Lev Davidovich Trotsky (Leiba Bronstein) (born November 7, 1879 - died August 21, 1940) - revolutionary, ideologist of Trotskyism. One of the organizers of the 1917 revolution. Member of the Bolshevik Party from August 1917 to November 14, 1927. Member of the Politburo of the Central Committee of the RSDLP (b) - RCP (b) - VKP (b). He was a member of the Organizing Bureau of the Central Committee of the RCP (b) between the VIII and IX party congresses, a member of the Organizing Bureau of the Central Committee of the RCP (b) from September 25, 1923 to June 2, 1924.
1924 – confrontation between Trotsky and I.V. Stalin's battle for leadership ended in Trotsky's defeat. 1927 - expelled from the party, exiled to Alma-Ata, 1929 - abroad. He sharply criticized the Stalinist regime as a bureaucratic degeneration of proletarian power. 1938 - initiator of the creation of the 4th International. 1940 - was killed in Mexico by an NKVD agent, Spaniard R. Mercader.
Childhood. early years
Leiba Bronstein was born in 1879 in the village of Yanovka, Elisavetgrad district, Kherson province, into the family of a wealthy landowner from among the Jewish colonists. His father was able to learn to read only in old age. He studied at a real school in Odessa and Nikolaev, where he was the first in all disciplines. Leiba loved to draw, was fond of literature, wrote poetry, translated I. A. Krylov’s fables from Russian into Ukrainian, and took part in the publication of a school handwritten magazine. At that time, his rebellious character began to manifest itself for the first time: due to a conflict with a French teacher, he was temporarily expelled from the school.
Trotsky in childhood and youth
The beginning of revolutionary activity. Arrest. Link
1896 - in Nikolaev (where he moved) he joined a revolutionary circle. In order to get a higher education, Leiba had to leave her new comrades and go to Novorossiysk. There he was easily able to enter the physics and mathematics department of the local university. But the revolutionary struggle had already captured the young man, and he soon left this university and returned to Nikolaev.
1898, January - he was arrested, imprisoned, first in Nikolaev, from there transferred to Kherson, then to Odessa and Moscow transit centers. In a Moscow prison he married A.L., an activist of the South Russian Workers' Union. Sokolovskaya, whom I knew from the Nikolaev period of participation in this organization. Sentenced to four years of exile in Eastern Siberia, where he and his wife were taken in the fall of 1900. At the stage I met F.E. Dzerzhinsky. In exile, he collaborated with the Irkutsk newspaper “Eastern Review”, writing under the pseudonym Antid Oto. He joined the Mensheviks.
Trotsky with his daughter Zina and first wife Alexandra Sokolovskaya
Emigration
1902, August - leaving his wife with two daughters, the youngest of whom was three months old, he fled from Siberian exile with a passport in the name of Trotsky, which he himself entered, not foreseeing that it would become his name for the rest of his life.
Leon Trotsky went to London, where he met with V.I. Lenin. There he spoke more than once to emigrant revolutionaries. Trotsky amazed everyone with his intellect and oratorical abilities. Lenin proposed to include him on the editorial board of Iskra, but Plekhanov categorically opposed this.
1903 - in Paris, Trotsky married Natalya Sedova. But officially Alexandra Sokolova remained his wife until the end of his life.
Return to Russia
After the revolution of 1905, Lev Davidovich and his wife returned to Russia. During the revolution, he showed 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 (RSDLP).
Arrest. Second emigration
After the publication of the Financial Manifesto, he was arrested and convicted. 1906 - was sentenced to lifelong settlement in Siberia with deprivation of all civil rights. On the way to Obdorsk, he fled from Berezov.
He moved to Europe, where he made several attempts to unite disparate parties of a socialist orientation, but could not achieve success. In 1912-1913, Lev Davidovich Trotsky, as a military correspondent for the Kyiv Mysl newspaper, wrote 70 reports from the fronts of the Balkan Wars. Subsequently, this experience will help him organize work in the Red Army.
After the outbreak of the First World War, he fled from Vienna to Paris, where he published the newspaper “Our Word”. In it, he published his pacifist articles, which became the reason for Trotsky’s expulsion from France. The revolutionary moved to America, where he hoped to settle, since he doubted the possibility of an imminent revolution in Russia.
Trotsky at a rally in Yekaterinodar (1919)
October Revolution
May 1917 - returned to Petrograd, joined the United Social Democratic Internationalists (“Mezhrayontsy”). Soon he became the informal leader of the “Mezhrayontsy”, who took a critical position towards the Provisional Government. After the failure of the July uprising, he was arrested by the Provisional Government.
At the 6th Congress of the RSDLP(b) he was elected one of the honorary chairmen of the congress and a member of the party Central Committee. 1917, September - after being released from prison, he is elected chairman of the Petrograd Soviet. He was one of the organizers of the armed uprising in Petrograd, during the days of the October Revolution he played a leading role in the PVRK, and led the suppression of the Kerensky-Krasnov rebellion.
Fall from the pinnacle of power
1918, autumn - Trotsky is appointed chairman of the Revolutionary Military Council of the RSFSR, i.e. he becomes the first commander-in-chief of the newly formed Red Army. For the next few years, he essentially lived on a train, on which he traveled on all fronts. During the defense of Tsaritsyn, Lev Davidovich entered into open confrontation with Stalin. Over time, he began to understand that there could be no equality in the army, and began to introduce the institution of military experts into the Red Army, striving for its reorganization and a return to the traditional principles of building the armed forces. 1924 - Trotsky was removed from his post as chairman of the Revolutionary Military Council.
In exile
1927 - Lev Davidovich Trotsky was removed from the Politburo of the Central Committee and expelled from the party. 1928, January - was exiled to Alma-Ata. 1929, February - deported from the Soviet Union to Turkey.
He settled on the island of Prinkipo (Sea of Marmara, near Istanbul), wrote works there about his life and the revolution and harshly criticized Stalin's policies. Considering the Comintern “captured” by the Stalinists to be politically bankrupt, Lev Davidovich began organizing a new, Fourth International.
He sharply opposed it, calling for the unification of all leftist forces in Europe against German National Socialism. 1933, summer - after the Fuhrer came to power, the radical French government of E. Daladier provided Trotsky with asylum in France. 1935 - Trotsky was forced to leave this country. He was granted new asylum by the Norwegian Labor government, but at the beginning of 1937 he was expelled from there, apparently due to Soviet pressure.
Last years
The revolutionary was now given refuge by the “leftist” President of Mexico Lazaro Cardenas. Leon Trotsky settled in Coyoacan as a guest of the radical artist Diego Rivera. 1938 - The Fourth International was officially founded by Trotskyists.
Meanwhile, the USSR intelligence services did not cease to keep Trotsky under close surveillance, having agents among his associates. 1938 - under strange circumstances, his closest and tireless colleague, his eldest son Lev Sedov, died in a Paris hospital after an operation. News came from the USSR not only about unprecedentedly cruel repressions against the “Trotskyists”. His first wife and his youngest son, Sergei Sedov, were arrested and subsequently shot. The accusation of Trotskyism in the Soviet Union became the most terrible and dangerous in those days.
Death
In recent years, Lev Davidovich worked on his book about Stalin, in which he considered Stalin as a fatal figure for socialism. Anticipating his imminent death, at the beginning of 1940, Trotsky wrote a will, where he spoke of his satisfaction with his fate as a Marxist revolutionary, proclaimed his unshakable faith in the triumph of the 4th International and in the imminent world socialist revolution.
1940, May - an attempt was made on the revolutionary himself in Mexico by a group of killers led by the famous artist A. Siqueiros. However, it failed, but on August 20, 1940, NKVD agent Ramon Mercader struck Trotsky on the head with an ice pick.
Lev Davidovich Trotsky died the next day, August 21, 1940 in Coyocan (Mexico). He was buried in the courtyard of his house, where his museum is now located.
