Year of birth and death of Trotsky. Trotsky - how one of the main leaders of the October Revolution was eliminated

TROTSKY(real name Bronstein) Lev Davidovich (1879-1940), Russian political figure. In the Social Democratic movement since 1896. Since 1904 he advocated the unification of the Bolshevik and Menshevik factions. In 1905, he basically developed the theory of “permanent” (continuous) revolution: according to Trotsky, the Russian proletariat, having realized the bourgeois one, will begin the socialist stage of the revolution, which will win only with the help of the world proletariat. During the revolution of 1905-07 he proved himself to be an extraordinary organizer, speaker, and publicist; the de facto leader of the St. Petersburg Council of Workers' Deputies, editor of its Izvestia. He belonged to the most radical wing of the Russian Social Democratic Labor Party. In 1908-12, editor of the newspaper Pravda. In 1917, chairman of the Petrograd Council of Workers' and Soldiers' Deputies, one of the leaders of the October armed uprising. In 1917-18, People's Commissar for Foreign Affairs; in 1918-25, People's Commissar for Military Affairs, Chairman of the Revolutionary Military Council of the Republic; one of the founders of the Red Army, personally led its actions on many fronts Civil War, made extensive use of repression. Member of the Central Committee in 1917-27, member of the Politburo of the Central Committee in October 1917 and in 1919-26. Trotsky's fierce struggle with I.V. Stalin for leadership ended in Trotsky's defeat - in 1924 Trotsky's views (so-called Trotskyism) were declared a "petty-bourgeois deviation" in the RCP(b). In 1927 he was expelled from the party, exiled to Alma-Ata, and in 1929 - abroad. He sharply criticized the Stalinist regime as a bureaucratic degeneration of proletarian power. Initiator of the creation of the 4th International (1938). Killed in Mexico by an NKVD agent, Spaniard R. Mercader. Many of his works describe the history of Russia. Author of literary critical articles, memoirs "My Life" (Berlin, 1930).

TROTSKY Lev Davidovich(real name and last name Leiba Bronstein), Russian and international political figure, publicist, thinker.

Childhood and youth

Born into the family of a wealthy landowner from among the Jewish colonists. His father only learned to read in his old age. Trotsky's childhood languages ​​were Ukrainian and Russian; he never mastered Yiddish. He studied at a real school in Odessa and Nikolaev, where he was the first student in all disciplines. He was interested in drawing, literature, wrote poetry, translated Krylov's fables from Russian to Ukrainian language, participated in the publication of a school handwritten magazine. During these years, his rebellious character first appeared: due to a conflict with a teacher French he was temporarily expelled from the school.

Political universities

In 1896 in Nikolaev, young Lev joined a circle whose members studied scientific and popular literature. At first he sympathized with the ideas of the populists and vehemently rejected Marxism, considering it a dry and alien teaching. Already during this period, many traits of his personality appeared - a sharp mind, polemical gift, energy, self-confidence, ambition, and a penchant for leadership.

Together with other members of the circle, Bronstein taught political literacy to workers, accepted Active participation in writing proclamations, publishing newspapers, and acted as a speaker at rallies, putting forward demands of an economic nature.

In January 1898 he was arrested along with like-minded people. During the investigation, Bronstein studied English, German, French and Italian languages, studied the works of Marx, becoming a fanatical adherent of his teachings, and became acquainted with the works of Lenin. He was convicted and sentenced to four years of exile in Eastern Siberia. While under investigation in Butyrka prison, he married a fellow revolutionary, Alexandra Sokolovskaya.

Since the fall of 1900, the young family was in exile in the Irkutsk province. Bronstein worked as a clerk for a Siberian millionaire merchant, then collaborated with the Irkutsk newspaper "Eastern Review", where he published literary critical articles and essays about Siberian life. It was here that his extraordinary abilities with the pen first appeared. In 1902, Bronstein, with the consent of his wife, leaving her with two small daughters - Zina and Nina, fled alone abroad. When escaping, he entered into a false passport his new surname, borrowed from the warden of an Odessa prison, Trotsky, by which he became known throughout the world.

First emigration

Arriving in London, Trotsky became close to the leaders of Russian Social Democracy living in exile. He read abstracts defending Marxism in the colonies of Russian emigrants in England, France, Germany, and Switzerland. Four months after his arrival from Russia, Trotsky, at the suggestion of Lenin, who highly appreciated the abilities and energy of the young adept, was co-opted to the editorial office of Iskra.

In 1903 in Paris, Trotsky married Natalya Sedova, who became his faithful companion and shared all the ups and downs that abounded in his life.

In the summer of 1903, Trotsky participated in the Second Congress of Russian Social Democracy, where he supported Martov’s position on the issue of the party charter. After the congress, Trotsky, together with the Mensheviks, accused Lenin and the Bolsheviks of dictatorship and destruction of the unity of the Social Democrats. But in the fall of 1904, a conflict broke out between Trotsky and the leaders of Menshevism over the issue of attitude towards the liberal bourgeoisie and he became a “non-factional” Social Democrat, claiming to create a movement that would stand above the Bolsheviks and Mensheviks.

