Lev Trotsky left the Soviet Union. Trotsky Lev Davidovich: biography, quotes
August 21 of this year marks 75 years since the day when Leon Trotsky was killed. The biography of this famous revolutionary is well known. But the following circumstance is striking: he became an enemy not only for those who are deservedly considered counter-revolutionaries - enemies of the October Revolution of 1917, but also for those who, together with him, prepared and carried it out. At the same time, he never became an anti-communist and did not revise revolutionary ideals (at least the initial ones). What is the reason for such a sharp break with his like-minded people, which ultimately led to his death? Let's try together to find the answer to this question. Let's start with a biographical note.
Leon Trotsky: a short biography
It is rather difficult to describe it briefly, but let's try. Lev Bronstein (Trotsky) was born on November 7 (what an amazing coincidence of dates, how can you not believe in astrology?) 1879 in the family of a wealthy Jewish landowner (more precisely, a tenant) in Ukraine, in a small village, which is now in the Kirovograd region ...
He began his studies in Odessa at the age of 9 (note that our hero left the parental home as a child and never returned to it for a long time), continued it in 1895-1897. in Nikolaev, first at a real school, then at the Novorossiysk University, but soon stopped his studies and plunged into revolutionary work.
So, at eighteen - the first underground circle, at nineteen - the first arrest. Two years in different prisons under investigation, the first marriage with the same as himself, concluded by Alexandra Sokolovskaya directly in Butyrka prison (appreciate the humanism of the Russian authorities!), Then exile to the Irkutsk province together with his wife and brother-in-law (humanism is still in action). Here Trotsky Lev does not waste time - he and A. Sokolovskaya have two daughters, he is engaged in journalism, is published in Irkutsk newspapers, and sends several articles abroad.
This is followed by an escape and a dizzying journey with forged documents in the name of Trotsky (according to the testimony of Lev Davidovich himself, that was the name of one of the guards in the Odessa prison, and his surname seemed so euphonious to the fugitive that he offered it to make a fake passport) to London itself.
Our hero made it there by the very beginning of the second congress of the RSDLP (1902), at which the famous split between the Bolsheviks and Mensheviks took place. Here he met Lenin, who appreciated Trotsky's literary gift and tried to introduce him to the editorial board of the Iskra newspaper.
Before the first Russian revolution, Trotsky Lev held an unstable political position, vacillating between the Bolsheviks and the Mensheviks. This period includes his second marriage with Natalya Sedova, which he concludes without divorcing his first wife. This marriage turned out to be very long, and N. Sedova was with him until his death.
1905 - the time of the unusually rapid political rise of our hero. Arriving in Petersburg, seething after the Bloody Resurrection, Lev Davidovich organized the Petersburg Council and first became its deputy chairman, G.S. his arrest and chairman. Then, at the end of the year - arrest, in 1906 - trial and exile in the Arctic (the area of present-day Salekhard) forever.
But Trotsky Lev would not be himself if he allowed himself to be buried alive in the tundra. On the way to exile, he makes a daring escape and single-handedly makes his way through half of Russia abroad.
This was followed by a long period of emigration until 1917. At this time, Lev Davidovich began and abandoned many political projects, published several newspapers, and tried in every way to gain a foothold in the revolutionary movement as one of its organizers. He does not take the side of either Lenin or the Mensheviks; he hesitates all the time between them, maneuvers, tries to reconcile the warring wings of Social Democracy. He is desperately trying to take a leadership position in the Russian revolutionary movement. But he does not succeed, and by 1917 he finds himself on the sidelines of political life, which leads Trotsky to the idea of leaving Europe and trying his luck in America.
Here he acquired a very interesting acquaintances in various circles, including financial ones, which allowed him to arrive in Russia after the February Revolution, in May 1917, clearly not with an empty pocket. The previous chairmanship in the Petrograd Soviet provided him with a place in the new reincarnation of this institution, and financial opportunities are being promoted to the leaders of the new Soviet, which, under the leadership of Trotsky, enters into a struggle for power with the Provisional Government.
As a result (in September 1917) he joined the Bolsheviks and became the second person in the Leninist party. Lenin, Leon Trotsky, Stalin, Zinoviev, Kamenev, Sokolnikov and Bubnov are seven members of the first Politburo, founded in 1917 to govern the Bolshevik revolution. At the same time, from September 20, 1917, he was also the chairman of the Petrograd Soviet. In fact, all the practical work on organizing the October Revolution and its defense in the first weeks of Soviet power was the work of Leon Trotsky.
In 1917-1918. he served the revolution, first as the people's commissar for foreign affairs, and then as the founder and commander of the Red Army in the post of people's commissar for military and naval affairs. Trotsky Lev was a key figure in the victory of the Bolsheviks in the Russian Civil War (1918-1923). He was also a permanent member (1919-1926) of the Politburo of the Bolshevik Party.
After the defeat of the Left Opposition, which waged an unequal struggle against the rise of Joseph Stalin and his policies in the 1920s aimed at increasing the role of the bureaucracy in the Soviet Union, Trotsky was removed from power (October 1927), expelled from the Communist Party (November 1927 g.) and expelled from the Soviet Union (February 1929).
As head of the Fourth International, Trotsky in exile continued to confront the Stalinist bureaucracy in the Soviet Union. On Stalin's orders, he was killed in Mexico in August 1940 by a Spanish-born Soviet agent.
Trotsky's ideas formed the basis of Trotskyism, a major branch of Marxist thought that opposed the theory of Stalinism. He was one of the few Soviet political figures who was not rehabilitated either under the government of Nikita Khrushchev in the 1960s or during the period of Gorbachev's perestroika. In the late 1980s, his books were released for publication in the Soviet Union.
Only in post-Soviet Russia was Leon Trotsky rehabilitated. His biography has been studied and written by a number of famous historians, including, for example, Dmitry Volkogonov. We will not retell it in detail, but analyze only a few selected pages.
The origins of character formation in childhood (1879-1895)
In order to understand the origins of the formation of the personality of our hero, you need to take a closer look at where Leon Trotsky was born. It was a Ukrainian hinterland, a steppe agricultural zone that remains the same to this day. And what did the Jewish Bronstein family do there: father David Leontievich (1847-1922), who was born in Poltava region, mother Anna, a woman from Odessa (1850-1910), their children? The same thing as other bourgeois families in those places - she earned capital by the brutal exploitation of Ukrainian peasants. By the time our hero was born, his illiterate (note this circumstance!) Father, who lives, in fact, surrounded by people alien to him by nationality and mentality, already owned an estate of several hundred acres of land and a steam mill. Dozens of farm laborers bent their backs on him.
