By John Molyneux
This is a comprehensive study of Trotsky's thought which offers a new interpretation of hist strengths and weaknesses and an assessment of his importance today.
It argues that Trotsky, by his commitment to fundamental Marxist principles in an epoch of ferocious reaction, and through his remarkable grasp of revolutionary strategy and tactics, made a major contribution to Marxism in the 20th century. His work constitutes an indispensable starting point for socialist analysis and politics today. But it also maintains that there were important weaknesses in Trotsky's theoretical framework which led him into serious political errors, and that capitalism and world politics have changed in ways which Trotsky did not, and could not, foresee.
The book is a call for a development of Marxism basing itself on Trotsky's strengths but overcoming his limitations.