Revolution 1905-1907

Having learned about the beginning of the revolution in Russia, Trotsky returned to his homeland illegally. He spoke in the press, taking radical positions. In October 1905 he became deputy chairman, then chairman of the St. Petersburg Council of Workers' Deputies. In December, he was arrested along with the council.

In prison he created the work “Results and Prospects”, where the theory of “permanent” revolution was formulated. Trotsky proceeded from the uniqueness of the historical path of Russia, where tsarism should be replaced not by bourgeois democracy, as the liberals and Mensheviks believed, and not by the revolutionary democratic dictatorship of the proletariat and peasantry, as the Bolsheviks believed, but by the power of the workers, which was supposed to impose its will on the entire population of the country and rely on the world revolution.

In 1907, Trotsky was sentenced to eternal settlement in Siberia with deprivation of all civil rights, but on the way to his place of exile he fled again.

Second emigration

From 1908 to 1912, Trotsky published the newspaper Pravda in Vienna (this name was later borrowed by Lenin), and in 1912 he tried to create an “August bloc” of Social Democrats. This period included his most acute clashes with Lenin, who called Trotsky “Judass”.

In 1912, Trotsky was a war correspondent for "Kyiv Thought" in the Balkans, and after the outbreak of World War I - in France (this work gave him military experience that was later useful). Having taken a sharply anti-war position, he attacked the governments of all the warring powers with all the might of his political temperament. In 1916 he was expelled from France and sailed to the USA, where he continued to appear in print.

Return to revolutionary Russia

Having learned about February Revolution, Trotsky headed home. In May 1917 he arrived in Russia and took a position of sharp criticism of the Provisional Government. In July, he joined the Bolshevik Party as a member of the Mezhrayontsy. He showed his talent as an orator in all its brilliance in factories, in educational institutions, in theaters, squares, and circuses, as usual, he performed prolifically as a publicist. After the July days he was arrested and ended up in prison. In September, after his liberation, professing radical views and presenting them in a populist form, he became the idol of the Baltic sailors and soldiers of the city garrison and was elected chairman of the Petrograd Soviet. In addition, he became chairman of the military revolutionary committee created by the council. He was the de facto leader of the October armed uprising.

At the pinnacle of power

After the Bolsheviks came to power, Trotsky became People's Commissar for Foreign Affairs. Participating in separate negotiations with the powers of the “quadruple bloc,” he put forward the formula “we stop the war, we don’t sign peace, we demobilize the army,” which was supported by the Bolshevik Central Committee (Lenin was against it). Somewhat later, after the resumption of the offensive by German troops, Lenin managed to achieve the acceptance and signing of the terms of the “obscene” peace, after which Trotsky resigned as People’s Commissar.

In the spring of 1918, Trotsky was appointed to the post of People's Commissar for Military and Naval Affairs and chairman of the revolutionary military council of the republic. In this position he showed himself to be a highly talented and energetic organizer. To create a combat-ready army, he took decisive and cruel measures: taking hostages, executions and imprisonment in prisons and concentration camps of opponents, deserters and violators of military discipline, and no exception was made for the Bolsheviks. Trotsky did great job to attract former tsarist officers and generals ("military experts") to the Red Army and defended them from attacks by some high-ranking communists. During the Civil War, his train ran on railroads on all fronts; The People's Commissar of Military and Marine supervised the actions of the fronts, made fiery speeches to the troops, punished the guilty, and rewarded those who distinguished themselves.

In general, during this period there was close cooperation between Trotsky and Lenin, although on a number of issues of a political (for example, discussion about trade unions) and military-strategic (the fight against the troops of General Denikin, the defense of Petrograd from the troops of General Yudenich and the war with Poland) nature between them there were serious disagreements.

At the end of the Civil War and the beginning of the 1920s. Trotsky's popularity and influence reached their apogee, and a cult of his personality began to take shape.

In 1920-21, he was one of the first to propose measures to curtail “war communism” and transition to the NEP.

Lev Davidovich Trotsky, real name - Leib Davidovich Bronstein (among pseudonyms: Pero, Antid Oto, L. Sedov, Old Man). Born on October 26 (November 7), 1879 in the village of Yanovka, Elisavetgrad district, Kherson province, Russian empire(now Bereslavka, Kirovograd region, Ukraine) - died August 21, 1940 in Coyoacan, Mexico City, Mexico. Revolutionary figure of the 20th century, ideologist of Trotskyism.

Twice exiled under the monarchy, deprived of all civil rights in 1905. One of the organizers October revolution 1917, one of the founders of the Red Army. One of the founders and ideologists of the Comintern, a member of its Executive Committee. In the first Soviet government - People's Commissar for Foreign Affairs, then in 1918-1925 - People's Commissar for Military and Naval Affairs and Chairman of the Revolutionary Military Council of the RSFSR, then the USSR.

