Leon+Trotsky

Edited by Wallis Sung
====Leon Trotsky was born Lev Davidovich Bronshtein on November 7, 1879 in Yanovka, Ukraine. He was known for being the Red Army leader and Vladimir Lenin’s chief assistant. He supported the Menshevik Internationalists throughout his time and joined the Bolsheviks after the October Revolution in 1917. After Lenin’s death, he was engaged in a power struggle against Joseph Stalin; unfortunately, he lost to Stalin and was forced to exile.====

__Early Life__
====Leon Trotsky was born in Yanovka, Ukraine – in the Russian Empire on November 7, 1879. His parents, David and Anna Bronstein, were prosperous Jewish farmers. When Leon was 8 years old, he went to school in Odessa, then moved to Nikolayev, Ukraine in 1896 for his final year in school. While in Nikolayev, he was introduced to Marxism and soon became fascinated by it.====

====In 1897, Leon Trotsky helped found the South Russian Workers’ Union. He was arrested within a year for his activistic activity and spent two years in prison before he was sent to Siberia for a four-year sentence. While in prison, he met and married Alexandra Lvovna, a Jewish girl and a co-revolutionary who had also been sentenced to Siberia. The couple had two daughters.====

====In 1902, after serving only two years of his sentence, Leon Trotsky escaped, abandoning his wife and daughters. On forged papers, he changed his name to Leon Trotsky and used it for the rest of his life. He managed to make his way to London, England, where he joined the Socialist Democratic Party and met Vladimir Lenin. In 1903, Leon Trotsky married his second wife Natalia Ivanovna and had two sons.====

__Provisional Government and Soviet Leadership[[image:https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/3/31/Leon_trotsky.jpg align="right" caption="Leon Trotsky"]]__
====During the early years of the Social Democratic Party, there were often disputes among the party’s leadership over its form and strategy. Vladimir Lenin argued for a small party of professional revolutionaries who would lead a large contingent of non-party organization of supporters; on the other hand, Julius Martov advocated for a larger, more democratic organization of supporters. Leon Trotsky tried to stay neutral, but often had conflicts with both leaders. Many of the Social Democrats, including Joseph Stalin, were on Lenin’s side; thus, Trotsky’s neutrality was seen as disloyal.====

====On January 22, 1905, unarmed protestors marched against Tsar Nicholas II of Russia were killed by the Imperial Guards. Leon Trotsky supported the uprisings, and by the end of 1905, he became a leader of the movement. In December, the rebellion was crushed, and Trotsky was once again arrested and sent to Siberia. In January 1907, Trotsky escaped prison and traveled to West Europe, where he spent ten years in exile in various cities, including Vienna, Zurich, Paris and New York. He also spent much of his time writing for Russian revolutionary journals, including //Pravda//, and advocated an anti-war policy.====

====After the overthrow of Tsar Nicholas II in February 1917, Trotsky returned to Russia from New York. When he arrived Russia, he saw the changes in post-revolutionary Russia. He disapproved of the newly formed provisional government and he felt it was unnecessary and ineffectual. The new Prime Minister Alexander Kerensky saw Trotsky as a major threat and had him arrested. While in jail, Trotsky was admitted to the Bolshevik Party and released soon after. In November 1917, the provisional government was overthrown and the Soviet Council of People’s Commissars was formed. Leon Trotsky’s first role in the new government was serving as commissar for foreign affairs and making peace with the Germans.====

====After the Bolsheviks took control of the Soviet government, Lenin ordered the formation of the Red Army and appointed Leon Trotsky as its leader. Trotsky’s task was difficult as his first order was to neutralize the White Army during the Russian Civil War, yet he proved himself as an outstanding military leader. When the Bolsheviks won the Russian Civil War, Trotsky was elected a member of the Communist Party central committee.====

====In May 1922, Lenin suffered his first stroke and many people wanted to ascertain Lenin’s next successor. Leon Trotsky was a military leader and an administrator and seemed to be an obvious choice among other members in the Communist Party, but he had offended many members in the Communist Party’s executive committee and a group of Politburo members led by Stalin. Although Lenin favoured Trotsky over Stalin, a third stroke silenced him and Stalin was free to push Trotsky out of power.====

====Between 1925 and 1928, Trotsky was gradually pushed from power and influence by Stalin and his allies. He was expelled from the Central Committee in October 1927 and exiled to Alma-Ata, Kazakhstan. Stalin realized that this was not far enough; as a result, Trotsky was banished entirely from the Soviet Union. Trotsky then moved to Mexico City and wrote criticism on Stalin and the Soviet Union.====

__[[image:http://www.schoolshistory.org.uk/gcse/russia/images/trotsky840.jpg width="256" height="185" align="right" caption="Leon Trotsky's death"]]Death__
====In the early months of 1940, Leon Trotsky’s heath was failing. In February, he wrote a testament expressing his final thoughts denying Stalin’s accusations. On August 20, 1940, Trotsky was sitting in his desk in his study in Mexico City. Ramon Mercader, an undercover agent for the Soviet Union’s secret police, attacked Trotsky with an ice pack. Trotsky was taken to the hospital but died a day later at the age of 60.====

Sources: [] Falk, Jerry. History Twelve Student Workbook. Third ed. Surrey: Hazelmere, 2010. Print. []