TROTSKY, wow, m. Liar, talker, talker, idle talker. Whistle like Trotsky to lie. L. D. Trotsky (Bronstein) famous political figure... Dictionary of Russian argot
TROTSKY- (real name Bronstein) Lev Davydovich (1879 1940), political figure. Since 1896 in the social democratic movement, since 1904 he advocated the unification of the Bolshevik and Menshevik factions. In 1905 he put forward the theory of permanent (continuous) revolution... Russian history
TROTSKY- “TROTSKY”, Russia Switzerland USA Mexico Turkey Austria, VIRGIN FILM, 1993, color, 98 min. Historical and political drama. About the last months of the life of the famous revolutionary, politician, chairman of the Revolutionary Military Council of the Soviet Republic. “Our film is... ... Encyclopedia of Cinema
Trotsky- idle talker, talker, liar, liar, nonsense, talker, liar Dictionary of Russian synonyms. Trotsky noun, number of synonyms: 9 talker (132) ... Synonym dictionary
- (Bronstein) L. D. (1879 1940) politician and statesman. In the revolutionary movement since the late 90s, during the split of the RSDLP, he joined the Mensheviks, participant in the revolution of 1905-1907, chairman of the St. Petersburg Council, after the revolution... ... 1000 biographies
TROTSKY- (Bronstein) Lev (Leiba) Davidovich (1879 1940) professional revolutionary, one of the leaders of the October (1917) revolution in Russia. Ideologist, theorist, propagandist and practitioner of the Russian and international communist movement. T. repeatedly... The latest philosophical dictionary
TROTSKY L.D.- Russian politician and statesman; founder of the radical left movement in the international communist movement, bearing his name Trotskyism. Real name Bronstein. The pseudonym Trotsky was taken in 1902 for the purpose of conspiracy. A lion… … Linguistic and regional dictionary
Trotsky, L. D.- born in 1879, worked in workers' circles in Nikolaev (South Russian Workers' Union, which published the newspaper Nashe Delo), was exiled in 1898 to Siberia, from where he fled abroad and took part in Iskra. After the party split into Bolsheviks and... Popular Political Dictionary
Trotsky- Noah Abramovich, Soviet architect. He studied in Petrograd at the Academy of Arts (from 1913) and at the Free Workshops (graduated in 1920), with I. A. Fomin and at the 2nd Polytechnic Institute (1921). Taught at... ... Great Soviet Encyclopedia
TROTSKY- (real name Bronstein). Lev (Leiba) Davidovich (1879 1940), Soviet statesman, party and military leader, publicist. His figure attracted the attention of Bulgakov, who repeatedly mentioned T. in his diary and others... ... Bulgakov Encyclopedia
Books
- L. Trotsky. My life (set of 2 books), L. Trotsky. Leon Trotsky’s book “My Life” is an extraordinary literary work that sums up the activities of this truly outstanding person and politician in the country that he left in 1929.… Buy for 880 rubles
- Trotsky, Emelyanov Yu.V.. The figure of Trotsky still arouses great interest. His portraits appear at political rallies and demonstrations. Many speak of him as the sinister demon of the revolution. Who was Trotsky?...
Grigory Zinoviev
| People's Commissar of the RSFSR for Foreign Affairs | |
| November 8, 1917 - March 13, 1918 | |
position established
Georgy Chicherin
| September 6, 1918 - January 26, 1925 | |
position established
Mikhail Frunze
| People's Commissar of the RSFSR - USSR for Military and Naval Affairs | |
| August 29, 1918 – January 26, 1925 | |
Nikolai Podvoisky
Mikhail Frunze
Leiba Davidovich Bronstein
Pero, Antid Oto, L. Sedov, Old Man
Yanovka village, Elisavetgrad district, Kherson province, Russian Empire
Mexico City, Mexico
RSDLP → RCP(b) → VKP(b)
party and state building, journalism
Lev Davidovich Trotsky (Leiba Bronstein)(October 26 (November 7, new style) 1879, Yanovka estate, Kherson province of the Russian Empire (now the village of Bereslavka, Bobrinetsky district, Kirovograd region of Ukraine) - August 21, 1940, Mexico City, Mexico) - figure in the international communist revolutionary movement, one of the organizers, founder of one one of the largest currents of Marxist thought - . First People's Commissar for Foreign Affairs of Soviet Russia (26.10.1917 - 8.04.1918), People's Commissar for Military and Naval Affairs (8.4.1918 - 26.1.1925). The first chairman of the RVSR, then the RVS of the USSR (1918 - 1925).
Childhood and youth
He was the fifth child in the family of David Leontievich Bronstein and Anna (Anetta) Lvovna Bronstein (nee Zhivotovskaya). In 1879, the family moved from the Jewish agricultural colony of Gromokley to the Yanovka estate, partly purchased and partly rented from the widow of Colonel Yanovsky. In Yanovka, in the same year, Leib’s son, Lev, was born, and in 1883, his youngest daughter, Olga. Leo had older brothers Alexander (b. 1870) and sister Elizaveta (b. 1875). In total, eight children were born into the Bronstein family, but four children died in childhood from various diseases.
As a child, he was sent to study at a Jewish religious school (cheder), but did not show much desire for learning there, and never really learned Hebrew. But he learned to read and write in Russian early, and even as a child he became addicted to writing poetry (not preserved). In 1888, he was sent by his parents to study in Odessa, at the St. Paul Real School. He studied with honors, “all the time I was the first student.” He was an impressionable child. Since childhood, I have read a lot of fiction, both European and Russian (my favorite Russian author is). As a second-grade student, he tried to publish a handwritten magazine - only one issue was made, almost entirely prepared by himself.
His uncle M. F. Shpenzer (the father of the quite famous poetess Vera Inber), a journalist and then the owner of a printing house and publishing house, contributed greatly to the fact that Trotsky, in his early youth, was already seriously “ill” with writing: as the process of writing a book or articles, as well as submitting for printing, typesetting, proofreading, running the printing press, heated discussion of upcoming and just published books - the love for journalism and the printed word remained for life.
Beginning of political activity
In 1896, Trotsky went to finish his studies (seventh grade at a real school) in Nikolaev, where his introduction to political life began: he entered a kind of political circle, which, in his words, consisted of “visiting students, former exiles and local youth.” There were heated discussions in the circle. The young Trotsky, who took an ardent part in them, possessed, according to I. Deicher, a “wonderful gift of bluff” - he could get involved in a dispute and lead it with dignity, without really knowing the subject of the dispute. This does not mean that Trotsky was happy with this state of affairs: he greedily pounces on political literature, at first he does not even read books, but “swallows” them. However, the members of the circle study the most interesting things together. They are creating a literature distribution circle “Rassadnik”. In 1896-97 Trotsky at first leans not towards Marxism, but towards.
The parents learn about Trotsky's new acquaintances (it is not so far from Nikolaev to Yanovka), and after a stormy explanation, Trotsky declares his independence and refuses financial assistance. For several months, Trotsky lives in a “commune” created by members of the circle. He earns money by tutoring. Members of the commune rush from one project to another: having failed in disseminating literature, they try to create a “university on the basis of mutual education,” then they try to write a grandiose political play, which, despite the large amount of effort and time spent, was never completed. end.
Having reconciled with his parents, Trotsky thought about entering the mathematics department of Novorossiysk University (located in Odessa), but the activity that really occupied him in Nikolaev was revolutionary work. As a result of the acquaintance of the members of the “commune” with the electrical worker Mukhin, who was engaged in the propaganda of revolutionary ideas under the guise of a return to true Christianity, the creation of the group “” occurs. According to Trotsky, it all started quite spontaneously:
It happened like this: I was walking down the street with the youngest member of our commune, Grigory Sokolovsky, a young man about my age. “We should start after all,” I said. “We need to start,” Sokolovsky answered. “But how?” “Exactly: how? - We need to find workers, don’t wait for anyone, don’t ask anyone, but find workers and start.” “I think it’s possible to find it,” said Sokolovsky. “I had a friend who was a watchman on the boulevard, a biblical scholar. So I’ll go see him.”
On the same day, Sokolovsky went to the boulevard to see the biblical scholar. That hasn't happened for a long time. There was some woman, and this woman had an acquaintance, also a sectarian. Through this acquaintance of a woman unknown to us, Sokolovsky on the same day met several workers, among whom was electrical engineer Ivan Andreevich Mukhin, who soon became the main figure of the organization. Sokolovsky returned from the search with sparkling eyes. “These people are just people!”
The young organization is a success that was unexpected even for its creators:
The workers came to us by gravity, as if they had been waiting for us at the factories for a long time. Everyone brought a friend, some came with their wives, several older workers entered into circles with their sons. We were not looking for workers, but they were looking for us. Young and inexperienced leaders, we soon began to choke in the movement we had caused.
According to the testimony of Trotsky’s close friend, Dr. G. A. Ziv, during the years of work in the “South Russian Workers’ Union,” Trotsky moved away from the ideas of populism - “only genuine social democracy.” (Ziv G. A. Trotsky. Characteristics (According to personal recollections)
Arrest and exile
On January 28, 1898, Trotsky and other organizers of the “Union” were arrested. He himself later wrote about this: “There was no serious conspiracy in our organization. We were all quickly arrested. It was the provocateur Schrenzel who betrayed him.” Trotsky was transferred from Nikolaev prison to Odessa prison, and from there to Kherson prison. By the end of 1899, those arrested in the case of the “South Russian Union” without trial, “administratively,” were given a sentence: 4 years of exile in Eastern Siberia. Before exile, they had to spend several more months in the Butyrka transit prison, where Trotsky married a woman close to him in the “commune” and “Union” - Alexandra Lvovna Sokolovskaya.
Place of exile - the village of Ust-Kut on the Lena River (currently a city in the Irkutsk region), also lived on the Ilim River, later moved to Verkholensk. Soon after his arrival, Trotsky began to collaborate in the Irkutsk newspaper "Eastern Review", the editor of which at that time was a former exiled Narodnaya Volya member. He takes the pseudonym Antid Oto (from the Italian “antidoto”, which means “antidote”). In Ust-Kutsk exile, Trotsky met and. Trotsky spent two years in exile, during which time he and Sokolovskaya had two daughters.
Escape and work at Iskra
In the summer of 1902, news reached the exiles about a new upsurge in the revolutionary movement, about the creation of a Marxist newspaper abroad, and also that several of Trotsky’s Siberian articles had reached the editorial board of Iskra and aroused favorable reviews. Trotsky (then, of course, still Bronstein) decides to escape from exile and get to the center of the revolutionary movement at any cost. In exile, he leaves his wife and two young daughters. In Irkutsk, friends give the fugitive decent clothes and a blank passport, where he writes his new name: Trotsky.
