Leon Trotsky

:This article is a biography of Leon Trotsky. For modern interpretations and theory of Trotsky, see Trotskyism.

Biography

Before the 1917 Revolution

Childhood and Family

Trotsky's date of birth is October 26 (Julian calendar) or November 7 (Gregorian calendar), the day of the October revolution of 1917. Trotsky was born in Yanovka, Kherson Province, Ukraine, a small village 15 miles from the nearest post office. He was the fifth child of a wealthy but illiterate farmer, David Bronstein, a Jewish colonist. Although the family was Jewish, it was not religious and the languages spoken at home were Russian and Ukrainian. Trotsky's younger sister, Olga, married Lev Kamenev, a leading Bolshevik.

Related Topics:
October 26 - Julian calendar - November 7 - Gregorian calendar - October revolution - 1917 - Yanovka - Kherson Province - Ukraine - Jewish - Colonist - Russian - Ukrainian - Olga - Lev Kamenev

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When Trotsky was 9, his father sent the boy to Odessa for education. There he was enrolled in a historically German school, which became increasingly Russified during his years in Odessa due to the government's policy of russification. Although he was a good student, even in his youth Trotsky had a rebellious nature, organizing a protest against an unpopular teacher in 2nd grade. However, he didn't express an active interest in politics or socialism until 1896 when he moved to Nikolayev for the final year of schooling.

Related Topics:
Odessa - German - Russification - 2nd grade - 1896 - Nikolayev

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Revolutionary activity and Exile

Trotsky became involved in revolutionary activities in 1896 after moving to Nikolayev. At first a narodnik (revolutionary populist), he was introduced to Marxism later that year and gradually became a Marxist. Instead of pursuing a mathematics degree, Trotsky helped organize South Russian Workers' Union in Nikolaev in early 1897. Using the name 'Lvov', he wrote and printed leaflets and proclamations, distributed revolutionary pamphlets and popularized socialist ideas among industrial workers and revolutionary students.

Related Topics:
Narodnik - Populist - Marxism - Mathematics - South Russian Workers' Union - Nikolaev - 1897

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In January 1898, over 200 members of the Union, including Trotsky, were arrested and he spent the next two years in prison awaiting trial. Two months after Trotsky's arrest and imprisonment, the 1st Congress of the newly formed Russian Social Democratic Labor Party (RSDLP) was held and from that point on, Trotsky considered himself a member of the party. While in prison, he married a fellow Marxist, Aleksandra Sokolovskaya, and studied philosophy. In 1900 he was sentenced to four years in exile in Ust-Kut and Verkholensk, Siberia, where his first two daughters were born.

Related Topics:
1898 - Russian Social Democratic Labor Party - Aleksandra Sokolovskaya - 1900 - Ust-Kut - Verkholensk - Siberia

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It was in Siberia that Trotsky became aware of the differences within the party, which had been decimated by arrests in the last two years of the XIXth century. Some social democrats known as "economists" were arguing that the party should concentrate on helping industrial workers improve their lot in life. Others argued that overthrowing the monarchy was more important and that a well organized and disciplined revolutionary party was essential. The latter were led by the London-based newspaper Iskra, which was founded in 1900. Trotsky quickly sided with the Iskra position.

Related Topics:
London - Iskra

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First Emigration and Iskra

Trotsky escaped from Siberia in the summer of 1902, using a passport in the name of 'Trotsky' (a former jailer in Odessa), which became his primary revolutionary pseudonym. Once abroad, he moved to London to join Georgy Plekhanov, Vladimir Lenin, Julius Martov and other editors of Iskra. Under the penname Pero ("pen" in Russian) Trotsky soon became one of the paper's leading authors.

Related Topics:
1902 - Georgy Plekhanov - Vladimir Lenin - Julius Martov - Iskra

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Unbeknownst to Trotsky, the 6 editors of Iskra were evenly split between the "old guard" led by Plekhanov and the "new guard" led by Lenin and Martov. The old guard was not only older, but also spent the previous 20 years in European exile together. The new guard was in their early 30s and had only recently come from Russia. Lenin, who was trying to establish a permanent majority against Plekhanov within Iskra, expected Trotsky, then 23, to side with the new guard and wrote in March 1903:

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::I suggest to all the members of the editorial board that they co-opt ?Pero? as a member of the board on the same basis as other members. We very much need a seventh member, both as a convenience in voting (six being an even number), and as an addition to our forces. ?Pero? has been contributing to every issue for several months now; he works in general most energetically for the Iskra; he gives lectures (in which he has been very successful). In the section of articles and notes on the events of the day, he will not only be very useful, but absolutely necessary. Unquestionably a man of rare abilities, he has conviction and energy, and he will go much farther.

