this post was submitted on 22 Dec 2025
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The USSR did focus on international revolution, and aided many countries in their revolutions. Trotsky's theory of Permanent Revolution was based on a distrust of the peasantry, believing them to undermine socialist construction and thus requiring a revolution in western Europe for long-term socialism in Russia. This ended up being false, and moreover, had the soviets not committed to building up heavy industry as much as they had, they would have lost to the Nazis in World War II.
stalin was very suspicious of the peasants, thus proving trotsky's point
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Collectivization_in_the_Soviet_Union
Stalin's point was that it was better to focus on solidifying socialism in Russia over launching a suicidal attack on the peasantry immediately after establishing state power Stalin was wary of the peasantry, but did not follow through with Trotsky's plan.
Further, there's no evidence that the USSR would have been better off administratively had they elected Trotsky. The Fourth International itself was a mess, and Trotskyist parties are notorious for their lack of discipline and their tendency to endlessly split, rather than form a unified line and push for it. The Trotskyist parties that survive actually often return to Marxism-Leninism because of this, because Marxism-Leninism is correct.
is "marxism-leninism-trotskyism" (a fusion of ml ideas and trotskyism) possible?
Trotskyism is Trotsky's ideas of Marxism and Leninism, so no.