It is known that this was the name of the jailer in the Odessa prison, where those arrested in the case of the “South Russian Union” served about a year and a half - a powerful, stately and self-satisfied man. Why young Bronstein chose this particular surname is not known for sure.
Trotsky's first stop was Samara. There he spends about a week with, who at that time headed the Russian “headquarters” of Iskra. Krzhizhanovsky accepts Trotsky into the organization that still exists unofficially and gives the young journalist the secret nickname “Pero”. On instructions from Krzhizhanovsky, Trotsky makes a trip to Ukraine, with the goal of meeting with Ukrainian “Iskraists” and trying to attract revolutionaries who did not take “Iskra” positions to the organization - in this regard, according to Trotsky, the trip yielded almost nothing. An order came from him to send Trotsky to the editorial office of Iskra in London. Having crossed the Austrian border illegally (with smugglers), Trotsky arrived in London in October 1902 through Vienna (where the head of the Austrian Social Democrats helped him with money for his further journey) and Zurich (where he was met) and went straight from the station to Lenin. greets him with the words: - The feather has arrived!
Already in November 1902, an article by Trotsky appeared in Iskra. On the advice of Lenin, Trotsky begins to give lectures, first in London, and then on the continent - in Brussels, Zurich, and Paris. In Paris (in 1903), Trotsky meets with his parents, who came from Russia especially for this purpose. His parents promise him to provide financial support to his family remaining in Russia and, if necessary, to himself. In Paris, Trotsky meets Natalya Ivanovna Sedova, a student from Russia who was expelled for reading prohibited literature from the Kharkov Institute of Noble Maidens and studied art history at the Sorbonne. Sedova recalled their first meeting like this:
The autumn of 1902 was abundant with abstracts in the Russian colony of Paris. The Iskra group, to which I belonged, saw first Martov, then Lenin. There was a struggle with the “economists” and with the socialist revolutionaries. In our group we talked about the arrival of a young comrade who had escaped from exile... The performance was very successful, the colony was delighted, the young Iskraist exceeded expectations.
Subsequently, Sedova would become Trotsky's wife.
At the suggestion of Lenin, in March 1903, Trotsky was accepted into the editorial board of Iskra with the right of an advisory vote. The editorial board at that time included six people: three “old people” (,), and three “young” (Lenin,). The sympathies of the 23-year-old revolutionary are rather on the side of the “old people” - he admires Vera Zasulich, who was already a “living legend” at that time (she reciprocates him), highly values the scholarship of P. B. Axelrod, and only relations with Plekhanov do not work out - recognized authority in the revolutionary movement is inclined to consider the young revolutionary an upstart and a creation of Lenin.
Within a few months, at where Trotsky presented, a break occurred between Lenin and Trotsky. The “external” reason was in personalities: Trotsky could not agree with Lenin’s proposal to reduce the composition of the Iskra editorial board by excluding not very active members from it (although Trotsky personally would have benefited from this). Subsequently, Trotsky would write about this:
The whole point was simply to place Axelrod and Zasulich outside the editorial board of Iskra. My attitude towards both of them was imbued not only with respect, but also with personal tenderness. Lenin also valued them highly for their past. But he came to the conclusion that they were increasingly becoming an obstacle to the future. And he made an organizational conclusion: remove them from leadership positions. I couldn't put up with this. My whole being protested against this merciless cutting off of the old people who had finally reached the threshold of the party. This indignation of mine resulted in my break with Lenin at the Second Congress. His behavior seemed to me unacceptable, terrible, outrageous. Yet it was politically correct and, therefore, organizationally necessary.
Revolution of 1905 and further struggle against the party
Trotsky met the revolution of 1905 with the notorious theory of “permanent” revolution. This was the theory of the disarmament of the proletariat, the demobilization of its forces. After the defeat of the 1905 revolution, Trotsky supported the Menshevik liquidators. Vladimir Ilyich Lenin wrote about Trotsky then:
“Trotsky behaved like the most vile careerist and factionalist... He talks about the party, but behaves worse than all the other factionalists.”
Trotsky, as is known, was the organizer of the August *anti-revolutionary* Menshevik bloc of all groups and movements that opposed Lenin.
Trotsky met the imperialist war that began in August 1914, as one would expect, on the other side of the barricades - in the camp of the defenders of the imperialist massacre. He covered up his betrayal of the proletariat with “leftist” phrases about the fight against the war, phrases designed to deceive the working class. On all the most important issues of war and socialism, Trotsky opposed Lenin and the Bolshevik Party.
The Menshevik Trotsky assessed the ever-increasing power of the Bolsheviks’ influence on the working class, on the masses of soldiers after the February bourgeois-democratic revolution, and the enormous popularity of Lenin’s slogans among the masses in his own way. He joined our party in July 1917 along with a group of like-minded people, declaring that he had “disarmed” to the end.
Subsequent events showed, however, that the Menshevik Trotsky did not disarm, did not stop fighting against Lenin for a minute, and entered our party in order to blow it up from within.
Just a few months after the Great October Revolution in the spring of 1918, Trotsky, together with a group of so-called “left” communists and left Socialist Revolutionaries, organized a villainous conspiracy against Lenin, seeking to arrest and physically destroy the leaders of the proletariat Lenin, Stalin and Sverdlov. As always, Trotsky himself - a provocateur, organizer of murderers, intriguer and adventurer - remains in the shadows. His leading role in the preparation of this atrocity, fortunately unsuccessful, was fully revealed only two decades later, at the trial of the anti-Soviet “right-Trotskyist bloc” in March 1938. Only twenty years later the dirty tangle of crimes of Trotsky and his henchmen was finally unraveled.
During the years of the Civil War, when the country of the Soviets repelled the onslaught of numerous hordes of White Guards and interventionists, Trotsky, with his treacherous actions and sabotage orders, in every possible way weakened the strength of resistance of the Red Army, which is why he was forbidden by Lenin to visit the Eastern and Southern fronts. It is a well-known fact that Trotsky, due to his hostile attitude towards the old Bolshevik cadres, tried to shoot a number of responsible front-line communists he disliked, thus acting into the hands of the enemy.
At the same trial of the anti-Soviet “right-Trotskyist bloc,” the entire treacherous, traitorous path of Trotsky was revealed to the whole world: the defendants in this trial, Trotsky’s closest associates, admitted that they, and together with them, and their boss Trotsky, had already been agents of foreign countries since 1921 intelligence services, were international spies. They, led by Trotsky, zealously served the intelligence services and general staffs of England, France, Germany, and Japan.
When in 1929 the Soviet government expelled the counter-revolutionary and traitor Trotsky from our homeland, the capitalist circles of Europe and America accepted him into their arms. This was no accident. It was natural. For Trotsky had long ago gone into the service of the exploiters of the working class.
Trotsky became entangled in his own networks, reaching the limit of human degradation. He was killed by his own supporters. He was finished off by the same terrorists whom he taught to kill from behind the corner, betrayal and atrocities against the working class, against the country of the Soviets. Trotsky, who organized the villainous murder of Kirov, Kuibyshev, M. Gorky, became a victim of his own intrigues, betrayals, betrayals, and atrocities.
This is how this despicable man ended his life ingloriously, going to his grave with the seal of an international spy and murderer on his forehead.