Since 1923 - leader of the internal party left opposition. Member of the Politburo of the CPSU (b) in 1919-1926. In 1927, he was removed from all posts and sent into exile. In 1929 he was expelled from the USSR.

In 1932, he was deprived of Soviet citizenship. After being expelled from the USSR, he was the creator and chief theoretician of the Fourth International (1938).

Leon Trotsky (biographical film)

Leiba Bronstein was born on October 26 (November 7, new style) 1879 in the village of Yanovka, Elisavetgrad district, Kherson province.

He was the fifth child in the family of David Leontyevich Bronstein (1843-1922) and his wife Anna (Anetta) Lvovna Bronstein (née Zhivotovskaya) - wealthy landowners and landlords from among the Jewish colonists of the agricultural farm. Leon Trotsky's parents came from the Poltava province.

As a child, Lev spoke Ukrainian and Russian, and not the then widespread Yiddish.

He studied at St. Paul's School in Odessa, where he was the first student in all disciplines, and then in Nikolaev. During his years of study in Odessa (1889-1895), Lev lived and was raised in the family of his cousin (on his mother’s side), the owner of the printing house and scientific publishing house “Matesis” Moisei Filippovich Shpenzer and his wife Fanny Solomonovna, the parents of the poetess Vera Inber.

In 1896, in Nikolaev, Lev Bronstein participated in a circle, together with other members of which he conducted revolutionary propaganda. In the same year he graduated from the Nikolaev Real School and entered the Faculty of Physics and Mathematics of Novorossiysk University, which he soon left.

In 1897 he participated in the founding of the South Russian Workers' Union. On January 28, 1898, he was arrested for the first time. In the Odessa prison, where Trotsky spent 2 years, he becomes a Marxist. “The decisive influence,” he said on this occasion, “was made on me by two studies by Antonio Labriola on the materialistic understanding of history. Only after this book did I move on to Beltov (Plekhanov’s pseudonym) and Capital.”

In 1898, in prison, he married Alexandra Sokolovskaya, who was one of the leaders of the Union.

Since 1900, he was in exile in the Irkutsk province, where he established contact with Iskra agents, and on the recommendation of G. M. Krzhizhanovsky, who gave him the nickname “Pero” for his obvious literary gift, was invited to collaborate in Iskra.

According to the memoirs of Dr. G. A. Ziv, Trotsky had a tendency to lose consciousness, which, according to Trotsky himself, he inherited from his mother. G. A. Ziv, as a doctor, accurately determines that this was not just a tendency to lose consciousness, but real seizures, that is, Trotsky had epilepsy.

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Lev Davidovich Bronstein was born on October 26, 1879 in the Yanovka farm of Elizavetgrad district of the Kherson province in the family of a wealthy Jewish landowner, who by that time had 100 acres of purchased and over 200 leased land. In 1888 he entered the Lutheran Real School of St. Paul in Odessa; the first student, however, repeatedly came into conflict with teachers; communicated with the local liberal intelligentsia, joined the Russian classical literature and European culture. In 1896 he graduated from a real school in Nikolaev and entered the Faculty of Physics and Mathematics of Novorossiysk University as a volunteer, but soon left it. He joined a populist circle in Nikolaev, and learned about Marxism for the first time from a member of the circle, Alexandra Sokolovskaya. In 1897, together with her and her brothers, he formed the social democratic “South Russian Workers' Union”, which began revolutionary propaganda among the workers. In January 1898, he was arrested, after 2 years of imprisonment in Nikolaev, Kherson, Odessa and Moscow, he was administratively exiled for 4 years to Eastern Siberia (to Ust-Kut, then Nizhneilimsk and Verkholensk, Irkutsk province). In 1899, in Butyrka prison, he married Sokolovskaya Alexandra. Political parties Russia late XIX- first third of the 20th century. Encyclopedia - M.: Russian Political Encyclopedia (ROSSPEN), 1996, p. 613

In August 1902, with the consent of his wife, who was left with two young daughters in his arms, he escaped from exile, using a false passport in the name of the warden of the Odessa prison, Trotsky. Arriving in Samara, where the bureau of the Russian organization “Iskra” was located, having carried out a number of instructions from the bureau in Kharkov, Poltava and Kyiv, he illegally crossed the border and at the end of October 1902 came to London, where he met V.I. Lenin. On his recommendation, Trotsky worked at Iskra and gave lectures for Russian emigrants and students.

In 1903, in Paris, he married Natalya Ivanovna Sedova. Participated in the 2nd Congress of the Russian Social Democratic Labor Party with a mandate from the Siberian Union of the RSDLP.

At the end of 1904, he moved away from the Mensheviks, but did not join the Bolsheviks, and advocated the unification of both Social Democratic factions. After the events of January 9, 1905, he was one of the first to return to Russia (Kyiv, then St. Petersburg), collaborated with member of the Central Committee of the RSDLP Leonid Borisovich Krasin, who stood in the position of Bolshevik conciliators, as well as with the Mensheviks, disagreeing, however, with them in assessing the role of the liberal bourgeoisie in the revolution. Together with Parvus (A.L. Gelfand), Trotsky developed the theory of “permanent revolution”.