Doesn't all this remind the reader of something from the life of the Boer planters in South Africa, where are only dark-skinned Ukrainians instead of black kaffirs? It was in this atmosphere that the character of little Leva Bronstein was formed. No peer friends, no reckless boyish games and pranks, just the boredom of a bourgeois house and a look from above at Ukrainian farm laborers. It is from childhood that the roots of that sense of one's own superiority over other people, which constituted the main trait of Trotsky's character, grow.
And he would be a worthy assistant to his dad, but, fortunately, his mother, being a little educated woman (from Odessa, after all), felt in time that her son was capable of more than the simple exploitation of peasant labor, and insisted that he be sent to study in Odessa (live in an apartment with relatives). Below you can see what Leon Trotsky was like as a child (photo presented).
The hero's personality begins to emerge (1888-1895)
In Odessa, our hero was enrolled in a real school according to a quota that was allocated for Jewish children. Odessa was then a bustling cosmopolitan port city, very different from the typical Russian and Ukrainian cities of the time. In Sergei Kolosov's film The Split (we recommend watching it to anyone interested in the history of the Russian Revolution) there is a scene when Lenin in 1902 in London meets Trotsky who fled from his first exile and is interested in the impression made on him by the capital of Great Britain. He replies that it is simply impossible to experience a greater impression than Odessa made on him after moving to it from a rural backwater.
Leo is an excellent student, becoming the first student in his course all the years in a row. In the memoirs of his peers, he appears as an unusually ambitious person, the desire for superiority in everything distinguishes him from fellow students. By adulthood, Leo turns into an attractive young man, for whom, in the presence of wealthy parents, all doors in life should be open. How did Leon Trotsky continue to live (his photo during his studies is presented below)?
The first love
Trotsky planned to study at Novorossiysk University. For this purpose, he transferred to Nikolaev, where he completed the last course of a real school. He was 17 years old, and he did not even think about any revolutionary activity. But, unfortunately, the sons of the landlord were socialists, they drew the high school student into their circle, where they discussed various revolutionary literature - from Narodnik to Marxist. Among the members of the circle was A. Sokolovskaya, who recently completed obstetric courses in Odessa. Six years older than Trotsky, she made an indelible impression on him. Wanting to show off his knowledge in front of the subject of his passion, Leo intensively took up the study of revolutionary theories. This played a cruel joke on him: having started once, he never again got rid of this occupation.
Revolutionary activity and imprisonment (1896-1900)
Apparently, it suddenly dawned on the young ambitious - after all, here it is, the very thing to which you can devote your life, which can bring the longed-for glory. Together with Sokolovskaya, Trotsky plunges into revolutionary work, prints leaflets, leads social democratic agitation among the workers of the Nikolaev shipyards, organizes the "South Russian Workers' Union".
In January 1898, over 200 union members, including Trotsky, were arrested. He spent the next two years in prison awaiting trial - first in Nikolaev, then in Kherson, then in Odessa and Moscow. In he came into contact with other revolutionaries. There he first heard about Lenin and read his book The Development of Capitalism in Russia, gradually becoming a real Marxist. Two months after his imprisonment (March 1-3, 1898), the first congress of the newly formed Russian Social Democratic Labor Party (RSDLP) took place. Since then, Trotsky has defined himself as a member.
First marriage
Alexandra Sokolovskaya (1872-1938) for some time before being sent into exile was imprisoned in the same Butyrka prison in Moscow, where Trotsky was at that time. He wrote her romantic letters, begged her to agree to marry him. Tellingly, her parents and the prison administration supported the ardent lover, but the Bronstein couple were categorically opposed - apparently, they had a presentiment that they would have to raise children of such unreliable (in the everyday sense) parents. Despite his father and mother, Trotsky nevertheless marries Sokolovskaya. The wedding ceremony was performed by a Jewish priest.
The first Siberian exile (1900-1902)
In 1900 he was sentenced to four years of exile in the Irkutsk region of Siberia. Because of their marriage, Trotsky and his wife are allowed to settle in one place. Accordingly, the couple was exiled to the village of Ust-Kut. Here they had two daughters: Zinaida (1901-1933) and Nina (1902-1928).
However, Sokolovskaya failed to keep such an active nature as Lev Davidovich next to her. Having gained some fame for the articles written in exile and tormented by a thirst for activity, Trotsky lets his wife know that he is unable to stay away from the centers of political life. Sokolovskaya resignedly agrees. In the summer of 1902, Leo escapes from Siberia - first on a cart hidden under the hay to Irkutsk, then with a forged passport in the name of Leon Trotsky by rail to the borders Russian Empire... Alexandra subsequently fled Siberia with her daughters.
Leon Trotsky and Lenin
After fleeing Siberia, he moved to London to join Plekhanov, Vladimir Lenin, Martov and other editors of the Leninist newspaper Iskra. Under the pseudonym "Pen" Trotsky soon became one of its leading authors.
At the end of 1902, Trotsky met with Natalya Ivanovna Sedova, who soon became his companion, and from 1903 until his death, his wife. They had 2 children: Lev Sedov (1906-1938) and (March 21, 1908 - October 29, 1937), both sons died before their parents.
At the same time, after a period of secret police repression and internal turmoil that followed the first congress of the RSDLP in 1898, Iskra managed to convene the second congress of the party in London in August 1903. Trotsky and other Iskra-ists took part in it.
The delegates to the congress were divided into two groups. Lenin and his Bolshevik supporters advocated a small but highly organized party, while Martov and his Menshevik supporters sought to create a large and less disciplined organization. These approaches reflected the difference in their goals. If Lenin wanted to create a party of professional revolutionaries for the underground struggle against the autocracy, then Martov dreamed of a party European type with an eye on parliamentary methods of combating tsarism.
At the same time, the closest associates presented Lenin with a surprise. Trotsky and most of the editors of Iskra supported Martov and the Mensheviks, while Plekhanov supported Lenin and the Bolsheviks. For Lenin, Trotsky's betrayal was a strong and unexpected blow, for which he called the latter Judas and, apparently, never forgave.