Essays
| Year | Name | First publication | Notes | Text |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1900 | "A little visible, but very important cog in the state machine" | "Eastern Review" N 230, October 15, 1900 | ||
| 1900 | Something about the philosophy of the "superman" | "Eastern Review" NN 284, 286, 287, 289, 22, 24, 25, 30 December 1900 | in the library of Oleg Kolesnikov | |
| 1900 | Something about zemstvo | "Eastern Review" N 285, December 23, 1900 | in the library of Oleg Kolesnikov | |
| 1901 | "An old house" | "Eastern Review" No. 10, January 14, 1901 | in the library of Oleg Kolesnikov | |
| 1901 | "Tear-off" calendar as a cultural organizer | "Eastern Review" No. 19, January 25, 1901 | in the library of Oleg Kolesnikov | |
| 1901 | Herzen and the "young generation" | "Bulletin of World History" No. 2, January 1901 | in the library of Oleg Kolesnikov | |
| 1901 | About an old question | "Eastern Review" N 33 - 34, February 14 - 15, 1901 | in the library of Oleg Kolesnikov | |
| 1901 | About pessimism, optimism, the 20th century and much more | "Eastern Review" No. 36, February 17, 1901 | in the library of Oleg Kolesnikov | |
| 1901 | "Declaration of Rights" and "Velvet Book" | "Eastern Review" NN 56, 57, 13, 14 March 1901 | in the library of Oleg Kolesnikov | |
| 1901 | About Balmont | "Eastern Review" No. 61, March 18, 1901 | in the library of Oleg Kolesnikov | |
| 1901 | Ordinary village ( Unsaid words about the village in general, etc.) | "Eastern Review" N 70, March 29, 1901 | in the library of Oleg Kolesnikov | |
| 1901 | Hauptmann's last drama and Struve's comments to it | "Eastern Review", NN 99, 102, 5, 9 May 1901 | in the library of Oleg Kolesnikov | |
| 1901 | Ordinary village ( More about “local” medicine, etc.) | "Eastern Review" N 117, May 30, 1901 | in the library of Oleg Kolesnikov | |
| 1901 | About Ibsen | "Eastern Review" NN 121, 122, 126, 3, 4, 9 June 1901 | in the library of Oleg Kolesnikov | |
| 1901 | Penitentiary ideals and the humane prison outlook | "Eastern Review" NN 135, 136, 20, 21 June 1901 | in the library of Oleg Kolesnikov | |
| 1901 | We have matured | "Eastern Review" N 154, July 13, 1901 | in the library of Oleg Kolesnikov | |
| 1901 | New times - new songs | "Eastern Review" NN 162, 164, 165, 22, 25, 26 July 1901 | in the library of Oleg Kolesnikov | |
| 1901 | Ordinary village ( Belated preface, etc.) | "Eastern Review" N 173 - 176, August 4 - 9, 1901 | in the library of Oleg Kolesnikov | |
| 1901 | Two writer's souls in the grip of a metaphysical demon | "Eastern Review" N 189, August 25, 1901 | in the library of Oleg Kolesnikov | |
| 1901 | The “illiberal” moment of “liberal” relations | "Eastern Review" N 194, September 2, 1901 | in the library of Oleg Kolesnikov | |
| 1901 | Poetry, the machine and the poetry of the machine | "Eastern Review" N 197, September 8, 1901 | in the library of Oleg Kolesnikov | |
| 1901 | Ordinary rustic | "Eastern Review" N 212, September 26, 1901 | in the library of Oleg Kolesnikov | |
| 1901 | S. F. Sharapov and German farmers | "Eastern Review" N 225, October 13, 1901 | in the library of Oleg Kolesnikov | |
| 1901 | "Russian Darwin" | "Eastern Review" N 251, November 14, 1901 | in the library of Oleg Kolesnikov | |
| 1901 | N. A. Dobrolyubov And "Whistle" | "Eastern Review" N 253, November 17, 1901 | in the library of Oleg Kolesnikov | |
| 1901 | History of literature, Mr. Boborykin and Russian criticism | ? | in the library of Oleg Kolesnikov | |
| 1902 | Something about "freedom of creative spasm" | "Eastern Review" No. 8, January 10, 1902 | in the library of Oleg Kolesnikov | |
| 1904 | Political letters. "Before the Disaster" | "Iskra" No. 75, October 5, 1904 | in the library of Oleg Kolesnikov | |
| 1904 | Political letters. Public Education Fund, etc. | in the library of Oleg Kolesnikov | ||
| 1904 | The appearance of liberals to the people | "Iskra" No. 76, October 20, 1904 | in the library of Oleg Kolesnikov |
Biographies
- Vasetsky N. A. Trotsky. Experience of political biography. - M.: Republic, 1992. ISBN 5-250-01159-4
- Volkogonov D. A. Trotsky / Political portrait. - In two books. - M.: JSC Publishing House Novosti, 1994. ISBN 5-7020-0216-4
- Deutscher I. Trotsky. Armed prophet. 1879-1921 - M.: ZAO Tsentrpoligraf, 2006. ISBN 5-9524-2147-4
- Deutscher I. Trotsky. Unarmed Prophet. 1921-1929 - M.: ZAO Tsentrpoligraf, 2006. ISBN 5-9524-2155-5
- Deutscher I. Trotsky. Exiled Prophet. 1929-1940 - M.: ZAO Tsentrpoligraf, 2006. ISBN 5-9524-2157-1
- Ziv G. A. Trotsky: Characteristics (according to personal recollections). New York: People's Law, 1921
- David King. Trotsky. Biography in photographic documents. - Ekaterinburg: "SV-96", 2000. ISBN 5-89516-100-6
- Paporov Yu. N. Trotsky. The murder of the "big entertainer" - St. Petersburg: Publishing House "Neva", 2005. ISBN 5-7654-4399-0
- “Was there an alternative?”: ““Trotskyism” - a look through the years”, “Power and oppositions”, “Stalin’s Neonep”, “1937”, “Party of the Executed”, “World Revolution and World War”, “The End is the Beginning” .
- Startsev V.I.L.D. Trotsky. Pages of political biography. - M.: Knowledge, 1989. ISBN 5-07-000955-9
- Chernyavsky G. I. Leon Trotsky - M.: Young Guard, 2010. ISBN 978-5-235-03369-6
- Isaac Don Levine. The Mind of an Assassin, New York, New American Library/Signet Book, 1960.
- Dave Renton. Trotsky, 2004.
- Leon Trotsky: the Man and His Work. Reminiscences and Appraisals, ed. Joseph Hansen. New York, Merit Publishers, 1969.
- The Unknown Lenin, ed. Richard Pipes, Yale University Press (1996) ISBN 0-300-06919-7
TROTSKY LEV DAVIDOVICH
Real name: Lev (Leiba) Davidovich Bronstein
(b. 1879 – d. 1940)
Ideologist of Trotskyism. One of the leaders of the October Revolution. Chairman of the Petrograd Soviet (1917). The first People's Commissar of Foreign Affairs (1917–1918) and the first People's Commissar of Military Affairs (1918–1925) of Soviet Russia. Leader of the Fourth International. Killed as a result of a terrorist attack organized by the NKVD.
On the giant frescoes in the presidential palace in Mexico City, next to Marx, Engels and Lenin, a man with a thin, predatory face, wearing pince-nez, a wedge beard and a Stalinist mustache is depicted. The sharp gaze conveys dark fury and ruthlessness. This is how the outstanding Mexican artist Diego Rivera, who knew the famous Russian revolutionary, “Demon of the Revolution” and “Trotskyist number one,” saw Lenin’s comrade-in-arms and Stalin’s main opponent, Leon Trotsky.
His hero dreamed of giving water to the “red” horses from the Vistula and Rhine. With his first decrees, he introduced mass executions into practice, achieved the militarization of the national economy, the creation of “labor armies,” and legalized forced labor in the camps. By order of Trotsky, 28 archbishops, 1215 priests, 15,375 teachers of higher educational institutions, doctors and teachers, and 54,560 officers were killed. This is the result of his activities in Russia. The results of Trotsky’s long life are tens of thousands of Trotskyists in the Land of Soviets and beyond. Modern Trotskyists are an indispensable part of Latin American cities. They are very colorful: long hair braided, black berets, skulls on a string hanging on the chest. To this day, fans of left-wing ideas still come to Trotsky’s house-museum in Mexico City. They pick out pieces of plaster from the walls “as a prayerful memory.” Latin America is an active fiefdom of the Fourth International, founded by Trotsky in 1938 in Paris. And although over time this political association broke up into several groups, a new generation of “internationalists” in this region, following the precepts of their idol, lays claim to the creation of the “Socialist Soviet United States of Latin America.”
The real name of the ideologist of Trotskyism is Lev (Leiba) Davidovich Bronstein. He was born on November 7, 1879 on the Yanovka farm near the town of Bobrynets, Kherson province, in the family of a fairly large landowner. The father of the family came from a small Jewish town in the Poltava region. Only at the end of his life did David Bronstein learn to read syllables in order to familiarize himself with the works of his son, who had become famous. Despite illiteracy, David managed to collect quite significant funds to buy a large plot of land and trade grain even with foreign countries.
The parents made sure that their son received the best education. At first, Lev studied at a private religious Jewish school, cheder. He knew Yiddish poorly. But the boy mastered Russian literacy enough to write poetry, which, unfortunately, has not reached us. The next stage was the prestigious state school of St. Paul in Odessa, where he was accepted with the help of his relative M. F. Shpenzer, who was a major publisher. Here Lev quickly became one of the first students, read a lot of fiction and aspired to become a writer. But already at this time, the obstinate disposition of the future revolutionary manifested itself, his desire for primacy and demonstration of intellectual superiority over his peers, which so harmed him in his “adult life.” He was temporarily expelled from second grade for a conflict with his French teacher.
Lev graduated from the last class of a real school in 1896 in Nikolaev. In the family where he settled, the youth were keen on populist socialist ideas. Among the members of the small circle was the daughter of a populist, Alexandra Sokolovskaya, with whom the future revolutionary was not slow to fall in love. She managed to attract the young populist socialist to Marxist ideas. Soon Bronstein became a member of the South Russian Workers' Union and received the first underground nickname Lvov.
Young people had a very rough idea of conspiracy. On January 28, 1898, Bronstein and other members of the group were arrested after denouncing the provocateur Schrenzel. In prison, Bronstein and Sokolovskaya, to the horror of Lev's parents, got married. Together they arrived in exile in Ust-Kut, and later lived in Verkhoyansk.
Despite the fact that in exile Bronstein was actively engaged in self-education and began to try himself in the journalistic field, the life of an exile began to weigh heavily on the revolutionary. He dreamed of St. Petersburg, Moscow, one of the Western capitals. With the consent of his wife, who remained in Siberia with two small daughters, he decided to escape. He managed to safely reach the European part of Russia, illegally cross the Austrian border and find members of the Austrian Socialist Party. The fugitive's fake passport included the surname Trotsky, borrowed from an Odessa prison guard.
Lev stayed in exile until 1905. From Austria he moved to Zurich, where he first met Lenin and Krupskaya. Then there were London and Paris. Under the pseudonym “Pero,” the young revolutionary collaborated with the newspaper Iskra and gave public lectures. At Lenin's suggestion, in 1903 Trotsky was added to the editorial board of Iskra. He became close friends with Martov, Axelrod and Zasulich. But Plekhanov’s new “Iskraist” aroused strong antipathy. The Patriarch of Russian Social Democracy called him “the darling of the revolution” and was pointedly cold. Perhaps the reason for this was the pronounced narcissism of the young politician. Trotsky admired himself and did not hide it.
