Trotskyism

@Ponderable said
Someone characterised Kier Starmer as "Trotskyist".

How would people here define the major characteristics of a Trotskyist?

unsurprising you didn't get much input from the supposed leftys on here but thanks for posting something at least somewhat interesting that's not just about about trump or harris.

Trotsky was one of the giants of the turn of the century. Building on the ideas of Marx and Engels, his view of socialism was predicated on the notion of finding a way to improve the living conditions for all members of society, not just the old aristocratic regime. His book on the need for a Permanent Revolution is a must read for historical perspective and for ANY understanding of what brand of communism Stalin imposed in the later years following Lenin. Trotsky railed against Stalin's basterdization of Marx's ideas and lobbied hard for the reduction of the bureaucracy Stalin implemented that resulted in a heavy handed centralized approach to government that basically just assured Stalin stayed in power and those in power benefitted while the non-ruling class suffered. Trotsky was exiled for his effort by Stalin.

The main problem with Trotsky (and Marx) was that he didn't consider, or perhaps outright rejected the possibility that capitalism could bring about faster the kind of social change and social justice he was seeking. While the Marxists of today will only point to the widening gap between the rich and the poor, they intentionally ignore, or perhaps are completely unaware, that while the gap between the rich and poor is widening in terms of dollars the poor people are becoming MUCH less poor than they used to be. People living in poverty worldwide has declined precipitously and is mostly due to modern economic policies.

Hans Rosling has an amazing quick talk on this that will enlighten even the hardest hardcore lefty on RHP!. Well worth the few minutes. Enjoy!

https://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=ted+talk+OECD+rich+poor+Hans