During 1903-1904. many faction members went over to the other side. Thus, Plekhanov soon parted with the Bolsheviks. Trotsky also left the Mensheviks in September 1904 and until 1917 called himself a "non-factional Social Democrat" in an attempt to reconcile various groups within the party, as a result of which he took part in many clashes with Lenin and other prominent members of the RSDLP.
How did Leon Trotsky feel about Lenin personally? Quotations from his correspondence with the Menshevik Chkheidze quite clearly characterize their relationship. Thus, in March 1913, he wrote: "Lenin ... is a professional exploiter of all backwardness in the Russian labor movement ... The entire edifice of Leninism is currently built on lies and falsification and carries a poisonous beginning of its own decay ..."
Later, during the struggle for power, he will be reminded of all his vacillations regarding the general course of the party set by Lenin. Below you can see what Trotsky Lev Davidovich was (photo with Lenin).
Revolution (1905)
So, everything that we know about the personality of our hero so far does not characterize him very flatteringly. His undoubted literary and journalistic talent is leveled out by painful ambition, posturing, selfishness (remember A. Sokolovskaya, left in Siberia with two young daughters). However, during the period of the first Russian revolution, Trotsky unexpectedly manifests himself from a new side - as a very courageous man, an outstanding orator, capable of igniting the masses, as a brilliant organizer. Arriving in May 1905 in the seething revolutionary Petersburg, he immediately rushes into the thick of events, becomes an active member of the Petrograd Soviet, writes dozens of articles, leaflets, speaks to crowds electrified with revolutionary energy with fiery speeches. After a while, he was already deputy chairman of the Council, actively participating in the preparation of the October general political strike. After the appearance of the tsarist manifesto of October 17, which bestowed political rights on the people, he sharply opposed it and called for the continuation of the revolution.
When the gendarmes arrested Khrustalev-Nosar, Lev Davidovich takes his place, is preparing combat workers' squads, the shock force of the future armed uprising against the autocracy. But at the beginning of December 1905, the government decided to disperse the Soviet and arrest its deputies. An absolutely amazing story takes place during the arrest itself, when the gendarmes burst into the meeting room of the Petrograd Soviet, and the presiding Trotsky only by force of his will and the gift of persuasion drives them out the door for a while, which allows those present to prepare: destroy some documents dangerous to them, get rid of weapons. But the arrest nevertheless took place, and Trotsky finds himself in a Russian prison for the second time, this time in the Petersburg "Kresty".
Second escape from Siberia
The biography of Lev Davidovich Trotsky is replete with bright events. But our task does not include its detailed presentation. We will confine ourselves to a few vivid episodes in which the character of our hero is most clearly manifested. Among them is the story of Trotsky's second exile to Siberia.
This time, after a year of imprisonment (however, in quite decent conditions, including access to any literature and the press), Lev Davidovich was sentenced to eternal exile in the Arctic Circle, in the Obdorsk region (now Salekhard). Before leaving, he handed over to the wild a farewell letter with the words: “We are leaving with deep faith in the quick victory of the people over their age-old enemies. Long live the proletariat! Long live international socialism! "
It goes without saying that he was not ready to sit for years in the polar tundra, in some squalid dwelling, and await a saving revolution. Besides, what kind of revolution could we talk about if he himself did not participate in it?
Therefore, the only way out for him was immediate escape. When the caravan with prisoners reached Berezovo (a famous place of exile in Russia, where the former Most Serene Prince A. Menshikov spent the rest of his life), from where there was a way to the north, Trotsky simulated an attack of acute sciatica. He made sure that he was left with a couple of gendarmes in Berezovo until he recovered. Having deceived their vigilance, he flees the town and gets to the nearest Khanty settlement. There, in some incredible way, he hires reindeer and, along the snow-covered tundra (this is happening in January 1907), travels almost a thousand kilometers to the Ural Mountains, accompanied by a khant guide. And having reached the European part of Russia, Trotsky easily crosses it (let's not forget that the year is 1907, like him, the authorities tie Stolypin ties around their necks) and ends up in Finland, from where he moves to Europe.
This adventure, if I may say so, ended quite safely for him, although the risk to which he exposed himself was incredibly high. He could easily be stabbed with a knife or stunned and thrown into the snow to freeze, coveting the rest of the money he had with him. And it would have been the assassination of Leon Trotsky not in 1940, but three decades earlier. There would not have happened then either an enchanting take-off during the years of the revolution, or all that followed. However, the history and fate of Lev Davidovich himself ordered otherwise - for good luck for himself, but on the grief of long-suffering Russia, and to his homeland, no less.
The last act of life's drama
In August 1940, the news spread around the world that Leon Trotsky was killed in Mexico, where he lived in last years life. Was this a global event? Doubtful. It has been almost a year since Poland was defeated, and already two months have passed since the surrender of France. China and Indochina were on fire. Feverishly preparing for the war of the USSR.
So, apart from a few supporters from among the members of the Fourth International created by Trotsky and numerous enemies, ranging from the authorities of the Soviet Union and ending with the majority of world politicians, few commented on this death. The newspaper Pravda published a murderous obituary written by Stalin himself and filled with hatred for the slain enemy.
It should be mentioned that they tried to kill Trotsky several times. Among the potential murderers, even the great Mexican who participated in the raid on Trotsky's villa in Mexico as part of a group of Orthodox communists and who personally fired an automatic fire on Lev Davidovich's empty bed, not suspecting that he was hiding under it, was noted. Then the bullets went by.
But what killed Leon Trotsky? The most amazing thing is that the weapon of this murder was not a weapon - cold or firearms, but an ordinary ice ax, a small pickaxe used by climbers during their ascents. And NKVD agent Ramon Mercador held her in the hands of a young man whose mother was an active participant.As an orthodox communist, she blamed Trotsky's supporters for the defeat of the Spanish republic, who, although they participated in the civil war on the side of the republican forces, refused to act in line with politics. asked from Moscow. She conveyed this conviction to her son, who became the true instrument of this murder.
Among the people who have left their mark on the history of Russia, there are not so many politicians with as confusing biographies as those of Leon Trotsky. Fierce debates are still going on about his role in many events that took place in Russia and then in the USSR in the first 40 years of the 20th century.