In Paris, Lev Davidovich met with the smart and beautiful Natalya Sedova. For freethinking, she was expelled from the Institute of Noble Maidens in Kharkov, and at the Sorbonne she studied art history. Soon Natalya left her husband to go to Trotsky.
In August 1903, the second congress of the RSDLP took place in London. Trotsky was a delegate from the Siberian Social Democratic Organization. When discussing the Party Charter, he supported the Menshevik Martov, contrary to the opinion of Lenin. For a long time, very cool relations were established between them.
When revolution broke out in Russia in 1905, Trotsky arrived home with a false passport in the name of retired warrant officer Arbuzov. He strove to be at the center of events and succeeded. After the October strike, Lev Davidovich, thanks to his oratorical abilities and amazing instinct in assessing situations, moved to the forefront of revolutionary leaders. He was elected to the St. Petersburg Council of Workers' Deputies.
On December 3, 1905, the entire top of the Soviet was arrested. Trotsky was again imprisoned, and after the trial he was sent to hard labor. Those arrested were given government uniforms, but were allowed to keep their own clothes. This made it easier for Trotsky to escape even at the stage. Having feigned radiculitis, he was left in the city of Berezovo under the protection of two gendarmes. Having deceived the guards, the prisoner managed to cover about 800 km, traveling on foot and on reindeer across the snowy expanses of Siberia, and eventually ended up in Finland, and then lived in Vienna for a long time. When local authorities, concerned about the Russian’s too active activities, denied him the right to reside, he moved for short periods to Switzerland, France and even North America. Sedova and her children accompanied him everywhere. Old man Bronstein provided the revolutionary with the means to live. Lev earned some money through journalistic work.
Trotsky received news of the February Revolution in America and immediately rushed to Russia. In the Canadian port of Galtfax, he and his family were arrested at the instigation of the British embassy, which claimed that he was traveling “with a subsidy from the German embassy to overthrow the Provisional Government.” However, at the request of the Provisional Government, he and several other Russians were released. Lev Davidovich safely reached Scandinavia, and from there he moved to Petrograd.
Trotsky’s oratorical abilities and intuition again did not fail him. A month after his arrival, he became one of the most prominent figures among radical politicians. At the end of September, at the re-election of the Executive Committee of the Petrograd Soviet, Trotsky, at the instigation of the Bolsheviks, was elected its chairman. At this time, Lev Davidovich still adhered to the democratic norms of political leadership, declaring upon taking office: “The hand of the presidium will not rise to suppress the majority.” He associated the beginning of the October armed uprising with the convening of the Congress of Soviets, which was supposed to liquidate the regime of the Provisional Government and establish revolutionary power. In general, Trotsky did a lot to organize the October Uprising. He played a leading role in the creation and functioning of the Military Revolutionary Committee under the Petrograd Soviet, which led the preparation and implementation of the uprising.
On the morning of October 25 (November 7 according to the European calendar), the Provisional Government was overthrown, and power in Petrograd passed into the hands of the Military Revolutionary Committee. Democratic norms were immediately forgotten. A few days later, in the note “Towards Democracy,” M. Gorky wrote: “Lenin, Trotsky and those accompanying them have already been poisoned by the rotten poison of power, as evidenced by their shameful attitude towards freedom of speech, personality and the entire sum of those rights for the triumph of which democracy fought.” . The second person in the state after Lenin directed his efforts towards unleashing and deepening terror.
From this moment on, numerous differences between Trotsky and Lenin gradually disappeared. Lev Davidovich openly made it clear that he alone understood the leader and was faithful to his ideas and institutions. The only exception was the position of Trotsky, the People's Commissar for Foreign Affairs, at peace negotiations with the Germans in Brest-Litovsk. Lenin adhered to the idea of concluding a separate, annexationist peace. Trotsky invented the formula “no peace, no war,” being confident that the people of Germany and Austria-Hungary would refuse to fight, and then a world revolution would break out. In order to export the revolution, he carried with him piles of leaflets and brochures addressed to enemy soldiers. The government of hungry Russia allocated 2 million rubles in gold for revolutionary propaganda abroad. At the beginning of February 1918, in Brest-Litovsk, Trotsky announced Russia’s unilateral cessation of the war, the demobilization of the army, and refused to sign a peace treaty. However, already on February 18, hostilities were resumed, and in the end Russia had to make peace on more unfavorable terms than initially proposed. After such a fiasco, Lenin, nevertheless, decided to put Trotsky at the head of the military department. In the conditions of the Civil War and intervention, this was one of the most important government posts. Lev Davidovich never served in the army, but he coped with the task brilliantly.
Trotsky was appointed People's Commissar for Military Affairs on March 14, 1918, and five months later he also became Chairman of the Revolutionary Military Council of the Republic (RMC). He put forward the slogan “The Socialist Fatherland is in danger!” and set about building and strengthening the Red Army.
For this, the People's Commissar made extensive use of military specialists from the previous regime. Each of them signed a subscription and knew that in the event of treason (or suspicion of treason), his family and comrades would first of all pay. The commissars, who controlled every step of the officers, were given the right to mercilessly deal with “counter-revolutionaries” “in a timely manner.” This meant immediate execution for any suspicion of disloyalty.
A serious problem in the Red Army during the Civil War was desertion. The mobilized peasants, who had recently received land, did not know and did not want to know what they were fighting for, and fled to their homes. To stop this, Trotsky created numerous commissions to combat desertion. In some months it was possible to detain up to 100 thousand deserters. They were subjected to cruel punishments, most often execution. To prevent military units from fleeing the battlefield, barrage detachments were placed behind them during the battle, which were supposed to shoot at their own in the event of retreat without orders. Unlike other units, they were given vehicles with machine guns.
The People's Commissar often traveled to the active army. His legendary armored train, which traveled more than 200 thousand km during the war years, was a “flying control unit.” He traveled around the fronts and took part in battles. The train included: a secretariat, a printing house, a telegraph station, a radio, a power plant, a photography and filming group, an orchestra, a library, a garage and a bathhouse. Several carriages were occupied by guards. Trotsky never appeared anywhere without bodyguards. Doctors examined him almost daily.
Particular attention was paid to issues of propaganda work.
The People's Commissar demanded that at every stop he be met by high officials with a guard of honor. Every opportunity was used to communicate with the Red Army soldiers. Those who especially distinguished themselves were given pre-stocked silver cigarette cases (from the royal storeroom), binoculars, shirts, leather jackets, and sometimes the People's Commissar took off his watch or sacrificed his own weapons. On his initiative, the All-Russian Central Executive Committee established the Order of the Red Banner.
Military problems, however, did not make Trotsky forget about his main goal - the victory of the world revolution. He continued to take a keen interest in the state of the international labor movement and actively participated in the work of the Executive Committee of the Comintern. The “Demon of Revolution” was an ardent supporter of the idea of permanent revolution put forward by the “Russian-German” revolutionary (later millionaire) Parvus (A. L. Gelfandt). In Trotsky's understanding, the revolution must continue, passing through the national, international and world levels until the complete elimination of class society. Unlike Stalin, he did not believe in the possibility of building socialism in a single country. This and many other disagreements, as well as the disdainful attitude of the “main Trotskyist” towards the future “leader” of the country of the Soviets, served as the reason for an irreconcilable struggle between them, which was based on the usual struggle for political primacy and power. Trotsky considered himself Lenin's sole heir, and this ultimately led to his death.
Lenin's death found Trotsky undergoing treatment in Kislovodsk. Upon learning of the leader's death, the emotional Lev Davidovich fainted. But he didn’t attend the funeral. The telegram, due to Stalin's machinations, contained misinformation.
Very quickly Trotsky found himself in disgrace. Lev Davidovich was confident that he, and not Stalin, would take the leading position in the country, and until the end of his life he believed that this was precisely the goal that Lenin pursued in his “Letter to the Congress.” Disagreements with Stalin led to the fact that in 1925 Trotsky was removed from his post as People's Commissar of Military Affairs and then exiled to Alma-Ata.
Political claims to primacy forced him to complain about the “unbearable conditions” of living in a hotel and demand permission to go hunting in the company of his beloved dog Maya. All demands were satisfied. Trotsky hunted for his own pleasure and even thought about going after tigers, and in early June he went to his dacha in the mountains.
However, the “eternal” oppositionist did not abandon his old habits and eagerly got involved in controversy over the future fate of the NEP. Feeling the danger, Stalin decided to expel his political opponent from the country, not daring to destroy him physically. Moreover, the appearance of legality was created. A special meeting of the OGPU accused Lenin's former comrade-in-arms of preparing an armed struggle against Soviet power.
With the expulsion of Trotsky, Stalin had serious problems. Not a single country agreed to host the frantic revolutionary. Only Turkish President Kemal Ataturk was not afraid. On January 22, 1929, Trotsky and Sedova were transported to Frunze, there they were put on a train and on the way they were informed that they would be deported to Constantinople. Lev Davidovich was indignant. He could not imagine life with Russian emigrants. But I had to obey. On the ship "Ilyich" Trotsky, his wife and youngest son crossed the Turkish border.
