Revolutionary Socialism on the 12 Axes

The idea runs through the Paris Commune of 1871, the left wing of the Second International led by Rosa Luxemburg and Karl Liebknecht, and the workers' councils of the German Revolution of 1918. Luxemburg's Reform or Revolution (1900) argued that gradual reforms can soften capitalism but never end it, because the state itself defends property. Revolutionary socialists differ among themselves on organization: some follow Lenin's vanguard model, others favor spontaneous mass action and workers' councils. What unites them is the belief that a decisive break, usually involving confrontation with the state, is necessary. They are more open to force than Marxism as a general theory, less tied to a single party than Leninism, and directly opposed to the gradual path of democratic socialism and social democracy.

• Trotskyism 85%Trotskyism is the Marxist current founded by Leon Trotsky, centered on permanent world revolution, workers' democracy within a planned economy, and opposition to the Stalinist bureaucracy.
• Marxism 81%Marxism is the body of theory begun by Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels that explains history through class struggle and expects capitalism to give way to a classless, communist society.
• Democratic Socialism 70%Democratic socialism aims to replace capitalism with social ownership of the economy, reached and governed through elections, civil liberties and multiparty democracy instead of revolution or one-party rule.
• Eurocommunism 70%Eurocommunism was a current within Western European communist parties in the 1970s that sought socialism through parliamentary democracy and independence from the Soviet Union.