80 years on from Trotsky’s assassination: can they kill his ideas?

Lev Davidovich Bronstein, better known as Leon Trotsky, was murdered on 21 August 1940. What was Stalin so afraid of? And why do capitalist commentators still try to bury Trotsky’s ideas today?

Earlier this year, the Committee for a Workers’ International published a new book, and Socialism produced a special podcast series, for the 80th anniversary of the revolutionary leader’s assassination. The book is called ‘Leon Trotsky - A Revolutionary Whose Ideas Couldn’t Be Killed’, and you can buy it at leftbooks.co.uk. The podcast series is called ‘Trotsky and Trotskyism’, this episode was its first instalment, and you can find a playlist with all 11 episodes at our SoundCloud page, soundcloud.com/socialismpodcast.

What was Trotsky’s role in Russia’s revolutions? What is the theory of ‘permanent revolution’? How did Stalinism betray it? What were Trotsky’s ideas for defeating Stalinism and fascism? And what can workers and socialists today learn from it all?

This episode of Socialism, one of our highlights of 2020, introduces the co-leader of the Russian revolution: Trotsky’s revolutionary ideas.

Further reading

• 80th anniversary of Leon Trotsky's assassination: https://www.socialistparty.org.uk/articles/31220/19-08-2020/80th-anniversary-of-leon-trotskys-assassination
• Leon Trotsky - A Revolutionary Whose Ideas Couldn't Be Killed: http://leftbooks.co.uk/epages/950002679.sf/en_GB/?ObjectID=49798530
• Leon Trotsky: A revolutionary's life: https://www.socialistparty.org.uk/articles/15106/29-08-2012/leon-trotsky-a-revolutionarys-life
• My Life: An Attempt at an Autobiography (Trotsky): http://leftbooks.co.uk/epages/950002679.sf/en_GB/?ObjectPath=/Shops/950002679/Products/TROT0025