So who was Trotsky Lev Davidovich? The biography of a famous politician presented in this article will help you learn about some of his decisions that have influenced the fate of millions of people.
Childhood
Trotsky Lev was the 5th child of David Leontievich and Anna Lvovna Bronstein. The spouses were wealthy Jewish landowners-colonists who moved to the Kherson province from the Poltava region. The boy was named Leiba, and he was fluent in Russian and Ukrainian, as well as Yiddish.
By the time of the birth of their youngest son, the Bronsteins had 100 acres of land, a large garden, a mill and a repair shop. A German-Jewish colony was located near Yanovka, where Leiba's family lived. There was a school where he was sent at the age of 6. After 3 years, Leiba was sent to Odessa, where he entered the Lutheran real school of St. Paul.
The beginning of revolutionary activity
After graduating from 6 classes of school, the young man moved to Nikolaev, where in 1896 he joined a revolutionary circle.
To receive higher education Leiba Bronstein had to leave his new comrades and go to Novorossiysk. There he easily entered the physics and mathematics department of the local university. However, the revolutionary struggle had already captured the young man, and he soon left this university to return to Nikolaev.
Arrest
Bronstein, who took the underground nickname Lvov, became one of the organizers of the South Russian Workers' Union. At the age of 18, he was arrested for anti-government activities and wandered through prisons for two years. There he became a Marxist and managed to marry Alexandra Sokolovskaya.
In 1990, the young family was exiled to Irkutsk, where Bronstein had two daughters. They were sent to Yanovka. In the Kherson region, the girls were under the care of their grandparents.
Abroad
In 1992, the opportunity arose to escape from exile. In Leib's fake passport, he added the name Trotsky Lev at random. With this document, he was able to go abroad.
Finding himself out of the reach of the Russian "secret police", Trotsky went to London, where he met with V. Lenin. There he repeatedly spoke to emigrant revolutionaries. Leon Trotsky (a biography of his early youth is presented above) amazed everyone with his intellect and oratorical talent. Lenin, who was striving to weaken the "old men," proposed that he be included in the editorial board of Iskra, but Plekhanov categorically opposed this.
While in London, Trotsky married Natalya Sedova. However, officially, until the end of his life, Alexandra Sokolova remained his wife.
In 1905
When the revolution broke out in the country, Trotsky and his wife returned to Russia, where Lev Davidovich organized the St. Petersburg Council of Workers' Deputies. On November 26, he was elected its chairman, but on November 3 he was arrested and sentenced to life in Siberia. At the trial, Trotsky delivered a fiery speech against violence. She made a strong impression on the audience, among whom were his parents.
Second emigration
On the way to the place where he was supposed to live in exile, Trotsky was able to escape and moved to Europe. There he made several attempts to unite the scattered parties of the socialist wing, but did not succeed.
In 1912-1913. Trotsky, as a military man of the newspaper "Kievskaya Mysl", wrote 70 reports from the fronts of the Balkan Wars. This experience helped him in the future to organize work in the Red Army.
When the First World War broke out, Trotsky Lev fled from Vienna to Paris, where he began to publish the newspaper Nashe Slovo. In it, he published his articles of a pacifist orientation, which became the reason for the expulsion of the revolutionary outside France. He moved to the United States, where he hoped to settle, as he did not believe in the possibility of an imminent revolution in Russia.
In 1917
When the February Revolution broke out, Trotsky and his family went by ship to Russia. However, on the way, he was removed from the ship and sent to a concentration camp, since he could not present a Russian passport. Only in May 1917, after long ordeals, Trotsky and his family arrived in Petrograd. He was immediately included in the Petrosovet.
In the following months, Leon Trotsky, short biography whom you already know before the revolution, he was engaged in demoralizing the garrison of the Northern capital. In the absence of Lenin, who was in Finland, he actually led the Bolsheviks.
During the days of the revolution
On October 12, Trotsky became the head of the Petrograd Military Revolutionary Committee, and a few days later ordered the delivery of 5,000 rifles to the Red Guards.
In the days of the October Revolution, Lev Davidovich was one of the main leaders of the rebels.
In December 1917, it was he who announced the beginning of the "Red Terror".
In the years 1918-1924
At the end of 1917, Trotsky was included in the first composition of the Bolshevik government as People's Commissar for Foreign Affairs. During Lenin's ultimatum demanding acceptance of German conditions, he sided with Vladimir Ilyich, thereby ensuring his victory.
In the fall of 1918, Trotsky was appointed chairman of the Revolutionary Military Council of the RSFSR, that is, he became the first commander-in-chief of the newly formed Red Army. In the following years, he practically lived on a train, on which he traveled on all fronts.
During the defense of Tsaritsyn, Leon Trotsky entered into an open confrontation with Stalin. Over time, he began to understand that there could not be equality in the army, and began to introduce the institute of military experts in the Red Army, seeking to reorganize it and return to the traditional principles of building the armed forces.
In 1924, Trotsky was removed from the post of chairman of the Revolutionary Military Council.
In the second half of the 20s
By the beginning of 1926, it became clear that the long-awaited world revolution would not come in the near future. Leon Trotsky became close to the Zinoviev / Kamenev group on the basis of the unity of political views on the issue of "building socialism in one country." Soon the number of oppositionists increased, and Nadezhda Konstantinovna Krupskaya joined them.
In 1927, the Central Control Commission considered the cases of Trotsky and Zinoviev, but did not expel them from the party, but issued a severe reprimand.
Exile
In 1928, Trotsky was exiled to Alma-Ata, and a year later he was expelled from the USSR.
In 1936, Lev Davidovich settled in Mexico, where he was sheltered by the family of artists Diego Rivera and Frida Kahlo. There he wrote a book entitled Revolution Betrayed, in which he sharply criticized Stalin.
2 years later, Trotsky announced the creation of an alternative to the Comintern communist organization "Fourth International", which gave rise to many political movements that exist in this moment in different corners planets.
Until the last day of his life, Lev Davidovich worked on a book, where he proved the version of the poisoning of Lenin on the orders of the "father of all nations."
On August 20, 1940, Trotsky was assassinated by NKVD agent Ramon Mercader. However, attempts on his life were made from the very first days of his arrival in Mexico.
After his death, Trotsky was one of the few victims of Stalin who was never rehabilitated.