During the revolution of 1905-1907, from denying the revolutionary potential of the peasantry, Trotsky gradually came to the conclusion about the importance of the participation of the peasantry in the revolution with the obligatory leadership of the proletariat.

In 1905, Trotsky’s qualities as a political figure, organizer of the masses, orator, and publicist were directly revealed. In the fall of 1905, Trotsky was one of the leaders of the St. Petersburg Council of Workers' Deputies, a speaker and author of resolutions on the most important issues. In December 1905 he was arrested, at the end of 1906 he was sentenced to “eternal settlement” in Siberia, but escaped along the way. In 1907, at the 5th Congress of the RSDLP, he headed the center group, joining neither the Bolsheviks nor the Mensheviks. Political figures of Russia in 1917: Biographical Dictionary/Chief Editor: P.V. Volobuev - M: Great Russian Encyclopedia, 1993, p.321

Since 1908, Trotsky collaborated in many Russian and foreign newspapers and magazines. In 1908, together with A.A. Ioffe and M.I. Skobelev established the publication in Vienna of a newspaper for workers, Pravda, in Russian. Not recognizing the legitimacy of the Prague Party Conference organized by the Bolsheviks in 1912, Trotsky, together with Martov, F.I. Danom convened a general party conference in Vienna in August 1912, the anti-Bolshevik bloc (Augustovsky) created at it disintegrated in 1914, and Trotsky himself left it. In 1914 he published a brochure on German"War and the International". In September 1916, Trotsky was expelled from France to Spain for anti-war propaganda, where he was soon arrested and sent to the United States with his family. Since January 1917, Trotsky was an employee of the Russian international newspaper " New world" In March 1917, upon returning to Russia, Trotsky and his family were arrested in Halifax (Canada) and temporarily imprisoned in an internment camp for sailors of the German merchant fleet. On May 4, 1917, he arrived in Petrograd, headed the organization of “Mezhrayontsev”, with whom he was accepted into the RSDLP (b) and elected to the Central Committee of the party, of which he was a member until 1927. On March 4, 1918, Trotsky was appointed chairman of the Supreme Military Council, on March 13 - people's commissar for military affairs, and with the creation of the Revolutionary Military Council of the Republic on September 2 - its chairman. In 1920-21, while remaining at military posts, he was temporarily appointed People's Commissar of Railways, and was one of the leaders of the restoration railway transport and other industries National economy. Based on hostile relations between Stalin and Trotsky, a split formed within the Politburo and the Central Committee, which resulted in an intense intra-party struggle, where Stalin and his supporters gained the upper hand. In January 1925, Trotsky was released from work in the Revolutionary Military Council, in October 1926 he was removed from the Politburo, and in October 1927 - from the Central Committee. In November 1927, Trotsky was expelled from the party, after which he was expelled from Moscow to Alma-Ata, then to Turkey. Political figures of Russia in 1917: Biographical Dictionary/Chief Editor: P.V. Volobuev - M: Great Russian Encyclopedia, 1993, p.324

After being expelled from the USSR, Trotsky launched literary and journalistic activities. He fought against Stalin, whom he considered a traitor to the ideals of October. Last years During his life, Trotsky was in Mexico. Stalin set his intelligence services the task of destroying the hated enemy. The NKVD decided to carry out the murder of Trotsky through the hands of its agent Ramon Mercador. The 26-year-old son of an influential Spanish communist was a participant in the Spanish Civil War, which ended in the defeat of the Republican forces. Jacques Mornard (according to documents), who instantly turned into Frank Jackson, at first unsuccessfully tried to infiltrate the local Trotskyists. Meanwhile, the Mexican Communist Party, apparently on instructions from Moscow, decided to “duplicate” the actions of the special agent and organized its own plot to assassinate Trotsky. On May 24, 1940, his villa came under armed attack. More than twenty masked militants literally turned the entire house upside down, but the owners managed to hide. It was only fate itself that protected the Kremlin exile: Trotsky, his wife and grandson were not harmed. After this scandalous incident, which became known to the world press, Trotsky turned his house into a real fortress, where only people especially devoted to him were allowed. Among them were Sylvia (Trotsky’s courier) and her husband Frank Jackson, who managed to gain the trust of the “teacher.” At first, the young man, who showed an increased interest in Marxism, seemed too annoying to Trotsky. But in the end, the old underground worker, who considered it his sacred duty to raise a young generation of fighters for the “world revolution,” gained confidence in the charming American. Despite the hot day, on August 20, 1940, Frank Jackson showed up at Trotsky’s villa wearing a tightly buttoned raincoat and hat. Under the “family friend’s” raincoat there was a whole arsenal: a mountaineering ice axe, a hammer and an automatic pistol large caliber. The guards, who often saw this man in the house and habitually considered him “one of their own,” led the guest to the owner, who was feeding rabbits in the garden. Natalia, Trotsky's wife, found it strange that Sylvia's husband arrived without warning, but the guest was invited to stay for lunch. Declining the invitation, Mercador-Jackson asked to review an article he had just written. The men went into the office. As soon as Trotsky was deep in reading, Jackson pulled out an ice pick from under his raincoat and plunged it into the back of the victim’s head. Considering the blow not reliable enough, the killer swung the ice ax again, but Trotsky, who miraculously retained consciousness, grabbed him by the hand, forcing him to drop the weapon. Then, staggering, he made his way out of the office into the living room. “Jackson!” he shouted. “Look what you’ve done!” The guards who came running in response to the scream knocked down Jackson, who was aiming a pistol at his victim. “Don’t kill him,” Trotsky stopped the guards. “He needs to tell everything...” With these words, the wounded man lost consciousness. A few minutes later, Mercador Jackson and his victim were taken to the capital's hospital by ambulance. The tenacity with which this mortally wounded man fought for life shocked even the doctors. In their practice, there has never been a case where a victim with such a monstrous injury - a split skull - lived, periodically regaining consciousness, for more than a day... Ramon Mercador, aka Frank Jackson, aka Jacques Mornard, was sentenced to twenty years in prison . After being released from a Mexican prison in March 1960, he settled in Cuba. Shortly before his death in Havana on October 18, 1978, Trotsky's killer received the Gold Hero Star Soviet Union.

