u/Evening-Search6270

Hi comrades! I am a socialist and I’m pretty sure I’m a Trotskyist. However, at my DSA meeting today, a comrade said that Trotsky supported imperialism and permanent revolution is about invading other countries. Another comrade said that Trotsky actually wrote about how permanent revolution is invading other countries. I haven’t read Trotsky yet, but I’m going to, so I don’t know if this is true or not. I thought that permanent revolution is supporting international revolutions and the belief that socialism cannot survive in one country and that the proletariat can take the progressive role in revolutions in developing countries.

I’m still pretty new to socialism, but I have a quick question about Lenin and the soviets. I learned that he purged Mensheviks and other groups from the soviets, even when they were democratically elected. Also, that he weakened soviet power to the point that they were just symbolic. I’m confused why he did this, because he said “all power to the soviets.” What are your thoughts on this?