However, Trotsky did not stay in this country. For several years he was constantly on the move. Visited France, Dalmatia and Norway. In 1932 he was deprived of Soviet citizenship. The exile rushed about, not knowing how to take revenge, what to apply his strength to. Abroad, Trotsky did not stop fighting Stalin and his regime. In many articles and books, he exposed the Stalinist regime, often sounding like a quarrelsome neighbor in a communal apartment. In exile, Lev Davidovich wrote the book “Stalin’s School of Falsification” - one of the best on this issue. At the same time, he emphasized his outstanding role in the revolution. More serious steps were also taken. Back in 1929, in Turkey, he and his supporters organized an “Opposition Bulletin” exposing Stalin’s methods of leadership and secretly transported it to the USSR. Close ties were maintained with Trotsky's supporters in the Soviet state. As before, one of the main goals was to “accelerate the proletarian revolution” in the world.
His activities in exile became dangerous for the Soviet government. The mass extermination of Trotskyists began in the USSR. At the same time, innocent people also fell under the millstone of the state. The situation became threatening for Trotsky himself; his agents in various countries disappeared under mysterious circumstances. Sensing danger, he began to look for a more reliable shelter.
Trotsky had many supporters abroad. Among them was a convinced “leftist,” the famous Mexican artist Diego Rivera. He and his wife Frida Kahlo persuaded the President of Mexico, with whom they had a close relationship, to accept Trotsky. On the tanker Ruth provided by the Norwegian government, Lev Davidovich and his family crossed the ocean and on January 9, 1936, accompanied by a secretary and bodyguards, went ashore in the port of Tampico. A personal train sent by the president awaited them here.
Lev Davidovich and Natalya Sedova were taken to Mexico City. Gradually, a small Trotskyist commune formed in Rivera’s house. The political emigrants were joined by their grandson Seva Volkov. Soon an affair arose between Trotsky and the owner’s wife. It is unknown how long Lev Davidovich’s relationship with the ardent Trotskyist lasted, but Natalya Sedova quickly put an end to their relationship. After a stormy scene, in a fit of humiliation, Trotsky, begging for forgiveness from his wife, called himself her “old faithful dog.” Perhaps this would not have ended the matter, but an attack of appendicitis and the subsequent operation finally defused the situation. Nevertheless, living in the house of a deceived husband was still somehow inconvenient. Trotsky began to think about moving.
However, leaving the family that sheltered them so easily meant admitting their guilt. Lev Davidovich decided to justify the change of residence with ideological motives. In 1939, Rivera was suddenly suspended from participating in the IV International. Now it was possible to move. Soon the couple and their entourage moved to a mansion on Venskaya Street 10 minutes away. walk from Rivera's house. The naive artist was still listed among the admirers of the “great man.” He was ready to maintain a relationship. But the unlucky lover flatly refused him the house.
Trotsky's life was attempted more than once. The first attempt was made in Mexico in 1938. A suspicious messenger tried to enter the Kayokane villa, where the “Unbreakable Lion” lived at that time. When he was exposed, he disappeared, but not far from the house he threw a package with explosives. On May 24, 1940, the convinced Stalinist and famous artist David Siqueiros, on the direct orders of Stalin, at the head of an armed detachment tried to storm the villa. When this failed, the attackers left a time bomb near the entrance, which never exploded.
The atmosphere around Trotsky became increasingly tense. His secretary disappeared without a trace, his eldest daughter committed suicide, his youngest son, who remained in his homeland, was shot, and his eldest son died under mysterious circumstances. Lev Davidovich's older brother died in prison.
Trotsky knew that he was being hunted. Security guards, mostly American Trotskyists, were constantly on duty at the gates of the specially purchased large house. He made a will and often repeated in the morning: “They did not kill us this night. They gave us another day."
One day, an acquaintance of one of the secretaries, revolutionary Jacques Mornard, appeared in the house. He ingratiated himself with his owner and, under the pretext of jointly preparing an article, began to visit Trotsky often. In fact, the young man's name was Ramon Mercader del Rio Hernandez. He was a lieutenant in the Spanish Republican Army and carried out a special task for the NKVD. One day, Mercader brought a specially shortened ice ax under his hollow outerwear, and when the owner bent over the desk, he hacked it to pieces.
A tragic fate befell most members of Trotsky's family. The elder brother Alexander, despite the fact that he “dissociated himself” from Lev, was shot in 1938. The younger sister Olga, who became the wife of L. B. Kamenev, was shot in 1941. The first wife, Sokolovskaya, was exiled to Siberia. Her two sons were killed even earlier, in 1936. Trotsky's youngest son was shot in 1937. Both daughters died, and one of them, as already mentioned, committed suicide. Both of his sons-in-law died after the arrest.
Some similarities between the events, character and appearance of the “fiery revolutionary” with other political figures of the era are curious. Trotsky was born in the same year as Stalin. On his birthday the October Revolution took place. He and Lenin shared the same type of nervous system: both were hysteroids. The posthumous drawing of Trotsky is surprisingly similar to the face of the deceased leader of the Bolshevik revolution. The ideologist of Trotskyism wore the same pince-nez as Beria and Himmler.
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- Introduction
- 3. Struggle for power. Exile. Death
- Conclusion
- List of sources and literature
Introduction
RelevanceTopics. Lev Davidovich Trotsky (Bronstein) is one of those major historical figures whose fate, replete with dramatic turns, is of great interest to researchers. This is the personality of a very important revolutionary and politician, not only on a Russian, but also on an international scale. On his life's path there were many mistakes, blunders, and downturns, but he also had many ups and achievements for the revolution. He was one of the most popular people of the time, but had very few supporters. There were few Trotskyists in the country. This was always noticeable during voting in the party, during general party discussions, and debates at congresses. Trotsky was valued for his intelligence, oratory, journalism, and organizational skills, but many in the party could not forgive him for the fact that he treated everyone with a kind of condescension, constantly emphasizing his intellectual superiority, was convinced of his genius and even imposed this idea on others. They argue and talk about Trotsky today, just as they did 70 years ago. They speak with hatred and reverence, anger and admiration. A man of unusual destiny leaves no one indifferent. The portrait of Leon Trotsky cannot be clearly painted in either black or white. The evolution of public assessments of the most famous revolutionary figure has described a complete arc: from the enthusiastic glorification of the great leader of the world revolution to his anathematization, and finally, it comes to a calm and objective perception of a bright, complex and ambiguous personality who took his place in the gallery of historical portraits. In this course work we will try to give an objective historical assessment of the personality of Lev Davidovich Trotsky.
Historiography. We have already mentioned that Trotsky is an outstanding controversial personality and it is not surprising that the number of works about him in different languages totals several dozen. The bulk of books about Trotsky are not just politicized, but written from a position of hatred towards him, or the literature is expressed in apologetic tones.
In Soviet historiography of the Stalinist period, he was portrayed as the embodiment of absolute evil, an avowed enemy of Soviet power. Subsequently, while preserving the main Stalinist myths, Soviet authors only moved him from the “avant-garde” to the “train” of reaction. “Perestroika” historiography continued to endow him with demonic traits, but now he (at the instigation of the writer-general D. Volkogonov) turned into the “demon of the revolution” D.A. Volkogonov. Trotsky. "Demon of the Revolution" - M., 2011; His own. Trotsky: Political Portrait. - M., 1992.T. 1-2. . Two-volume book by D.A. Volkogonov is useful to researchers with new archival materials, extracted for the first time from previously classified funds, but it represents an attempt to create a portrait rather than a biography of Trotsky.
A completely different image of Trotsky is painted by another historiographical tradition, for which he is not a demon, but a prophet of revolution and true communism. It is in this vein that the largest work of recent decades on the ideas and activities of Trotsky and his followers after the revolution is written - the seven-volume study by V. Rogovin "Was There an Alternative?" Rogovin V.Z. “Trotskyism”: a look through the years. - M., 1992. - T. 1. . Having collected rich factual material, gleaned mainly from published sources, the author did not avoid idealizing his hero, presenting him to us as an impeccable politician. Isaac Deutscher's work is also characterized by communist bias. In his three-volume biography, Deutscher I. Trotsky: Prophet at Arms. 1879 - 1921. - M., 2006; his. Trotsky: The unarmed prophet. 1921 - 1929. - M., 2006; his. Trotsky: The Exiled Prophet. 1929 - 1940. - M., 2006. Trotsky appears to be the only one who openly opposed Stalinism, right up to his tragic end.
Readers and researchers have at their disposal a lot of short essays and articles devoted to particular problems, but there is almost no comprehensive and detailed biography of Trotsky, but here we should highlight a reliable and noteworthy article by A.V. Pantsova Pantsov A.V. Lev Davidovich Trotsky // Questions of history. 1990. No. 5. pp. 65 - 87. .
Another attempt to explore the life path of Leon Trotsky was made by the Kharkov historian G.I. Chernyavsky Chernyavsky G.I. Leon Trotsky. Revolutionary. 1879-1917. - M., 2010. . He set himself the goal of covering Trotsky’s biography as objectively as possible, without hatred and enthusiasm, Black Hundred and Stalinist myths, and, in my opinion, the author undoubtedly succeeded. Chernyavsky also did a lot of work on the publication of documents of Trotsky and the Trotskyist opposition from American archives: together with Yu.G. Felshtinsky compiled a nine-volume collection “The Archive of L.D. Trotsky”, which is now freely available on the Internet Trotsky Archive (in 9 volumes) [Electronic resource] / Under the general. ed.G.I. Chernyavsky, Yu.G. Felshtinsky. - Kharkov, 1999-2001. T. 1-9. URL: http: //www.lib.ru/TROCKIJ (date of access: 04/17/2015). .