Date of birth: October 26, 1879
Place of birth: Yanovka, Russian Empire
Date of death: August 21, 1940
Place of Death: Coyoacan, Mexico

Leib Davidovich Bronstein (Leon Trotsky)- Russian revolutionary, politician.

Leon Trotsky was born on October 26, 1879 in Ukraine. Studied at a real school in the city of Nikolaev and at last grades became interested in socialism. In 1896 he graduated from a real school, and before that he attended the Odessa School. He married Marxist Alexandra Sokolovskaya and became passionate about her ideas.

Together they created the South Russian Workers' Union, for which they were arrested and exiled to Irkutsk, where they stayed from 1898 to 1902. There they continued their ideas of Marxism and became members of the Iskra newspaper circle.

In 1902, he escaped from exile using forged documents in the name of Trotsky, arrived in London and began communicating with Lenin. In London he wrote articles for Iskra. In 1903 he joined the Mensheviks and broke with Lenin, accusing him of authoritarianism. In 1905, after the January conflict, he returned to his homeland and began to direct the activities of the councils there.

In October 1905 he led a general strike and uprising, for which he was arrested and exiled in December. In exile, he wrote the book Results and Prospects, and in court he blamed tsarism for everything. He escaped from exile and arrived in Vienna in 1907 with his second wife. In Vienna he wrote articles for the press in Germany and Austria. In 1908 he created the newspaper Pravda, which he redirected from Vienna to St. Petersburg for distribution among workers.

In 1914 he published the work War and the International, written by him in Switzerland, the idea of ​​which was the creation of the United States of Europe. After that, he went to Paris and wrote articles for the Kyiv press and for his newspaper Nashe Slovo. In 1915 he became a participant in the Zimmerwald Conference, for which he wrote a manifesto. In the future, this conference grew into the 3rd International.

From Paris in 1916 he was deported to Spain, where he was arrested and deported again. So in January 1917, Trotsky found himself in New York, began to collaborate with left-wing socialists and, together with Bukharin, publish the newspaper New World in Russian. In it, he covered the events of February, where he recognized them as positive. After this, he tried to return to Petrograd, but on the way he was captured by British intelligence and released only after the Provisional Council demanded that he be extradited.

So in May 1917 he ended up in Russia and became a member of the Interdistrict Organization of United Social Democrats. He soon retrained from a Menshevik to a Bolshevik and became a famous speaker. In July 1917, he was again arrested for rebellion and released after Kornilov's defeat. He took part in the October events, and after them became the People's Commissar for Foreign Affairs.

He also owned the name new country and its government by the Council of People's Commissars. In December 1917, he became the head of the USSR at the negotiations in Brest-Litovsk. There he behaved strangely, calling for an end to the war, but without concluding a peace treaty. He also spoke out there against Lenin and Bukharin.

In March 1918, he became military commissar and created the Red Army, and also took part in the civil war of 1918-1922. In 1920 he became head of the restoration commission railways and introduced strict discipline on the structures under his control.

However, in 1921, Lenin did not support his idea about the militarization of trade unions along with Zinoviev and Stalin.
In 1922, Lenin invited him to become an ally in the fight against Stalin and his party, where Stalin was general secretary and wanted to bring everything to bureaucratic principles.

Zinoviev and Kamenev began to ally with Stalin, to which Trotsky responded to Lenin by refusing an alliance due to fear of anti-Semitic attacks.

After that he worked together with Germany and cooked with her communist party an uprising with the participation of the Red Army, in October 1923 the uprising was canceled, a crisis was brewing within the Bolshevik party.