Now you know which life path Trotsky Lev Davidovich passed. A short biography of the politician tells only a small part of the events in which he was directly involved. Many consider him a villain, and for some, Trotsky is a strong personality, true to his ideals.
Lev Davidovich Trotsky - Russian revolutionary leader of the XX century, the ideologist of Trotskyism - one of the currents of Marxism. Twice exiled under the monarchy, deprived of all civil rights in 1905. One of the organizers of the October Revolution of 1917, one of the founders of the Red Army. One of the founders and ideologists of the Comintern, a member of its Executive Committee.
Leon Trotsky (real name Leib Bronstein) was born on November 7, 1879 in a family of wealthy landowners-tenants. In 1889, his parents sent him to study in Odessa to his cousin, owner of a printing house and a scientific publishing house, Moses Schnitzer. Trotsky was the first student at the school. He was fond of drawing, literature, wrote poetry, translated Krylov's fables from Russian into Ukrainian language, participated in the publication of the school handwritten magazine.
He began to conduct revolutionary propaganda at the age of 17, joining a revolutionary circle in Nikolaev. On January 28, 1898, he was first arrested and spent two years in prison, it was then that he joined the ideas of Marxism. During the investigation, he studied English, German, French and Italian from the Gospels, read the works of Marx, got acquainted with the works of Lenin.
Leiba Bronstein at the age of nine, Odessa
A year before going to prison for the first time, Trotsky joined the South Russian Workers' Union. One of its leaders was Alexandra Sokolovskaya, who became Trotsky's wife in 1898. Together they went into exile in the Irkutsk province, where Trotsky contacted Iskra's agents, and soon began to collaborate with them, receiving the nickname "Pero" for his penchant for writing.
“I came to London as a big provincial, and in every sense. Not only abroad, but also in St. Petersburg, I had never been before. In Moscow, as well as in Kiev, he lived only in a transit prison ”. In 1902, Trotsky decided to escape from exile. It was then, receiving a fake passport, that he entered the name Trotsky there (the name of the senior warden of the Odessa prison, where the revolutionary was held for two years).
Trotsky left for London, where Vladimir Lenin was then. The young Marxist quickly rose to prominence by giving lectures at émigré meetings. He was extremely eloquent, ambitious and educated, everyone, without exception, considered him an amazing speaker. At the same time, for his support of Lenin, he was nicknamed "Lenin's club", while Trotsky himself was often critical of Lenin's organizational plans.
In 1904, serious disagreements began between the Bolsheviks and the Mensheviks. By that time, Trotsky had established himself as a follower of the "permanent revolution", departed from the Mensheviks and married a second time to Natalya Sedova (the marriage was not registered, but the couple lived together until Trotsky's death). In 1905, they together illegally returned to Russia, where Trotsky became one of the founders of the Petersburg Soviet of Workers' Deputies. On December 3, he was arrested and, as part of a high-profile trial, was sentenced to eternal exile to Siberia with the deprivation of all civil rights, but fled on his way to Salekhard.
A split between the Mensheviks and the Bolsheviks was brewing, supported by Lenin, who in 1912 at the Prague conference of the RSDLP announced the separation of the Bolshevik faction into an independent party. Trotsky continued to advocate for the unification of the party, organizing the "August bloc", which the Bolsheviks ignored. This cooled Trotsky's desire for an armistice, he preferred to step aside.
In 1917, after the February Revolution, Trotsky and his family tried to get to Russia, but was removed from the ship and sent to a concentration camp for interned sailors. The reason for this was the fact that the revolutionary had no documents. However, he was soon released at the written request of the Provisional Government as an honored fighter against tsarism. Trotsky criticized the Provisional Government, so he soon became the informal leader of the "Mezhraiontsy", for which he was accused of espionage. His influence on the masses was enormous, so he played a special role in the transition to the side of the Bolsheviks of the soldiers of the rapidly decaying Petrograd garrison, which was of great importance in the revolution. In July 1917, the "Mezhraiontsy" united with the Bolsheviks, and Trotsky was soon released from prison, where he was on charges of espionage.
While Lenin was in Finland, Trotsky actually became the leader of the Bolsheviks. In September 1917, he headed the Petrograd Soviet of Workers 'and Soldiers' Deputies, and also became a delegate to the II Congress of Soviets and the Constituent Assembly. In October, the MRC (Military Revolutionary Committee) was formed, which consisted mainly of the Bolsheviks. It was the committee that was engaged in the armed preparation of the revolution: on October 16, the Red Guards received five thousand rifles; rallies were held among the wavering, at which Trotsky's brilliant oratorical talent was again manifested. In fact, he was one of the main leaders of the October Revolution.
Leon Trotsky, Vladimir Lenin, Lev Kamenev
“The uprising of the masses does not need justification. What happened was a rebellion, not a conspiracy. We tempered the revolutionary energy of the Petersburg workers and soldiers. We openly forged the will of the masses for an uprising, not for a conspiracy. "
After the October Revolution, the Military Revolutionary Committee remained the only organ of power for a long time. There were formed: a commission to combat counter-revolution, a commission to combat drunkenness and pogroms, food supplies were established. At the same time, Leni and Trotsky adhered to a tough position in relation to political opponents. On December 17, 1917, in his address to the Cadets, Trotsky declares the beginning of the stage of mass terror against the enemies of the revolution in a more harsh form: “You should know that, no later than a month later, terror will take very strong forms, following the example of the great French revolutionaries. Our enemies will be awaited by a guillotine, and not just a prison ”. It was then, formulated by Trotsky, that the concept of the "Red Terror" appeared.
Soon, Trotsky was appointed People's Commissar for Foreign Affairs in the first composition of the Bolshevik government. On December 5, 1917, the Petrograd Military Revolutionary Committee was disbanded, Trotsky transferred his affairs to Zinoviev and completely immersed himself in the affairs of the Petrograd Soviet. The "counter-revolutionary sabotage" of civil servants of the old Ministry of Foreign Affairs began, suppressed thanks to the publication of secret treaties of the tsarist government. The situation in the country was complicated by diplomatic isolation, which was not easy for Trotsky to overcome.
To improve the situation, he said that the government would take an intermediate position "neither peace, nor war: we do not sign an agreement, we stop the war, and we demobilize the army." Germany refused to tolerate such a position and announced an offensive. By this time, the army actually did not exist. Trotsky admitted the failure of his policy and resigned from the post of Commissar.
