history

The Permanent Revolution & Results and Prospects

By Leon Trotsky
Introduction by Luma Nichol

The theory of permanent revolution is one of the defining principles of Trotskyism. Yet Trotsky's essential works on the question have long been unavailable in book form to U.S. readers. Now Red Letter Press has issued an attractive and corrected new edition that will be appreciated by both newcomers to socialist ideas and old hands.

Leon Trotsky first advanced the concept in 1905 as the strategy for overthrowing czarism and liberating Russian workers and peasants. The theory's relevance to global revolt later became one of the key issues in the political battle between Trotsky and the forces of conservative Soviet repression personified by Joseph Stalin.

In the two major works presented in this book, "Results and Prospects" and "The Permanent Revolution," Trotsky showed that developing countries must achieve workers' rule in order to defeat tyranny and foreign domination. He explained that if socialism is to succeed it must expand beyond national borders and transform every aspect of political, economic and human relations.

The Red Letter Press edition features a new introduction by anti-Nazi organizer and feminist Luma Nichol, who reviews the theory's historical backdrop, extends the lessons of permanent revolution to today's international hot spots, and describes how the upsurges of workingclass women, queers, oppressed races, and immigrants reflect Trotsky's maxim that the most exploited will rise to become the backbone of resistance. The book also includes an index and a glossary of historical and political terms that will aid new and veteran readers.

In her introduction, Nichol describes Trotsk's views as being essential as ever. She describes his theory of uninterruptible social movement as "the expression of humanity's unceasing quest for justice, which simmers and erupts on every continent... [It] is a study of those hot spots from which new societies emerge. As such, it is an indispensable guide to modern revolutionaries."

$18.00, 336 pages, index, historical/biographical glossary

Read the introduction

Learn more about this fascinating thinker and leader from the Red Letter Press pamphlet, Leon Trotsky: His Life and Ideas.