On the day of Lenin's death, Trotsky was abroad and was not summoned by Stalin, as he wanted to establish himself as Lenin's successor. Trotsky was unable to refute this and soon lost his post as military commissar.

In 1925, a struggle began between the power of Stalin and Trotsky, who found himself in opposition. Trotsky called on all his allies and in April 1926 formulated a declaration to restore democracy by eliminating Stalin. In 1927, the opposition waited for failure on the part of Talin, but was taken by surprise on the other side - Stalin accused them that White Guards were active in their ranks.

Trotsky held several rallies and demonstrations, published the newspaper Platform of the Opposition, but in October 1927 he was expelled from the party, and in November 1927 he was not allowed to hold a demonstration in honor of 10 years of the overthrow of the tsarist regime.

In January 1928 he was deported to Alma-Ata, and a year later to Turkey, where he wrote his autobiography My Life and the book The History of the Russian Revolution in three volumes. At the same time, he began to see a threat from Germany, where the mobilization of the left and the creation of the Nazis began to gain strength. He wrote to Stalin with the aim of unification, and after Hitler's victory in 1933 he called on him to form the 4th International, but never received a response.

In July 1933 he emigrated to France, but the Germans quickly discovered him there and in 1934 forced him to leave. In 1936 he arrived in Norway and wrote the work The Revolution Betrayed. Six months later he was slandered by Stalin, who called Trotsky an agent of Hitler and in December 1936, Trotsky arrived in Mexico. There, the Mexicans set up a commission on his case and Stalin’s accusation of pandering to the Nazis and gave a negative answer and found him innocent.

In 1938, Trotsky, together with Breton and Rivera, issued a manifesto for free revolutionary art, after which his son was killed by Stalin's agents in Paris. And soon he himself was killed on August 21, 1940.

Achievements of Leon Trotsky:

First People's Commissar of Foreign Affairs
Many works on the revolution
Created the Red Army

Dates from the biography of Leon Trotsky:

October 26, 1879 – born in Ukraine
1896 – graduated from real school
1898-102 - first exile
1902 - escape to London and meeting with Lenin
1917 - return to Russia, creation of the Red Army
1925 - struggle for power, removal from party affairs
1936 – emigration to Mexico
August 21, 1940 - death

Interesting facts about Leon Trotsky:

He was married twice, had 4 children, who all died during the struggle for power
He was killed with an ice ax, six months before his death an attempt was made on his life, for the murder of Trotsky Ramon Mrkader received the title of Hero of the USSR
Only in May 1992 was he rehabilitated
Streets, squares and cities were named after him, but with the collapse of the USSR, all were renamed to historical names

Name: Leon Trotsky (Leiba Bronstein)

Age: 60 years

Height: 174

Activity: revolutionary figure of the 20th century, Soviet and international political figure, organizer of the October Revolution, leader of the Red Army

Family status: was married

Leon Trotsky: biography

Leon Trotsky is an outstanding revolutionary of the 20th century, who went down in history as one of the founders of the Civil War, the Red Army and the Comintern. He was actually the second person in the first Soviet government and headed the People's Commissariat for Military and Naval Affairs, where he proved himself to be a tough and implacable fighter against the enemies of the world revolution. After his death, he led the opposition movement, speaking out against politics, for which he was deprived of Soviet citizenship, expelled from the Union and killed by an NKVD agent.

Lev Davidovich Trotsky (real name at birth - Leiba Davidovich Bronstein) was born on November 7, 1879 in the Ukrainian outback near the village of Yanovka, Kherson province, into a Jewish family of wealthy landowners. His parents were illiterate people, which did not prevent them from earning capital from the brutal exploitation of peasants. The future revolutionary grew up alone - he had no peer friends with whom he could fool around and play, since he was surrounded only by the children of farm laborers, whom he looked down on. According to historians, this laid down the main character trait in Trotsky, in which a sense of his own superiority over other people prevailed.

In 1889, young Trotsky’s parents sent him to study in Odessa, since even then he showed interest in education. There he entered the St. Paul School under the quota for Jewish families, where he became best student in all disciplines. At that time, he did not even think about revolutionary activity, being carried away by drawing, poetry and literature.

But in his final years, 17-year-old Trotsky ended up in a socialist circle that was engaged in revolutionary propaganda. At the same time, he became interested in studying the works of Karl Marx and subsequently became a fanatical supporter of Marxism. It was during that period that a sharp mind, a penchant for leadership, and a polemical gift began to manifest in him.

Immersed in revolutionary activity, Trotsky organizes the “South Russian Workers' Union”, which was joined by workers of the Nikolaev shipyards. At that time they were of little interest salaries, since they received a fairly high salary, and were worried about social relations under the tsarist rule.

Young Leon Trotsky | liveinternet.ru

In 1898, Leon Trotsky went to prison for the first time for his revolutionary activities, where he had to spend 2 years. This was followed by his first exile to Siberia, from which he escaped a few years later. Then he managed to make a fake passport, in which Lev Davidovich randomly entered the name Trotsky, like the senior warden of the Odessa prison. It was this surname that became the future pseudonym of the revolutionary, with whom he lived for the rest of his life.

