Different kinds of Revolution?

[Comrade Strong]

As I have typically understood Communism, it is to come into existence by a single communist revolution, following which its leaders would begin to implement their interpretation of communism.

However after delving into detail I have found that there is several kinds of revolution. Spontaneous, permanent and some that advocate for reforms over a revolution altogether.

Therefore I would like to know what are the main differences between these ideas and how would they work?

[Sinister Intents]

As I have typically understood Communism, it is to come into existence by a single communist revolution, following which its leaders would begin to implement their interpretation of communism.

However after delving into detail I have found that there is several kinds of revolution. Spontaneous, permanent and some that advocate for reforms over a revolution altogether.

Therefore I would like to know what are the main differences between these ideas and how would they work?

I am perhaps not the best person to answer this on different types of revolution. Seeing as the type of revolution can't really be predicted. A revolution can be violent or non violent, but this will probably be dependent upon the area it happens in and how it is achieved. Also revolution is thought put into action. Reforms aren't revolution and reform defeats the revolution. Reform would simply put the working class at a stalemate and the bourgeoisie will continue to exploit the working class, so reform is rather the defeat of revolution.

[Comrade Strong]

So reforms fail to create a true communist society, but revolutions are dependent on the situation that they exist in. But what revolutions are suited to different situations?

[Comrade Strong]

I thought that I once read somewhere that Trotsky believed that a permanent revolution was needed when a country hadn't reached the stage of advanced capitalism.

[Jimmie Higgins]

As I have typically understood Communism, it is to come into existence by a single communist revolution, following which its leaders would begin to implement their interpretation of communism.

However after delving into detail I have found that there is several kinds of revolution. Spontaneous, permanent and some that advocate for reforms over a revolution altogether.

Therefore I would like to know what are the main differences between these ideas and how would they work?

The way I look at it is that a revolution isn't so much an event as it is a period of contested rulership of society between various social forces representing roughly some set of class interests. There may be a series of riots, an insurrection, mass strikes and even combat involved, probably combinations of all these, but I think of revolution as a period of sharp class struggle over how society should function. Communist leaders in this view, or a mass working class movement wouldn't initiate their interpretation of communism in the sense of communism being social relations, but in my view the working class would initiate what they think is necessary to develop communist relations among people: collective ownership of production, mass collective class decision-making, building towards an end to class divisions, etc.

So what the different ideas you mention are about is, I think, different approaches towards building a revolution or ideas about our understanding of revolutions. So someone with a view around spontaneous revolutions might believe that political organizing is useless and probably detrimental for class self-emancipation; revolutionary class forms and structures might control things from above and impede the spontanious class instincts towards class liberation. Permanent revolution is a theory of how regions with an uneven or underdeveloped capitalist economy and without a large working class majority could still be part of a larger proletarian revolution where the working class leads other classes like the peasantry; it basically argues against the idea that working class movements in places where there isn't advanced capitalism should support a capitalist revolution first and later on have a revolution as well as the concept of building socialism in one country. The idea of reform as opposed to revolution is an idea of how the working class can come to power: advocates of this often believe in a sort of gradual accumulation of democratic power and control of the economy until the working class as the majority in society can establish socialism and class rule peacefully.