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Due to Plekhanov's opposition, Trotsky did not become a full member of the editorial board, but from that point on he participated in its meetings in an advisory capacity, which earned him Plekhanov's enmity.

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Split with Lenin

In the meantime, after a period of secret police repression and internal confusion that followed the first party Congress in 1898, Iskra succeeded in convening the party's 2nd congress in London in August 1903, with Trotsky and other Iskra editors in attendance. Although Iskra supporters handily defeated the few "economist" delegates at the Congress, they themselves unexpectedly split in two factions. Lenin and his supporters (known as "Bolsheviks") argued for a smaller but highly organized party. Martov and his supporters (known as "Mensheviks") argued for a larger and less disciplined party. In a surprise development, Trotsky and most of the Iskra editors supported Martov and the Mensheviks while Plekhanov supported Lenin and the Bolsheviks.

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The two factions were in a state of flux in 1903-1904 with many members changing sides. Plekhanov soon parted ways with the Bolsheviks while Trotsky left the Mensheviks in late 1904 over his development of the theory of permanent revolution. From that point until 1917 Trotsky remained a self-described "non-factional social democrat". He spent much of his time between 1904 and 1914 trying to reconcile different groups within the party, which resulted in many clashes with Lenin and other prominent party members. Trotsky later conceded he had been wrong against Lenin on the issue of the party.

Related Topics:
1904 - Permanent revolution - 1914

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The 1905 Revolution

During the Russian Revolution of 1905, Trotsky secretly returned to Russia and soon proved to be one of the best public speakers in the country. In October 1905, he was elected vice-Chairman and, after Khrustalev-Nosar's arrest in November, Chairman of the St. Petersburg Soviet of Workers' Deputies. He was arrested in December 1905 along with the rest of the Soviet and put on trial in 1906 on charges of supporting an armed rebellion. He was convicted and sentenced to exile for life.

Related Topics:
Russian Revolution of 1905 - Russia - Khrustalev-Nosar - St. Petersburg - Soviet - 1906

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Second Emigration

In January 1907, Trotsky escaped en route to exile and once again made his way to London, where he attended the 5th Congress of the RSDLP. In October, he moved to Vienna. In 1908 he started a Social Democratic paper airmed at workers called Pravda, which was smuggled into Russia. The paper was popular with Russian industrial workers and continued publication until April 1912. When the Bolsheviks started a new workers-oriented newspaper in St. Petersburg in May 1912, they called it Pravda as well. In what appeared to be a minor development at the time, in April 1913 Trotsky was so upset by what he saw as a usurpation of 'his' newpaper's name that he wrote a letter to Nikolay Chkheidze bitterly denouncing Lenin and the Bolsheviks. Trotsky was able to suppress the contents of the letter in 1921 to avoid embarrassment, but once he started losing power in the early 1920s, the letter was made public by his opponents within the Communist Party in 1924 and used to paint him as Lenin's enemy.

Related Topics:
1907 - Vienna - 1908 - Pravda - April - May - 1913 - Nikolay Chkheidze - 1921 - 1924

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In January 1912, some Bolsheviks led by Lenin and a few Mensheviks (both the Bolshevik and the Menchevik factions had split multiple times by then) held a conference in Prague and expelled their opponents from the party. In response, Trotsky organized a "unification" conference of social democratic factions in Vienna in August 1912 (aka "The August Block") and tried to re-unite the party. The attempt was generally unsuccessful.

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As World War I approached, Trotsky moved to neutral Switzerland, then to France. The outbreak of the war in 1914 caused a sudden realignment withing the RSDLP over the issue of wars, revolution and internationalism. Both Lenin and Trotsky advocated an internationalist revolutionary position directed against their own government and found their positions converging. As a result of Trotsky's anti-war articles, he was deported from France in 1915 and moved to the United States.