Revolutionary activities

In 1902, after escaping from exile in Siberia, Leon Trotsky traveled to London to join Lenin, with whom he established contact through the Iskra newspaper, founded by Vladimir Ilyich. The future revolutionary became one of the authors of Lenin’s newspaper under the pseudonym “Pero”.

Having become close to the leaders of Russian Social Democracy, Trotsky very quickly gained popularity and fame, delivering propaganda speeches to migrants. He amazed those around him with his eloquence and oratory, which allowed him to win over serious attitude in the Bolshevik movement, despite his youth.

Books by Leon Trotsky | inosmi.ru

During that period, Leon Trotsky supported Lenin’s policies as much as possible, for which he was dubbed “Lenin’s club.” But this did not last long - literally in 1903, the revolutionary went over to the side of the Mensheviks and began to accuse Lenin of dictatorship. But he “didn’t get along” with the leaders of Menshevism either, because he wanted to try on and unite the factions of the Bolsheviks and Mensheviks, which caused great political disagreements. As a result, he declared himself a “non-factional” member of the Social Democratic society, setting out to create his own movement, which would be superior to the Bolsheviks and Mensheviks.

In 1905, Leon Trotsky returned to his homeland, to St. Petersburg, seething with revolutionary sentiments, and immediately burst into the thick of events. He quickly organized the St. Petersburg Council of Workers' Deputies and gave fiery speeches to crowds of people who were already maximally electrified with revolutionary energy. For his active work, the revolutionary was again imprisoned, as he advocated the continuation of the revolution even after the Tsar’s manifesto appeared, according to which the people received political rights. At the same time, he was also deprived of all civil rights and exiled to Siberia for eternal settlement.

Leon Trotsky - organizer of the revolution | imgur.com

On the way to the “polar tundra,” Leon Trotsky manages to escape from the gendarmes and get to Finland, from where he will soon move to Europe. Since 1908, the revolutionary settled in Vienna, where he began publishing the newspaper Pravda. But four years later, the Bolsheviks, under the leadership of Lenin, intercepted this publication, as a result of which Lev Davidovich went to Paris, where he began publishing the newspaper “Our Word”.

After the February Revolution in 1917, Trotsky decided to return to Russia. Directly from the Finlyandsky Station he went to the Petrosovet, where he was granted membership with the right of advisory vote. In just a few months of his stay in St. Petersburg, Lev Davidovich became informal leader Mezhrayontsy, who advocated the creation of a unified Russian Social Democratic Labor Party.

Photo by Leon Trotsky | livejournal.com

In October 1917, the revolutionary created the Military Revolutionary Committee, and on October 25 (November 7, new style) he carried out an armed uprising to overthrow the provisional government, which went down in history as the October Revolution. As a result of the revolution, the Bolsheviks came to power under the leadership of Lenin.

At new government Leon Trotsky received the post of People's Commissar for Foreign Affairs, and in 1918 became People's Commissar for Military and Naval Affairs. From that moment on, he began forming the Red Army, taking tough measures - he imprisoned and shot all violators of military discipline, deserters and all his opponents, giving no mercy to anyone, even the Bolsheviks, which went down in history under the concept of “Red Terror”.

In addition to military affairs, he worked closely with Lenin on issues of internal and foreign policy. Thus, by the end of the Civil War, the popularity of Leon Trotsky reached its apogee, but the death of the “leader of the Bolsheviks” did not allow him to carry out the planned reforms for the transition from “War Communism” to the New Economic Policy.

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Trotsky was never able to become Lenin’s “successor” and his place at the helm of the country was taken by Joseph Stalin, who saw Lev Davidovich as a serious opponent and hastened to “neutralize” him. In May 1924, the revolutionary was subjected to real persecution by opponents under the leadership of Stalin, as a result of which he lost the post of People's Commissar of Naval Affairs and membership in the Central Committee of the Politburo. In 1926, Trotsky tried to restore his position and organized an anti-government demonstration, as a result of which he was exiled to Alma-Ata and then to Turkey with the deprivation of Soviet citizenship.

In exile from the USSR, Leon Trotsky did not stop his struggle with Stalin - he began publishing the “Bulletin of the Opposition” and created an autobiography “My Life”, in which he justified his activities. He also wrote a historical essay, “The History of the Russian Revolution,” in which he proved the exhaustion Tsarist Russia and the need for the October Revolution.

Books by Leon Trotsky | livejournal.com

In 1935, Lev Davidovich moved to Norway, where he came under pressure from the authorities who did not want to worsen relations with the Soviet Union. All of the revolutionary’s works were taken away and he was put under house arrest. This led to Trotsky deciding to leave for Mexico, from where he “safely” followed the development of affairs in the USSR.

