to be fair there is definitely a case to be made that Trotsky's permanent revolution would have involved arming Rosa Luxemburg and fighting the nazis before they took over Germany. But this is in the realm of alternate history
That's just ahistorical. Trotsky's idea of permanent revolution was not clearly defined till later, but more importantly, the Bolsheviks did attempt to assist the Spartakus League. Despite negotiating it, Trotsky had been opposed to Brest-Litovsk which created the conditions for a lot of demobilized soldiers as well as Germany focusing on a spring offensive westward now that they had no eastern front. An offensive that caused more discontent in the German people and soldiers and led to the revolution.
When Germany did revolt, it was premature and had various flaws, not helped at all by the fact that the expectation of simultaneous revolutions across developed Europe didn't happen. The permanent revolution required everyone to be on the same page and level of capitalist development leading to a purely class based revolution.
That wasn't reality though. By spring 1919 the major revolutionary outbreaks had been put down. The Soviets had no time or means to actually assist Rosa, and a lack of arms was not really the problem in the first place. The Soviets had no direct means of helping, at this time they had been struggling with Poland invading western Ukraine, the Bolsheviks in the rest of Ukraine being thrown back by a German occupation and then puppet government, and a bunch of other issues. By the time the move was made to spread westward most revolutions had been destroyed, and pushing the war with Poland after its invasion of Kiev proved wasteful.
It's like saying there is a case to be made that they could've assisted the Battle of Blair Mountain.
No I'm just saying it is a coherent belief someone might have not that I agree with it. I also don't think there's much point in talking about what Trotsky might have done because he didn't.
Let the dead bury the dead the living are where the action is
to be fair there is definitely a case to be made that Trotsky's permanent revolution would have involved arming Rosa Luxemburg and fighting the nazis before they took over Germany. But this is in the realm of alternate history
That's just ahistorical. Trotsky's idea of permanent revolution was not clearly defined till later, but more importantly, the Bolsheviks did attempt to assist the Spartakus League. Despite negotiating it, Trotsky had been opposed to Brest-Litovsk which created the conditions for a lot of demobilized soldiers as well as Germany focusing on a spring offensive westward now that they had no eastern front. An offensive that caused more discontent in the German people and soldiers and led to the revolution.
When Germany did revolt, it was premature and had various flaws, not helped at all by the fact that the expectation of simultaneous revolutions across developed Europe didn't happen. The permanent revolution required everyone to be on the same page and level of capitalist development leading to a purely class based revolution.
That wasn't reality though. By spring 1919 the major revolutionary outbreaks had been put down. The Soviets had no time or means to actually assist Rosa, and a lack of arms was not really the problem in the first place. The Soviets had no direct means of helping, at this time they had been struggling with Poland invading western Ukraine, the Bolsheviks in the rest of Ukraine being thrown back by a German occupation and then puppet government, and a bunch of other issues. By the time the move was made to spread westward most revolutions had been destroyed, and pushing the war with Poland after its invasion of Kiev proved wasteful.
It's like saying there is a case to be made that they could've assisted the Battle of Blair Mountain.
there is a case, but not a very good one
No I'm just saying it is a coherent belief someone might have not that I agree with it. I also don't think there's much point in talking about what Trotsky might have done because he didn't.
Let the dead bury the dead the living are where the action is
The dead made our living
yeah and it's important to understand the past but what might have happened if history in some way changed is not a worthwhile question