Leon Trotsky with his wife Natalya Sedova and son Lev Sedov
On March 14, 1918, Trotsky was appointed to the post of people's commissar for military affairs, on March 28 to the post of chairman of the Supreme Military Council, in April - military commissar for naval affairs and on September 6 - chairman of the revolutionary military council of the RSFSR. At the same time, the formation of a regular army begins. Trotsky became, in fact, its first commander-in-chief. In August 1918, Trotsky's regular trips to the front began. Several times Trotsky, risking his life, speaks even to deserters. But practice has shown that the army is incapable, Trotsky is forced to support its reorganization, gradually restoring one-man command, insignia, mobilization, uniform uniform, military greetings and awards.
In 1922 the general secretary the Bolshevik Party elected Joseph Stalin, whose views did not coincide with those of Trotsky. Stalin was supported by Zinoviev and Kamenev, who believed that the rise of Trotsky threatened with anti-Semitic attacks on the Soviet regime, condemned him for factionalism.
Lenin dies in 1924. Stalin took advantage of Trotsky's absence in Moscow to promote himself as an "heir" and strengthen his position.
In 1926, Trotsky united with Zinoviev and Kamenev, whom Stalin began to oppose. However, this did not help him and soon followed by expulsion from the party, deportation to Alma-Ata, and then to Turkey.
Trotsky regarded Hitler's victory in February 1933 as the greatest defeat for the international labor movement. He concluded that the Comintern was incapacitated because of Stalin's openly counter-revolutionary policies and called for the creation of the Fourth International.
In 1933, Trotsky was granted secret asylum in France, which the Nazis soon discovered. Trotsky leaves for Norway, where he writes his most significant work, Revolution Betrayed. In 1936, at a show trial in Moscow, Stalin named Trotsky as Hitler's agent. Trotsky is expelled from Norway. The only country that provided refuge to the revolutionary was Mexico: he settled in the house of the artist Diego Rivera, then in a fortified and carefully guarded villa on the outskirts of Mexico City - in the city of Coyocan.
After Stalin's speeches in Mexico, the International Joint Commission was organized to investigate the Moscow trials. The commission concluded that the charges were libelous and that Trotsky was not guilty.
The Soviet secret services kept Trotsky under close scrutiny, with agents among his associates. In 1938, under mysterious circumstances in Paris in a hospital after an operation, his closest associate, the eldest son Lev Sedov, died. His first wife and his younger son Sergey Sedov.
Leon Trotsky was killed by an ice pick at his home near Mexico City on August 24, 1940. The perpetrator was an NKVD agent, the Spanish republican Ramon Mercader (pictured), who infiltrated Trotsky's entourage under the name of Canadian journalist Frank Jackson.
For the murder, Mercader received 20 years in prison. After his release in 1960, he emigrated to the USSR, where he was awarded the title of Hero of the Soviet Union. According to some estimates, the assassination of Trotsky cost the NKVD about $ 5 million.
The ice ax that killed Trotsky
From the will of Leon Trotsky: “There is no need for me to refute here once again the stupid and vile slander of Stalin and his agents: there is not a single stain on my revolutionary honor. Neither directly nor indirectly have I ever entered into any behind-the-scenes agreements or even negotiations with the enemies of the working class. Thousands of Stalin's opponents died as victims of similar false accusations.
For forty-three years of my conscious life I remained a revolutionary, of which forty-two I fought under the banner of Marxism. If I had to start over, I would, of course, try to avoid this or that mistake, but the general direction of my life would remain unchanged. I see a bright green band of grass under the wall, clear blue skies above the wall, and sunlight everywhere. Life is Beautiful. Let the coming generations cleanse it of evil, oppression, violence and enjoy it completely ”
After moving to Paris, he wrote articles about the hostilities for the Kiev press, and also published the daily newspaper Nashe Slovo. In 1915 he took part in the Zimmerwald Conference - the embryo of the future Third International - and became the main author of its manifesto.
Lev Davidovich Bronstein was born on October 26, 1879 in Yanovka in Ukraine. He first got acquainted with socialist ideas in 1896, when he attended the last class of a real school in Nikolaev. Bronstein's interest in Marxism was aroused by Alexandra Lvovna Sokolovskaya, who became his first wife. For the creation of the South Russian Workers Union group, the couple were arrested in 1898 and exiled to Irkutsk for four years.
In Irkutsk, he and Alexandra were part of a group of Marxists that formed around the newspaper Iskra. In September 1902, Trotsky fled exile, arrived in London in October and immediately established contact with Lenin.
Lev Davidovich used false documents in the name of Trotsky when fleeing from Siberia, which became known thanks to his articles in Iskra and public lectures... In 1903, at the 2nd Congress of the RSDLP in London, he broke with Lenin and joined the Mensheviks. Trotsky did not agree with Lenin's "Jacobinism" and his concept of an authoritarian party organization. After the "Bloody Sunday" of January 9, 1905, which was followed by a revolutionary upsurge, he returned to his homeland and participated in the activities of the first councils in St. Petersburg.
Trotsky played a leading role in the 1905 revolution, led the October general strike and the uprising that followed, and was arrested in December. While in prison, he wrote the book Results and Perspectives - a pamphlet analyzing the revolution of 1905 from the point of view of the theory of "permanent revolution". According to this theory, a world socialist revolution can begin in a backward country like Russia, but the revolutionary movement will succeed here if “socialist” measures are taken (such as the nationalization of banks and heavy industry), “democratic” tasks are solved (for example, the division of land between the peasants or the establishment of a new representative body - a constituent assembly). At the trial, he turned his defense into an accusation against tsarism. Subsequently, he escaped from exile.
In October 1907, Trotsky settled in Vienna with his second wife and son. Trotsky wrote extensively for the German and Austrian socialist press. In 1908 he began to publish in Vienna the Russian-language newspaper Pravda, which was widely distributed in Russia, primarily in St. Petersburg, by volunteer workers.