In 1936, Leon Trotsky completed his book “The Revolution Betrayed,” in which he called the Stalinist regime a counter-revolutionary coup. Two years later, the revolutionary proclaimed the creation of an alternative to “Stalinism”, the Fourth International, the heirs of which still exist today.

Personal life

Leon Trotsky's personal life was inextricably linked with his revolutionary activities. His first wife was Alexandra Sokolovskaya, whom he met at the age of 16, when he had not even thought about his revolutionary future. According to historians, it was Trotsky’s first wife, who was 6 years older than him, who became the young man’s guide to Marxism.

Trotsky with his eldest daughter Zina and first wife Alexandra Sokolovskaya

Sokolovskaya became Trotsky's official wife in 1898. Immediately after the wedding, the newlyweds were sent into exile in Siberia, where they had two daughters, Zinaida and Nina. When his second daughter was only 4 months old, Trotsky fled from Siberia, leaving his wife with two small children in her arms. In his book “My Life,” Lev Davidovich, when describing this stage of his life, indicated that his escape was accomplished with the full consent of Alexandra, who helped him escape abroad unhindered.

While in Paris, Leon Trotsky met his second wife Natalya Sedova, who participated in the work of the Iskra newspaper under the leadership of Lenin. As a result of this fateful acquaintance, the revolutionary’s first marriage broke up, but he remained with Sokolovskaya friendly relations.

Trotsky with his second wife Natalya Sedova | liveinternet.ru

In his second marriage to Sedova, Leon Trotsky had two sons - Lev and Sergei. In 1937, a series of misfortunes began in the revolutionary’s family. His younger son Sergey for his political activity was shot, and a year later Trotsky's eldest son, who was also an active Trotskyist, died under suspicious circumstances during an operation to remove appendicitis in Paris.

The daughters of Leon Trotsky also suffered a tragic fate. In 1928 he died youngest daughter Nina from consumption, and eldest daughter Zinaida, who along with her father was deprived of Soviet citizenship, committed suicide in 1933, being in a state of deep depression.

Following his daughters and sons, in 1938 Trotsky also lost his first wife, Alexandra Sokolovskaya, who until her death remained his only legal wife. She was shot in Moscow as a stubborn supporter of the Left Opposition.

The second wife of Leon Trotsky, Natalya Sedova, despite the fact that she lost both sons, did not lose heart until last days supported her husband. She and Lev Davidovich moved to Mexico in 1937 and after his death lived there for another 20 years. In 1960 she moved to Paris, which became for her the “eternal” city, where she met Trotsky. Sedova died in 1962, she was buried in Mexico next to her husband, with whom she shared his difficult revolutionary fate.

Murder

On August 21, 1940 at 7:25 am Leon Trotsky died. He was killed by NKVD agent Ramon Mercader in the revolutionary's house in the Mexican city of Cayoacan. The murder of Trotsky was a consequence of his struggle in absentia with Stalin, who at that time was the head of the USSR.

The operation to liquidate Trotsky began back in 1938. Then Mercader, on assignment Soviet authorities managed to infiltrate the revolutionary’s circle in Paris. He appeared in the life of Lev Davidovich as a Belgian subject Jacques Mornard.

Trotsky with Mexican comrades | liveinternet.ru

Despite the fact that Trotsky turned his house in Mexico into a real fortress, Mercader managed to penetrate it and carry out Stalin’s orders. In the two months preceding the murder, Ramon managed to ingratiate himself with the revolutionary and his friends, which allowed him to appear frequently in Cayoacan.

12 days before the murder, Mercader arrived at Trotsky's house and presented him with an article he had written about the American Trotskyists. Lev Davidovich invited him into his office, where for the first time they managed to be alone. That day, the revolutionary was alarmed by Ramon’s behavior and his attire - in the extreme heat he appeared in a raincoat and hat, and while Trotsky was reading an article, he stood behind his chair.

Ramon Mercader - Trotsky's killer

On August 20, 1940, Mercader again came to Trotsky with an article, which, as it turned out, was a pretext allowing him to retire with the revolutionary. He was again dressed in a cloak and hat, but Lev Davidovich invited him into his office without taking any precautions.

Having settled down behind Trotsky’s chair, who was carefully reading the article, Ramon decided to carry out the order of the Soviet authorities. He took an ice ax from his coat pocket and struck swipe on the revolutionary's head. Lev Davidovich let out a very loud scream, to which all the guards came running. Mercader was grabbed and began to be beaten, after which he was handed over to special police agents.

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Trotsky was immediately taken to the hospital, where two hours later he fell into a coma. The blow to the head was so strong that it damaged vital centers of the brain. Doctors desperately fought for the life of the revolutionary, but he died 26 hours later.

Death of Leon Trotsky | liveinternet.ru

For the murder of Trotsky, Ramon Mercader received 20 years in prison, which was the maximum penalty under Mexican law. In 1960, the revolutionary killer was released and immigrated to the USSR, where he was awarded the title of Hero of the Soviet Union. According to historians, the preparation and execution of the operation to kill Lev Davidovich cost the NKVD $5 million.