Related Topics:
World War I - Switzerland - France - 1914 - 1915 - United States

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After the Russian Revolution

Brest-Litovsk

After the Bolsheviks came to power, Trotsky became the People's Commissar for Foreign Affairs and published the secret treaties previously signed by members of the Triple Entente and the United States that detailed plans for post-war reallocation of colonies and redrawing state lines.

Related Topics:
People's Commissar - Triple Entente - United States

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Trotsky was the head of the Soviet delegation during peace negotiations in Brest-Litovsk between December 22, 1917 and February 10, 1918. At that time the Soviet government was split on the issue. Left Communists, led by Nikolai Bukharin, continued to believe that there could be no peace between a Soviet republic and a capitalist country and that only a revolutionary war leading to a pan-European Soviet republic would bring a durable peace. They didn't mind holding talks with the Germans as a means of exposing German imperial ambitions (territorial gains, reparations, etc) in hopes of accelerating the hoped for Soviet revolution in the West, but they were dead set against signing any peace treaty. In case of a German ultimatum, they advocated proclaiming a revolutionary war against Germany in order to inspire Russian and European workers to fight for socialism. Their opinion was shared by Left Socialist Revolutionaries, who were then the Bolsheviks' junior partners in a coalition government.

Related Topics:
Brest-Litovsk - December 22 - February 10 - Left Communists - Nikolai Bukharin - Left Socialist Revolutionaries

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Lenin, who had earlier hoped for a speedy Soviet revolution in Germany and other parts of Europe, quickly decided that the imperial government of Germany was still strong and that, absent a functioning Russian military, an armed conflict with Germany would lead to a collapse of the Soviet government in Russia. He agreed with the Left Communists that ultimately a pan-European Soviet revolution would solve all problems, but until then the Bolsheviks needed to be able to survive and stay in power. Lenin didn't mind prolonging the negotiating process for maximum propaganda effect, but, from January 1918 on, he advocated signing a separate peace treaty if faced with a German ultimatum.

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Trotsky's position during this period was in between these two Bolshevik factions. Like Lenin, he admitted that the old Russian military, inherited from the monarchy and the Provisional Government and in advanced stages of decomposition, was unable to fight ("That we could no longer fight was perfectly clear to me") and that the newly formed Red Guard detachments were too small and poorly trained to resist the Germans. On the other hand, he agreed with the Left Communists that signing a separate peace treaty with an imperialist power would be a terrible moral and material blow to the Soviet government. In case of a German ultimatum, Trotsky argued, the best policy was to refuse to accept it, which had a good chance of being the last drop that would lead to an uprising within Germany or, at the very least, inspire German soldiers to refuse to obey their officers since any German offensive would be a naked grab for territories. As Trotsky wrote in 1925:

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::We began peace negotiations in the hope of arousing the workmen?s party of Germany and Austria-Hungary as well as of the Entente countries. For this reason we were obliged to delay the negotiations as long as possible to give the European workman time to understand the main fact of the Soviet revolution itself and particularly its peace policy.

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::But there was the other question: Can the Germans still fight? Are they in a position to begin an attack on the revolution that will explain the cessation of the war? How can we find out the state of mind of the German soldiers, how fathom it?

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Throughout January and February of 1918, Lenin's position was supported by 7 members of the Bolshevik Central Committee and Bukharin's by 4. Trotsky had 4 votes (his own, Felix Dzerzhinsky's, Nikolai Krestinsky's and Adolf Joffe's) and, since he held the balance of power, he was able to pursue his policy in Brest-Litovsk. When he could no longer delay the negotiations, he withdrew from the talks on (February 10, 1918), refusing to sign on Germany's harsh terms. After a brief hiatus, the Central Powers started an offensive on February 18. At that point Lenin again argued that the Soviet government had done all it could in terms of explaining its position to Western workers and that it was time to accept the terms. Trotsky refused to support Lenin since he was waiting to see whether German workers would rebel or whether German soldiers would refuse to follow orders. When it became clear that the German army was capable of resuming offensive operations, Trotsky and his supporters in the Bolshevik Central Committee abstained and Lenin's resolution was carried 7-4 and paved the way to the signing of the even more disadvantageous Treaty of Brest-Litovsk on March 3. Since he was so closely associated with the policy previously followed by the Soviet delegation at Brest-Litovsk, Trotsky resigned from his position as Commissar for Foreign Affairs to remove a potential obstacle to the new policy.