In 1914, Trotsky published in Switzerland a pamphlet War and the International, in which he exposed the "capitulation" of the European Social Democratic leaders and called for the formation of a socialist United States of Europe. After moving to Paris, he wrote articles about the hostilities for the Kiev press, and also published the daily newspaper Nashe Slovo. In 1915 he took part in the Zimmerwald Conference - the embryo of the future Third International - and became the main author of its manifesto. In 1916 he was exiled from France to Spain, where he was imprisoned and another deportation. On January 13, 1917, Trotsky and his family arrived in New York, where he provided active support to the left wing of the US Socialist Party and, together with NI Bukharin, published the Russian-language newspaper “ New world", In which he welcomed the February Revolution of 1917. On his way home he was kidnapped by the British Secret Service and interned; released only after the Petrograd Soviet forced the Provisional Government to come up with a demand for his release.
At the end of May 1917, Trotsky arrived in Petrograd and joined the Interregional Organization of United Social Democrats (Mezhraiontsy), but the ideological and political superiority was on the side of the Bolsheviks. Trotsky himself also soon became one of the main Bolshevik leaders and gained wide popularity as an orator. Imprisoned after the July riots in Petrograd, he was released after the defeat of the Kornilov revolt, and then elected chairman of the Petrograd Soviet. While in this key post, he played a decisive role in the October coup. It was he who put forward the idea to name the new Soviet government the Council of People's Commissars. He himself became People's Commissar (Commissar) for Foreign Affairs.
In December 1917, Trotsky led the Soviet delegation at the talks in Brest-Litovsk. He dragged out the negotiations, hoping for an early revolution in Central Europe, and through the heads of the participants in the negotiations addressed calls for an uprising to the "workers in military uniform»Germany and Austria. When the Germans decided to dictate harsh peace terms, Trotsky opposed Lenin, who advocated peace at any cost, but did not support Bukharin, who called for a "revolutionary war." Instead, he put forward the slogan "no war, no peace", ie. called for an end to the war, but proposed not to conclude a peace treaty.
In March 1918, Trotsky took the post of military commissar and took an active part in the creation of the Red Army and the civil war of 1918-1921. At the end of 1920, Lenin commissioned him to lead the work to restore the completely destroyed transport system in Russia. Trotsky proposed to introduce at all railways tough discipline like a military one. Militarization also affected the trade union of railway workers and transport workers. In the winter of 1920-1921, the "question of trade unions" became the subject of heated debate; Lenin, who was supported by Zinoviev and Stalin, opposed Trotsky's directives.
In 1922 Lenin sought an alliance with Trotsky in the struggle against the danger of bureaucratizing the party, of which Stalin was elected general secretary. Trotsky agreed with Lenin's proposal, but met with opposition from the "troika" - Stalin, Zinoviev and Kamenev and, in response to Lenin's request to take on the formal duties of his personal representative, put forward the argument that his rise could trigger anti-Semitic attacks on the Soviet regime.
Convinced that the Russian revolution will succeed only if it is joined industrially the developed countries Western Europe Trotsky worked closely with the German Communist Party to prepare the uprising, which he intended to support with the full might of the Red Army. In October 1923, the troika used their control functions in the International and at the very last moment came out for the abolition of the uprising. The failure of the "German October" plan led to a crisis within the CPSU (b).
In an atmosphere of economic difficulties and social tension, discussions about internal party democracy were unfolded. Trotsky and the so-called "old Bolsheviks" who signed a special manifesto vigorously advocated its restoration. In response, the "troika" denounced Trotsky and the "Moscow opposition" for "factionalism." The 13th party conference, which ended the debate, was preceded by a series of falsifications of party election results and bureaucratic manipulations. Acting as a fully organized faction, the apparatus - despite the fact that it represented only a minority of party members - actually did not allow the opposition to participate in the conference, which was condemned for "Menshevik deviation."
When Lenin died on January 21, 1924, Trotsky was not in Moscow. Delaying his return to attend the funeral with a false telegram, Stalin used the funeral ceremony to promote himself as Lenin's heir and asserted his position as leader by proclaiming Lenin's Testament to promptly admit 100,000 new party members who could become an obedient instrument of the apparatus. Trotsky did not authorize the proposal of his supporters in the Red Army to carry out a coup and remove Stalin and Zinoviev, but soon he himself was removed from the post of military commissar.
In 1925, Stalin and the party apparatus, supported by Bukharin and the "rightists" in the party, opposed Zinoviev and his ally Kamenev. After that, he defeated the "new opposition", and Zinoviev announced his secret struggle against Trotsky. Then in 1926, Trotsky hastened his allies to unite with former enemies to form a "united opposition."
The authority of the opposition was given by several thousand "old Bolsheviks" - veterans of the underground struggle, revolution and civil war... It consisted of a significant number of the party's most prominent theorists and political leaders. Signed by 13 members of the Central Committee in April 1926, the Declaration contained a program emphasizing the need to restore democracy and develop a political course to improve the living conditions of the working class and accelerate industrialization. It contained a call to free the parties of the Comintern from the influence of Stalin's paralyzing doctrine of "socialism in one country", which turned them into a "border guard" of the besieged Soviet regime.
In the spring of 1927, the opposition revived after the failure of Stalin's policy towards China (despite warnings from Trotsky and Zinoviev, Stalin forced the Chinese communists to completely submit to Chiang Kai-shek).
However, Stalin made a loud scandal in connection with the penetration into the ranks of the opposition of a former White Guard officer (in fact, an agent of the GPU). Trotsky managed to organize street demonstrations, a large public rally at Moscow University, and even print and distribute the Opposition Platform, but on October 23, 1927, Stalin called for him to be expelled from the party. Despite the sympathy of students and workers for Trotsky, police repression thwarted attempts by the opposition to stage mass demonstrations on November 7, 1927, in honor of the 10th anniversary of the revolution. In December, Trotsky made his last public appearance at the funeral of his friend A.A. Ioffe, who, being terminally ill, committed suicide in protest against Stalinism. In January 1928, Trotsky was forcibly deported to Alma-Ata. Trotsky and other opposition figures managed to address in the summer of 1928 a letter to the Congress of the Comintern. On February 12, 1929, he was deported again, this time to Turkey.
In Turkey, Trotsky published two major works - the autobiography My Life and the three-volume History of the Russian Revolution. But his main task in those years was to mobilize the left forces in Germany against the growing Nazi threat. Trotsky's calls for unity in the fight against the Nazis were rejected by both the Stalinists and the leaders of the German Social Democracy, who saw enemies primarily in each other. Hitler's victory in February 1933 was immediately regarded by Trotsky as the largest defeat for the international labor movement. He concluded that the Comintern was incapacitated due to Stalin's openly counter-revolutionary policies, and called for the formation of the 4th International.
