Democratic Socialism vs Marxist-Leninist vs Trotskyism

[gamesetmatch4]

Hi all. Before a month ago, I honestly didnt know anything about socialism. I was reading a yahoo article and came across Kshama Sawants victory in Seattle and that was my first taste of learning about socialism. After looking at various parties/groups in the US, I stand confused on the differences between Democratic Socialism, Marxist Leninist and Trotskyism. When looking at the platforms for all these various groups they all look very similar in advocating for free healthcare, expand public services, workers councils, free education, etc and yet these groups still align with these tendencies. What really is the difference? For example I have found that the Spusa is democratic socialist, psl and wwp are marxist leninist and socialist alternative is trotskyist but their platforms all look very similar.

[Five Year Plan]

Hi all. Before a month ago, I honestly didnt know anything about socialism. I was reading a yahoo article and came across Kshama Sawants victory in Seattle and that was my first taste of learning about socialism. After looking at various parties/groups in the US, I stand confused on the differences between Democratic Socialism, Marxist Leninist and Trotskyism. When looking at the platforms for all these various groups they all look very similar in advocating for free healthcare, expand public services, workers councils, free education, etc and yet these groups still align with these tendencies. What really is the difference? For example I have found that the Spusa is democratic socialist, psl and wwp are marxist leninist and socialist alternative is trotskyist but their platforms all look very similar.

"Democratic socialism" is an amorphous term that is usually only used to describe social democrats: people who like to talk about "socialism," but usually mean either an economic system that is still basically a highly regulated form of capitalism more favorable to the petty bourgeoisie (and hence is more "democratic"), or mean that socialism is to be achieved through an interminable struggle in the bourgeois electoral arena ("democracy"), which effectively puts off socialism into the distant, never to be realized future.

Marxism-Leninism is a term coined by Stalin, his supporters, and his successors in various atrophied bureaucracies across the world claiming the mantle of "socialism in one country," to refer to the body of thought they canonized and attributed to Marx, Engels, and Lenin. Only supporters of this school call it "marxism-leninism." Detractors usually call it "Stalinism." As mentioned, its main distinguishing line is that socialism can be established in a single country.

Trotskyism also lays claim to the tradition of Marx, Engels, and Lenin, and criticizes Stalin's idea that socialism can be established in a single country. This is why permanent revolution is such an important idea in the Trotskyist tradition: Trots argue that the Russian Revolution needed to be made "permanent" (or global) in order to survive, lest a reversion to full-blown bourgeois capitalism quickly occur. I think history is clear on the accuracy of that theory.