I have read my Soviet history, I have read articles about it, I have watched YouTube videos, and I have even read Trotsky but I still have no idea what being a Trotskyist is supposed to mean. It seems to me like one of Trotsky's main ideas is Permanent Revolution but what the Fuck does that mean from a practical standpoint? Does that mean being a Trotskyist means you want to gain power so you can start a global war against the bourgeoisie? It seems like whenever someone calls themselves a Trotskyist what they are really saying is they are a Communist but Stalin is bad so we need a new name. :trot-shining:

    • Gelter [they/them,e/em/eir]
      ·
      4 years ago

      AES stands for "actually existing socialism"

      to my understanding, it's an basically an umbrella term for any state which claims to be socialist, regardless of whether any person judges them to actually be so

      • Huldra [they/them, it/its]
        ·
        4 years ago

        Usually a judgement is made that they are making attempts at moving towards socialism/are lead by a socialist ideology, the "Any state that claims to be socialist/has a red flag" is a common strawman mockery of this position.