Trotskyist
Leon Trotsky's ideology emphasized 'Permanent Revolution'—the belief that socialism must spread internationally to survive. Trotsky argued for a dictatorship of the proletariat but insisted it should be controlled by workers' councils (soviets). He opposed Stalin's bureaucratic centralization but still endorsed the use of force during revolutionary struggles. The economic model prioritizes central planning and collective ownership while rejecting both capitalist markets and Stalinist authoritarian excesses.
What it believes
The revolution betrayed must be completed: workers' democracy against the bureaucracy, permanent revolution against 'socialism in one country', and international extension of the struggle as the only defense against its degeneration.
The appeal
It is the left's conscience against Stalinism from inside the same tradition — the argument that the gulag was a betrayal, not a destination. For militants who want revolution without apologizing for terror-states, this is the flag.
Where it breaks
Permanent revolution has meant permanent splitting: a movement of internationals, tendencies, and expulsions that has never held state power and treats that fact as proof of purity. The theory of winning became a theory of having been right.
Among its neighbours
The Leninist-Marxist above is the orthodoxy it accuses of betrayal. The Left-Wing Nationalist beside it commits the exact sin — socialism inside one border — this cell was founded to refuse. Below, the Posadist is the family's strangest child, waiting on comrades from space.
Figures — real and imagined — who share the Trotskyist base ideology. They differ only on the third axis: from radical to restorationist, each is a different face of a Trotskyist.
The company you keep.
The social axis (progressive ↔ traditional) splits Trotskyist into nine named shades. Take the quiz to find out which one is yours.
- Radical Trotskyist
- Progressive Trotskyist
- Reformist Trotskyist
- Heterodox Trotskyist
- Trotskyist
- Rooted Trotskyist
- Traditional Trotskyist
- Reactionary Trotskyist
- Restorationist Trotskyist