Related Topics:
Felix Dzerzhinsky - Nikolai Krestinsky - Adolf Joffe - February 10 - 1918 - Central Powers - February 18 - Treaty of Brest-Litovsk - March 3

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The Civil War

In March, 1918 Trotsky was appointed People's Commissar of Army and Fleet Affairs (?????? ?? ??????? ? ??????? ?????, ?????? ????? ? ?????) (1918-1925). In September 1918 he was appointed Chairman of the Revolutionary Military Council of the Republic.

Related Topics:
People's Commissar - Revolutionary Military Council

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As founder and commander of the Red Army, he was largely responsible for its victory in the lengthy and violent Russian Civil War (1918-1920) over the White Army, Ukrainian and other nationalists, the Czechoslovak Legions, Entente detachments from 14 countries and various other groups.

Related Topics:
Red Army - Russian Civil War - White Army - Ukrainian - Czechoslovak Legions

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In March 1921 he organised and directed the suppression of the Kronstadt Rebellion, famous as the last major revolt against Bolshevik rule and an important event in the history of working class struggle.

Related Topics:
Kronstadt Rebellion - Bolshevik - Working class

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Fall from Power

The civil war and the suppression of the German revolutions in 1918 and 1921 left impoverished Russia isolated. A bureaucratic caste arose within Russian society, which began asserting its own interests. Both Trotsky and Lenin fought this tendency. In the two years before Lenin died, this was his greatest fear; he went so far as recommending Stalin be removed from any position of power. (See: Testament of Lenin)

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With the illness and death of Lenin, Joseph Stalin was elevated to power by the bureaucracy with the support Bukharin, Kamenev, and Zinoviev- lesser figures within the leadership of the Bolshevik Party. At this point, Trotsky formed the Left Opposition in order to educate the working class about the dangers of Stalinism.

Related Topics:
Joseph Stalin - Bukharin - Kamenev - Zinoviev - Left Opposition

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At the Twelfth Party Congress in 1923, Trotsky argued for the expansion of democratic rights, the protection of minority factions within the party, and a general program to reduce the influence of the bureaucratic caste. He was voted down. There have been accounts that when Lenin heard this news, while in his death bed, he grew upset and had a stroke.

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Nevertheless, Trotsky and his supporters maintained the Left Opposition, which fought within the Communist Party for several years against Stalin's platform and leadership. This included opposition to many of Stalin's policies in the Comintern, such as the popular front. Stalin argued that Communist Parties should make alliances with liberal capitalist parties, as the Mensheviks had argued prior to the October Revolution. Trotsky maintained the Leninist position.

Related Topics:
Left Opposition - Communist Party - Popular front

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Trotsky put forward the theory of 'Permanent Revolution' and an internationalist perspective, which stood in stark contrast to Stalin's policy of building 'Socialism in One Country'. Stalin, in fact, only created this policy in 1924. Prior to this, Stalin had gone along with Lenin's internationalist perspective. Trotsky attributed this to Stalin's devotion to the interests of the bureaucracy, which was willing to sacrifice the international working class for its own interests.

Related Topics:
Permanent Revolution - Socialism in One Country

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He also put forward an argument for measured industrialization of the economy and gradual abandonment of the New Economic Policy. Stalin, allied with Bukharin, argued for slow industrialization and retention of the NEP, in order to appease the peasantry.

Related Topics:
New Economic Policy - Bukharin

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This ideological division provided much of the intellectual basis for the political divide between Trotsky and Stalin, which culminated on November 12, 1927 when Stalin expelled Trotsky from the Soviet Communist Party (leaving Stalin with undisputed control of the Soviet Union). He was exiled to Alma Ata (now in Kazakhstan) on January 31, 1928. He was expelled from the Soviet Union in 1929.

Related Topics:
November 12 - 1927 - Soviet Communist Party - Alma Ata - Kazakhstan - January 31 - 1928 - 1929

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Stalin took this step following the defeat of the Chinese Revolution of 1927. His policies of class compromise led to the massacre of thousands of Communists at the hands of the Kuomintang. This destruction of the leading members of the Chinese party led to the rise of Mao, then a supporter of Stalin.

Related Topics:
Chinese Revolution - 1927 - Kuomintang - Mao

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Following Trotsky's expulsion, Stalin turned against Bukharin and appropriated much of Trotsky's domestic economic policy, although he implemented it in a manner criticised for being overly violent and authoritarian. The Left Opposition continued to operate under conditions of illegality.