Target course work to study the personality and political activities of L.D. Trotsky.
Tasks course work:
1. Characterize the early biography and the beginning of political activity.
2. Consider Trotsky’s role in the 1917 revolution and the Civil War.
3. Explore Trotsky's participation in the struggle for power, the final stage of life in exile and death.
Chronologicalframeworkresearch cover the entire period of Trotsky’s life, respectively, 1879 - 1940.
Geographicalframeworkresearch include the territory of the former USSR, the places of Trotsky’s first and second emigrations - London, Paris, New York, and places associated with expulsion and murder - Alma-Ata, Turkey, France, Norway, Mexico.
An objectresearch: personality and political activity of L.D. Trotsky.
Itemresearch: key and controversial points in the biography of Trotsky, characterizing him as a personality and political leader.
Sourcebase course work are the collected works of Trotsky in Russian Trotsky L. My life. Autobiographical experience. - M., 1991; His own. Trotsky L.D. Diaries and letters / Under the general. ed. SOUTH. Felshtinsky. - M., 1994. , magazines published under his leadership, press materials, documents of parties and organizations with which he was associated, and all kinds of materials of personal origin not only of Trotsky, but also of his contemporaries. Of the published materials concentrated in foreign archives, the four-volume set compiled by Yu.G. is especially important. Felshtinsky Felshtinsky Yu.G. Trotsky Archive: Communist Opposition in the USSR. - M., 1990.T. 14. . Its continuation is the nine-volume set of documents “The Archive of L.D. Trotsky”, also prepared by Felshtinsky and Chernyavsky, as noted earlier, published on the Internet Trotsky Archive (in 9 volumes) [Electronic resource] / Under the general. ed.G.I. Chernyavsky, Yu.G. Felshtinsky. - Kharkov., 1999-2001.T. 1-9. URL: //http: //www.lib.ru/TROCKIJ (date of access: 04/19/2015). .
Methodsresearch: the work is based on such principles of historical research as the principle of objectivity, which involves considering historical reality as a whole, with the help of facts and studying them in their entirety; the principle of systematicity, which takes into account all aspects and relationships of the study and allows us to consider the object of study as a set of interacting elements; the principle of historicism, which includes consideration of all historical facts, phenomena and events in accordance with specific historical circumstances, in their interdependence and the principle of relying on historical sources, since without relying on them, our research would not be scientific-historical.
The following methods of historical research are used in the work: historical-genetic method (retrospective), which allows us to show cause-and-effect relationships and patterns of development of a historical event; problem-chronological method, which involves the division of broad topics into a number of narrow problems, each of which will be considered in chronological order; historical-comparative method, with the help of which it is possible to identify both general and special features in the development of phenomena and events; historical-typological method, which gives us the opportunity to consistently consider the dynamics of historical processes and classify historical phenomena and events.
Structurework. The course work consists of an introduction, three chapters, a conclusion, a list of sources and literature.
Trotsky revolution civil war
1. Early biography and beginning of political activity
Bronstein Lev Davidovich (pseudonym Trotsky) was born on October 25, 1879 - in the family of a wealthy landowner. “My childhood was not a childhood of hunger and cold. By the time of my birth, my parental family already knew prosperity. But it was the harsh prosperity of people rising upward from need and not wanting to stop halfway. All muscles were tense, all thoughts were aimed at work and accumulation "Cit. By. Trotsky L. My life. Autobiographical experience. - M., 1991. P. 23. . Young Leva saw how difficult it was for his father to prosper; he also saw that his neighbors were jealous of him, but did not want to do anything themselves. The spirit of thrift and hoarding constantly reigned in the family. “The instincts of acquisition, the petty-bourgeois way of life and outlook - I set sail from them with a sharp push, and set sail for the rest of my life.” Ibid. P. 96. . Why did this happen? Perhaps it was a simple childhood desire to do everything the other way around, perhaps the school influenced me.
In 1888, Trotsky entered the preparatory class of the Odessa Real School of St. Paul. At the school, Trotsky very soon showed his ambitious aspirations: “during his studies he showed great diligence, he always went first.” Leva read a lot from childhood: “nature and people, not only in school, but also in subsequent years of youth, occupied a lesser place in my spiritual life than books and thoughts.” Ibid. P. 74. . Also in his youth, Trotsky was interested in theater: Leo was amazed by the “witchcraft of the theater.” “The love of words accompanied me from an early age, sometimes weakening, sometimes growing, and in general, undoubtedly, strengthening. Writers, journalists, and artists remained for me the most attractive world, into which access is open only to a select few.” Ibid. P. 101. .
A significant event was the discovery of myopia in Leo. The need to wear glasses brought him a feeling of joy, since, in his opinion, they gave significance to G.I. Chernyavsky. Leon Trotsky. Revolutionary. 1879-1917. - M., 2010. P. 27. . “Unexpectedly, it was discovered that I was short-sighted. I was taken to an eye doctor, and he prescribed glasses for me. I can’t say that this upset me: after all, the glasses gave me significance. I was not without pleasure anticipating my appearance in glasses in Yanovka. But for my father, the glasses turned out to be an unbearable blow. He believed that all this was pretense and self-importance, and categorically demanded that I take off the glasses. In vain I convinced him that I could not see the letters on the board in class and could not make out signs on the street. I had to wear glasses in Yanovka, wear only secretly" Quote. By. Trotsky L. My life. Autobiographical experience. P. 80. .
But the years of study were not at all only joyful: “the memory of the school remained colored, if not black, then gray.” There were conflicts with teachers at the school more than once, for which Trotsky was once even expelled from the school (he was accepted again the following year). And the “regime of soullessness and bureaucratic formalism” itself could not help but irritate the future revolutionary. “There was a deep hostility to the existing system, to injustice, to arbitrariness. Where from? From the conditions of the era of Alexander III, from police arbitrariness, landowner exploitation, official bribery, national restrictions. From the entire social atmosphere in general.” Ibid. P. 133. . In parallel with his mute hostility towards the political regime of Russia, Trotsky was imperceptibly developing an idealization abroad - Western Europe and America, creating the idea of a high, uniform culture that embraced everyone without exception. This was later linked to his idea of an ideal democracy. Trotsky very soon became, as we say today, the informal leader of a group of young people who were looking for a way out of their overwhelming desire for active work “for the good of society.” This largely predetermined Trotsky’s choice of his future activities. In 1896, in Nikolaev, where Trotsky was finishing his last year of study at a real school, he and his friends were able to create the South Russian Workers' Union, which had up to 200 members, mainly workers of the city. Being a member of a semi-legal organization, and especially one of its leaders, flattered Trotsky’s vanity and gave him special weight, perhaps not so much in his own eyes as in the opinions of those around him. Nature awarded Lev Bronstein with a beautiful appearance; blue lively eyes, lush black hair, regular facial features were complemented by good manners and the ability to dress tastefully. Many admired him, but many disliked him - talent is rarely forgiven. Over time, the awareness of his exclusivity formed in Trotsky the pronounced egoistic and egocentric traits of Volkogonov D.A. Trotsky. "Demon of the Revolution" - M., 2011. P. 10. . It was these qualities that were later highlighted in Trotsky by professor of medicine G.A., who knew him closely from his years of study and communication in Odessa and Nikolaev. Ziv. In his opinion, Trotsky’s individuality was expressed not in knowledge or feeling, but in will. “To actively demonstrate one’s will, to rise above everyone, to be first everywhere and always - this has always constituted the basic essence of Bronstein’s personality,” Ziv wrote, “other aspects his psychologies were only service superstructures and annexes" Ziv G. A. Trotsky. Characteristics (According to personal memories). - New York, 1921. P. 12. .
Young technician Ivan Andreevich Mukhin, the Sokolovsky brothers and sister, workers Korotkov, Babenko, Polyak and others took an active part in the activities of the "Union", which did not last long. Basically, the work boiled down to rewriting and duplicating Social Democratic texts on a hectograph, distributing them among workers at shipyards and other enterprises.
The management of the Soyuz was inexperienced. Conspiracy is at a primitive level. It is quite natural that provocateurs infiltrated the organization. One of them bore, Trotsky later recalled, the surname Schrenzel. On January 28, 1898, Bronstein, Shvigovsky, and other organizers of the “Union” were arrested by D.A. Volkogonov. Decree. Op. P. 15. . Young Lev Bronstein did not waste time - and in prison he was engaged in self-education. Using his school knowledge of German and French, he also studied English and Italian, read a lot, and tried to write a serious work on the essence of Freemasonry and the materialistic understanding of history. “Based on my school acquaintance with German and French, I read the Gospel, verse by verse, also in English and Italian. In a few months, I made significant progress, thus... During this particular period, I became interested in the question of Freemasonry. For several months I diligently read books on the history of Freemasonry, which were delivered to me by family and friends from the city." Quote. By. Trotsky L. My life. Autobiographical experience. pp. 160-162. .
On his way to Eastern Siberia, where he was exiled for four years, L. Bronstein first heard about Vladimir Ulyanov and studied his book “The Development of Capitalism in Russia.” The prison cells, one might say, finally turned the young revolutionary into a Social Democrat.
