Labour Research December 2006

Reviews

100 years of permanent revolution: results and prospects

Edited by Bill Dunn, Hugo Radice, Pluto Press, paperbook, 257 pages, £18.99

One hundred years after the publication of Leon Trotsky's Results and Prospects, the authors of this book discuss the contemporary relevance of the Marxist theories of "permanent revolution" and "uneven and combined development" and how Trotsky's model applies to today's global economy.

For example, contributors argue that competition between firms and between states in the world economy breaks up stability and leads to conflict.

Combined and uneven development is applied to modern China, which has used its "advantages of backwardness" - meaning a huge pool of cheap labour - together with modern technology to attain rapid economic development.