In July 1933, the new French government, led by Edouard Daladier, granted Trotsky a secret refuge in France. But in February 1934 his whereabouts were revealed by the Nazis, and intense pressure from Germany led to his deportation from France. However, only a year later, the French managed to find a country ready to accept the exile. In 1935, the new Labor government of Norway granted Trotsky asylum. In Norway, he wrote his most significant work, The Revolution Betrayed.
In August 1936, the first show trial staged by the security services opened in Moscow, in which Stalin slandered Trotsky as Hitler's agent. Yielding to pressure, the Norwegian Minister of Justice Trygve Lee interned Trotsky and declared that his presence in the country was undesirable. In December 1936, President L. Cardenas granted him asylum in Mexico, where he arrived on January 9, 1937, settling in Coyoacan as a guest of Diego Rivera.
In April 1937, the International Joint Commission for the Investigation of the Moscow Trials headed by J. Dewey worked here. Trotsky's testimony contained a full account of his revolutionary ideas and a description of his revolutionary career, and also refuted slander about collaboration with the Nazis. The Dewey Commission published a summary of these hearings under the title The Case of Leon Trotsky, and in 1938 issued an opinion on the case called Innocent!
In February 1938 Trotsky, André Breton and Diego Rivera issued a manifesto Towards Free Revolutionary Art, which put forward the slogan: “The independence of art for the revolution. The revolution is for the complete liberation of art! " At this very time, Lev Sedov, Trotsky's son and his assistant, was killed by Stalin's agents in Paris. Trotsky did not abandon his attempts to create the Fourth International, the manifesto of which (Trotsky called the Agony of Capitalism and the tasks of the Fourth International) became known as the Program of Transitional Requirements. Trotsky was fatally wounded by NKVD agent Ramon Mercader and died in Coyoacan on August 21, 1940.
The real name of Lev Davydovich Leib Bronstein. Born in 1879 in the village of Yanovka, Kherson province, Elizavetgrad district. Studying at the Odessa real school, and then at Nikolaevsky, Lev Davydovich was already distinguished by his willful and conflicting nature.
Having joined the populists in 1896, he considered the struggle for the improvement of the economic situation of the workers and their political education to be the meaning of his life, he was an active creator of the South Russian Workers' Union.
Once in prison on Butyrka, he joined the ideas of Marxism. He was exiled for 4 years to the Irkutsk province, which he served with his wife, Alexandra Sokolovskaya, who bore him two daughters. Having abandoned his family, he fled abroad in 1902 using someone else's passport. From that time on, he got the pseudonym Trotsky by the last name from a forged passport.
While in London, he was engaged in revolutionary propaganda through the editorial office of the newspaper Iskra, where he was recommended by Lenin. At the Second Congress of the RSDLP, he criticized the activities of the Bolsheviks, accusing them of splitting the party and establishing a dictatorial regime. But he broke up with the Mensheviks in 1904. In conclusion, he formulated ideas about a permanent revolution. The verdict doomed the politician to permanent settlement and deprivation of civil rights, but Trotsky fled abroad.
He expressed an anti-war position on the World War of 1914, called for a revolution all over the world.
He was able to return to Russia only in May 1917, Lev Davydovich supported Lenin in the idea of developing the February revolution into a socialist one. Criticizing the Provisional Government, actively participating in the organization of an armed uprising, creating the Council for the Defense of Petrograd - he actually organized and led the October Revolution. Became the people's commissar of the first Soviet government, in charge of foreign affairs, but did not achieve success in this post. As the people's commissar for military affairs, and then the chairman who headed the Revolutionary Military Council of the Republic, Trotsky actively worked to create the Red Army: to professionalize the army, he recruited military specialists - officers who served in the tsarist army; strengthened discipline; using punitive measures. He was not only a theoretician, but also a practitioner of the "red terror".
A participant in the creation of the Comintern, People's Commissar of Transport, Trotsky, being an administrator, always welcomed the use of force. So he called for a strict distribution of material goods and the creation of a labor army. Even industrialization Trotsky proposed to carry out through forced labor and complete collectivization.
He took part in the struggle for power even at a time when Lenin was ill. After the death of the leader, he actively condemned the policy pursued by J.V. Stalin. In his opinion, the leadership of the party betrayed the October ideals, abandoning the revolution around the world.
The actions of the politician were called anti-party, having a "petty-bourgeois bias." He was first expelled from the Politburo members, then expelled from communist party USSR. In 1928 he was exiled to Alma-Ata, and already in 1929 Trotsky was expelled from the USSR along with his family.
Abroad he lived in several countries: Turkey, France, Norway, Mexico, since the governments of many states refused to accept him. Until August 1940, Lev Davydovich was actively involved in political activities... He wrote many works, including his main work on the history of the Russian revolution. In his writings, Trotsky criticized the Stalinist regime, calling it a bureaucratic degeneration of the dictatorship of the proletariat, called for the overthrow of the Stalinist regime.
Gathering his supporters, he created the IV International in 1938.
JV Stalin, considering that the expulsion of Trotsky from the USSR was not a sufficient measure, ordered to liquidate him. In 1940, after a second attempt, Trotsky was mortally wounded by Ramon Mercader, a communist from Spain.
What was the head of state afraid of when he ordered to expel Trotsky from the USSR? Why was the doctrine of a politician - Trotskyism dangerous for the USSR?
Trotskyists consider themselves to be true Marxists - Leninists. In their opinion, the leader of the movement played all the leading roles in organizing the October Revolution and creating the Red Army. This can be perceived as true by those social strata of society both in the USSR and throughout the world that are politically immature.
These same strata of society support the Trotskyists as "left" revolutionaries calling for "immediate" change. The Trotskyists, in turn, use revolutionary impatience.
Expulsion from the USSR was a necessary measure to get rid of a person who was contradictory in his actions: fighting against tsarist despotism, Trotsky called for adapting to autocracy; actively participating in the October uprising, he tried to slow down its progress.
Trotskyism as a trend is dangerous because of its secrecy and disguise of opportunism. The ideas of Trotskyism are distinguished by their consistency in anti-Leninist and anti-Bolshevik activities, attracting those who are dissatisfied with the policies of the Communist Party. And this was the main reason for the expulsion of Trotsky from the USSR.