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The Last Exile

Trotsky was deported in February 1929. His first station in exile was the Turkish island of Prinkipo, where he stayed four years. In 1933 he was offered asylum in France by Daladier. He stayed first at Royan, then at Barbizon. He was not allowed to visit Paris. In 1935 it was implied to him that he was no longer welcome in France and, after weighing alternatives, he moved to Norway, where he was a guest of Konrad Knudsen near Oslo. After two years, allegedly under influence from the Soviet Union, he was put under house arrest. After consultations with the Norwegian officials, his transfer to Mexico on a freighter was arranged.

Related Topics:
February - 1929 - Turkish - Prinkipo - 1933 - France - Daladier - Royan - Barbizon - 1935 - Norway - Konrad Knudsen - Oslo - Mexico

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In Mexico, he lived at one point at the home of the painter Diego Rivera, and at another at that of Frida Kahlo. He was a prolific writer penning several key works including his History of the Russian Revolution (1930) and The Revolution Betrayed (1936), a critique of the Soviet Union under Stalinism. Trotsky argued that the Soviet state had become a degenerated workers' state controlled by an undemocratic bureaucracy, which would eventually either be overthrown via a political revolution establishing workers' democray or degenerate to the point where the bureaucracy converts itself into a capitalist class.

Related Topics:
Diego Rivera - Frida Kahlo - Stalinism - Degenerated workers' state

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This proved prescient. Albeit critics might say this may well be because it was found to work better than communism. Trotskyists point to the declining living standards of the majority of people in the former Soviet Union and the authoritarian leadership defending a small number of billionaires.

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While in Mexico, Trotsky also worked closely with James P. Cannon, Joseph Hansen and Farrell Dobbs of the Socialist Workers Party of the United States as well as other supporters. Cannon, a long time leading member of the American communist movement, had been supporting Trotsky in the struggle against Stalinism since he first read Trotsky's criticisms of the Soviet Union in 1928. Trotsky's critique of the Stalinist regime, though banned, was distributed to leaders of the Comintern.

Related Topics:
James P. Cannon - Joseph Hansen - Farrell Dobbs - Socialist Workers Party - Stalinism

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In 1938, Trotsky and his supporters founded an international Marxist organization, the Fourth International, which was intended to be a Trotskyist alternative to the Stalinist Third International.

Related Topics:
1938 - Marxist - Fourth International - Trotskyist - Third International

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Trotsky eventually quarreled with Rivera and in 1939 moved into his own residence in Coyoacán (a neighborhood in Mexico City). On May 24, 1940, he survived a raid on his home by Stalinist assassins under the leadership of NKVD agent Iosif Romualdovich Grigulevich and Mexican Stalinist painter David Alfaro Siqueiros. Later, on August 20, 1940, Trotsky was successfully attacked in his home by a Stalinist agent, Ramón Mercader, who drove the pick of an ice axe (whose shaft had been drastically shortened in order to allow the weapon to be concealed), into Trotsky's skull.

Related Topics:
1939 - Coyoacán - Mexico City - May 24 - 1940 - NKVD - Iosif Romualdovich Grigulevich - David Alfaro Siqueiros - August 20 - Ramón Mercader - Ice axe

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The blow was poorly delivered, however, and failed to kill Trotsky instantly as Mercader had intended. Witnesses have stated that Trotsky let out a blood-curdling cry and began struggling fiercely with Mercader. Hearing the commotion, Trotsky's bodyguards burst into the room and nearly killed Mercader, but Trotsky stopped them, shouting, "Do not kill him! This man has a story to tell." Trotsky died the next day.

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Mercader later testified at his trial: "I laid my raincoat on the table in such a way as to be able to remove the ice axe which was in the pocket. I decided not to miss the wonderful opportunity that presented itself.

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The moment Trotsky began reading the article, he gave me my chance; I took out the ice axe from the raincoat, gripped it in my hand and, with my eyes closed, dealt him a terrible blow on the head."

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Trotsky's house in Coyoacán was preserved in much the same condition as it was on the day of the assassination and is now a museum. His grave is located on its grounds.

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Trotsky was never formally rehabilitated by the Soviet government, despite the Glasnost-era rehabilitation of most other Old Bolsheviks killed during the Great Purges.

Related Topics:
Glasnost - Old Bolshevik - Great Purges

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