Culture as permanent revolution: Lev Trotsky’s Literature and Revolution (original) (raw)

Abstract

First published in 1923, Lev Trotsky’s Literature and Revolution was the first systematic treatment of art by a Communist Party leader. The international history of its publication and reception has gone hand-in-hand with the development of the Marxist theory of culture. This article highlights several specific concepts in Trotsky’s Literature and Revolution which exerted decisive formative influence on critical theory, including the relative autonomy of culture, a broadening of ideology to include cultural practices, and an innovative treatment of class. I conclude that for Trotsky culture can only be described negatively, as its own constant overcoming, as permanent revolution.

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Acknowledgements

The author gratefully acknowledges the research assistance of Alexandra Price, and also the valuable feedback of the other speakers and participants in the conference “The Bolshevik Contagion” at the Neubauer Collegium on the campus of the University of Chicago on 2–3 November, 2017.

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1. The University of Chicago, Chicago, USA
   Robert Bird

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Bird, R. Culture as permanent revolution: Lev Trotsky’s Literature and Revolution.Stud East Eur Thought 70, 181–193 (2018). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11212-018-9304-6

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• Published: 12 July 2018
• Issue Date: September 2018
• DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11212-018-9304-6

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