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One hundred years on from their first appearance in Leon Trotsky's Results and Prospects, this is a critical re-evaluation of two key Marxist theories: uneven and combined development, and permanent revolution. It brings together a formidable array of Marxist intellectuals from across the world including Daniel Bensaid, Michael L?wy, Hillel Ticktin and Patrick Bond. Marx saw societies progressing through distinct historical stages - feudal, bourgeois and communist. Trotsky advanced this model by considering how countries at different stages of development influence each other. Developed countries colonise less developed countries and exploit their people and resources. Elsewhere, even as many were kept in poverty, the influence of foreign capital and state-led industrialisation produced novel economic forms and prospects for political alliances and change. The contributors show how, 100 years on from its original publication, Trotsky's theories are hugely useful for understanding today's globalised economy, dominated by US imperialism. The book makes an ideal introduction to Trosky's thinking, and is ideal for students of political theory and development economics

The theory which has been propagated in China since the spring of 1958 has been designated by the phrase buduan geming lun, which means literally 'the theory of the uninterrupted revolution.' Nevertheless, since it resembles the same term employed for 30 yrs to stigmatize the theory of Trotsky, it seems legitimate to translate the phrase as 'the permanent revolution.' Though the theory has never been developed in the writings of Mao Tse-Tung, it has always been attributed to him, & constitutes a natural elaboration of certain of his earlier writings, notably 'On the Contradiction' (1937) & his discussion of 'hundred flowers' (1957). This theory contains several characteristics in common with Trotsky's views, particularly in that it envisions a continual uprooting of society during the transition stage between socialism & communism. The Chinese conception is more far reaching, however; it relies upon the ideas of Engels & Lenin concerning the dialectic of nature, it foresees an uninterrupted series of 'qualitative transformations' in soc relations springing from the development of productive forces even after Communism fully arrives, & it titles these transformations, revolutions, so that the potential number of revolutions becomes unlimited. More important is its role in the present Chinese society. It is a reflection of 30 yrs of constant struggle against internal & external adversaries, & an instrument for the mobilization of the masses to the service of present policies of 'the great leap forward' & of the peoples' communes. Tr. by J. A. Broussard from IPSA.

This article is based on unpublished documents from the Russian State Archive of Socio-Political History (RGASPI) and is devoted to Leon Trotsky's pre-revolutionary period of life. The author focuses on Trotsky's personality development and dominant character traits, and his relationship with his family. By analysing archival primary sources, not only can we restore the gaps in the biography of one of the most influential and successful figures of the Russian revolutionary movement but follow his "first steps" of psychosocial transformation from a sentimental Marxist romantic into a cruel and cynical Bolshevik leader. The article draws attention to the causes of the complication of Trotsky's (then Leiba Bronstein's) relationship with his parents, and illustrates the height of his romance with his future wife Aleksandra Sokolovskaya. The article includes fragments of letters the young Marxist wrote in prison. Attention is also paid to the history of his escape from exile (with reference to gendarmerie correspondence) and the motivation of his conscious choice between family and political activity. Referring to archival documents (the Petrograd security department), the author reconstructs the "steps" of the political maturation and radicalisation of Trotsky's views between 1902 and 1907. Archival sources, identified by the author, in conjunction with previously published materials, make it possible to supplement the psychological portrait of Trotsky as the father of two daughters who were born in Siberian exile and grew up during his emigration, and were "obscured" for their father by his ideas of a revolutionary coup. ; Статья, основанная на ранее не публиковавшихся документах из Российского государственного архива социально-политической истории (РГАСПИ), посвящена дореволюционному периоду жизни и деятельности Л. Д. Троцкого. Автор акцентирует внимание на личностном становлении Троцкого, формировании доминирующих черт его характера, на взаимоотношениях с родными и близкими. Анализируя архивные первоисточники, можно не только восстановить лакуны в биографии одного из самых влиятельных и успешных деятелей российского революционного движения, но и проследить «первые шаги» психосоциальной трансформации: превращения сентиментального марксиста-романтика в жестокого до цинизма большевистского лидера. В статье обращается внимание на причины осложнения взаимоотношений Л. Д. Троцкого (тогда — Лейбы Бронштейна) с родителями, иллюстрируется разгар романа с будущей женой, Александрой Соколовской, — публикуются фрагменты писем молодого марксиста к ней, написанные в тюрьме. Также внимание уделено истории побега из ссылки (на материалах жандармской переписки) и мотивации осознанного выбора между семьей и политической деятельностью. На основе архивных документов (Петроградского охранного отделения) реконструируются и «ступени» политического взросления, и радикализации взглядов Троцкого между 1902 и 1907 гг. Выявленные автором архивные источники, в совокупности с ранее опубликованными материалами, дают возможность дополнить психологический портрет Троцкого как отца двух дочерей, рожденных в сибирской ссылке, выросших в период, когда он находился в эмиграции, и «заслоненных» от него поглотившей его идеей революционного переворота.

In this article, we examine the utility of Antonio Gramsci's concept of passive revolution and its relation to Leon Trotsky's theory of uneven and combined development in analysing the transformational effects of world economy and international relations on 'late-developing' societies' transition to capitalism. Although Gramsci never explicitly linked passive revolution to uneven and combined development, we argue that Trotsky's theory helps make explicit assumptions present in the Prison Notebooks, but never fully thematised. In turn, we demonstrate that incorporating passive revolution into Trotsky's theory further illuminates the ontology of class agencies that is often lacking in structuralist approaches to bourgeois revolutions. In illustrating these arguments, we examine the case of Japan's modern state-formation process, demonstrating how the Meiji Restoration of 1868 can be conceptualised as a passive revolution emerging within the context of the uneven and combined process of social development activated and generalised through the rise of the capitalist world economy.