Leap means transition. The leap is the motion of change from one state to another. It is a break in the gradualness of quantitative change. It occurs through change where an old quality is stage by stage replaced by a new quality.
The process of radical change in a given quality, the breakdown of the old and the birth of the new is a leap, a demarcation line separating one measure from another. There are different types of leaps determined both by the nature of the developing system and by the conditions under which it develops, i.e. by the external and internal factors of development. Examples of gradual leaps, or leaps extended in time, in the development of objective reality are the emergence of life on earth, the origin of man and his consciousness, the formation of new species of animals and plants, the replacement of one socioeconomic formation by another, the great landmarks in the development of science, art, etc. Along with these, there have been leaps that occurred turbulently and at a great speed, leaps attended by explosions, so to speak, of which the characteristic features are clear-cut transition boundaries, great intensity, integrity of the restructuring[…] of a second. There are thus two types of leap: gradual leaps and instantaneous leaps, the division resting on the time factor of their realization. (A. Spirkin, Fundamentals of Philosophy, 1990.)
http://www.scribd.com/doc/47675159/Alexander-Spirkin Fundamentals-of-Philosophy
With the question of leaps is closely connected the question of social revolution. If everything in nature and society develops by decisive qualitative changes, by leaps, then it must be admitted that capitalism too will be inevitably replaced by another social order in the process of the working out of scientific laws, and that this will take place by means of a leap, which under the conditions of capitalism can only be a socialist revolution.
(Leningrad Institute of Philosophy, A Textbook of Marxist Philosophy, 1937.) https://www.marxists.org/history/international/comintern/sections/britain/subject/left-book-club/1937/textbook/index.htm
Excerpt From: Darryl Mitchell. “Marxist Glossary Mini Edition 3.0.” iBooks.
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