At this time, he finally became friends with A. Sokolova, who sympathized with him. They got married in a Moscow transit prison in 1899. By the fall of 1900, their daughter Zina was born, and the family settled in the village of Ust-Kut, Irkutsk province. In these same places, Trotsky met with the young F.E. Dzerzhinsky, M.S. Uritsky. While in exile in the Irkutsk province, Trotsky took an active part in the life of the settlers. Under the pseudonym Antid Oto, he collaborated with the local newspaper Eastern Review. His sharp, brightly written articles attracted attention to him in foreign circles of the RSDLP. Soon Trotsky received an invitation from the editorial office of Iskra to work for the newspaper. It strengthened the decision to escape. Having remained in exile for a total of more than a year, Trotsky, leaving his wife and two small daughters, fled abroad. His flight led to the breakup of the family, although at first neither he nor Alexandra expected this.
In 1902, on a stormy autumn morning, he appeared in London at the apartment of V.I. Lenin. Trotsky was greeted very warmly. Lenin was impressed by the sharpness of his judgments and desire to defend his opinion. In addition, Trotsky very energetically carried out any of Lenin’s instructions. March 2, 1903 V.I. Lenin in a letter to G.V. Plekhanov was offered to co-opt Trotsky as a member of the Iskra editorial board. He gave him a very flattering description: “A man, undoubtedly, with remarkable abilities, convinced, energetic, who will go even further,” wrote V.I. Lenin. “And in the field of translations and popular literature, he will be able to do quite a lot.” Lenin V. AND. Full collection Op. - M., 1970. T. 46. P. 277. . But Plekhanov pointedly rejected Trotsky’s articles sent to him by Lenin; he retained hostility towards the latter until the end of his life; the reasons for such an attitude are quite difficult to establish. Despite this, Trotsky continued to work actively under the leadership of Lenin.
In the spring of 1903, Trotsky visited Brussels, Liege and Paris, in the circles of Russian revolutionary emigration he gave an abstract on the topic: “What is historical materialism and how do socialist revolutionaries understand it.” Lenin became interested in the topic and suggested that Trotsky revise the abstract into an article for Zarya, the theoretical organ of Social Democracy. However, he flatly refused: “I did not dare to present a purely theoretical article next to Plekhanov and others.” Quote. By. Trotsky L. My life. Autobiographical experience. P. 200. .
In London, Trotsky began to intensively study socialist literature. “I began to greedily absorb the published issues of Iskra and the books of Zarya. It was brilliant literature, combining scientific depth with revolutionary passion. I fell in love with Iskra, was ashamed of my ignorance and tried with all my might to overcome it as soon as possible.” Right there. P. 195. .
During one of his trips to Paris, he met Natalya Sedova, a young woman who also participated in the revolutionary movement. She was three years younger than Trotsky (she was born in 1882 and outlived him by almost 20 years; she died in 1962 on the outskirts of Paris), Natalya’s father was a Don Cossack who became a merchant of the first guild, and her mother came from an impoverished noble family. Sedova became interested in Trotsky, divorced her husband and became Trotsky’s second wife. They could not enter into an official church marriage, since Lev Davidovich did not divorce Alexandra and formally remained A.L.’s husband until the October Revolution of 1917. Sokolovskaya. He lived with Sedova until the end of his life. They had two sons - Lev (1906) and Sergei (1908).
In 1903, Lev Davidovich participated in the II Congress of the Russian Social Democratic Labor Party with a mandate from the Siberian Union of the RSDLP. Here it becomes clear that Trotsky did not at all possess those qualities of an obedient follower that Lenin Chernyavsky G.I. prescribed to him. Decree. Op. P. 56. . The congress took place from July 17 (30) to August 10 (23), first in Brussels, and then (after the actual ban on its work by the Belgian police) in London.
Trotsky was an active participant in the congress; in the minutes of S.V. Tyutyukin discovered over a hundred of his speeches Tyutyukin S.V. Lev Davidovich Trotsky // Historical silhouettes. - M., 1991. P. 205. . It was then that the closeness of Lenin and Trotsky collapsed. The congress, which began with hopes of friendly work, as is known, split during the discussion of the Charter, especially its first point. The dispute was about the degree of centralism in the newly created party, about the future composition of the Iskra editorial board. Recalling these events later, Trotsky wrote: “My whole being protested against this merciless cutting off of the old people (Axelrod, Zasulich). My break with Lenin at the second congress stemmed from this indignation. His behavior seemed to me unacceptable, terrible, outrageous. And between because it was politically correct and, therefore, organizationally necessary" Quote. By. Trotsky L. My life. Autobiographical experience. P. 220. . But this is how he assessed these events many years later, and then, with all the fervor of his youth, Trotsky, whom D.B. Ryazanov called him “Lenin’s baton” and attacked his yesterday’s idol. Although Trotsky's position made a negative impression on Lenin, he nevertheless did not lose hope that he would change his position. Even during the work of the congress, on Lenin’s instructions, Dmitry Ulyanov addressed him, trying to reason with him. But, as Trotsky wrote, “I flatly refused to follow them.” Naturally, further cooperation between Lenin and Trotsky became impossible.
Trotsky more than once returned to clarify the reasons for his departure from Lenin at the Second Congress. There were several reasons. In "My Life" he names them. Firstly, among the members of the Iskra editorial board, although Trotsky supported Lenin, he was closer to Martov, Zasulich and Axelrod. "Their influence on me was undeniable" Quote. By. Trotsky L. My life. Autobiographical experience. P. 219., - he testified. Secondly, it was in Lenin that Trotsky saw the primary source of “attacks” on the unity of the Iskra editorial board, while the idea of splitting the board seemed sacrilegious to him. And finally, thirdly (and this is the most significant reason), Trotsky’s reluctance to submit to anyone, in this case, to the “revolutionary centralism” professed by Lenin, which “is a tough, imperative and demanding principle. In relation to individual people and towards entire groups of yesterday’s like-minded people, it often takes the form of ruthlessness.” Ibid. P. 219. .
It seems that it was not at all a matter of Lenin’s “ruthlessness”. The issue of Trotsky's transition to the position of Menshevism is much more complex than his personal ambitions. At that time, he was essentially only approaching the understanding of revolutionary strategy and tactics of struggle. He did not yet have any solid beliefs that had been tested by experience. He too superficially represented the essence of the disagreements between Lenin and other “Iskra-ists” on programmatic issues.
The vagueness of ideological positions resulted in the instability of the political platform, which was also aggravated by the tendency to change principles under the influence of one person or another, the circumstances of the moment and other - at first glance secondary, but entailing serious consequences - aspects of the political situation. This feature of Trotsky’s behavior predetermined his most important feature as a politician, and then as a theorist of Trotskyism.
After the congress, Trotsky, together with Martov, Axelrod and other Menshevik leaders, took a course towards eliminating the principles of creating a revolutionary party proposed by Lenin at the Second Congress. This was already a little like conducting an ideological dispute. Trotsky continued the intolerant, defiant tone of his speeches in his first book, “Our Political Tasks (Tactical and Organizational Issues),” published in 1904 in Geneva, with a dedication to P.B. Axelrod. It was not for nothing that this book was called “the manifesto of Russian Menshevism.” Its purpose, according to Trotsky himself, was to challenge the meaning of Lenin’s works “What is to be done?” and “One step forward, two steps back.” However, Trotsky was not satisfied with much in the position of the Mensheviks. In particular, he was constantly irritated by the cautious, possibilist policy of the Russian variety of right-wing opportunism, with an eye on the position of the authorities. Therefore, while disagreeing with the Bolsheviks regarding party building and the role of the peasantry in the revolution, Trotsky was at the same time instinctively drawn to the decisive forms of the Bolshevik struggle, which pursued far-reaching revolutionary goals in this struggle. All this led to the fact that, having returned to Russia (Kiev) at the beginning of 1905, Trotsky found himself “between two stools.” He arrived in Kyiv as a respectable, successful entrepreneur. N. Sedova, who had left earlier, found an apartment, established the necessary connections with the underground, and introduced her husband, who had arrived in Kyiv, to the young engineer L. Krasin, a prominent Bolshevik whom Lenin knew well. Trotsky used the Kyiv stop, in fact, for a more detailed acquaintance with the situation in the country, in social democratic organizations and with the mood of the people. Krasin, who stood for conciliation between the two factions, seriously helped him. But Trotsky not only became familiar with the situation. His pen worked continuously. Trotsky wrote about everything: about the role of the strike in the growth of the revolution, about the dual nature of liberals, about renegadeism in Marxism D.A. Volkogonov. Decree. Op. P. 20. . “Organizationally,” he wrote, “I was not a member of any of the factions” Quote. By. Trotsky L. My life. Autobiographical experience. P. 230. . While collaborating with the Mensheviks, Trotsky sought to maintain connections with the Bolsheviks.
Having moved to St. Petersburg with the help of Krasin, Trotsky plunged headlong into revolutionary work, participating in ongoing meetings of strike committees, preparing bright proclamations that were posted around the city and distributed in factories and factories. But when Sedova was arrested at the May rally, and the threat of his arrest arose, Trotsky from the apartment of Colonel A.A. Litkens, where he lived illegally, was forced to take refuge in Finland. During his three months in the secluded, remote boarding house "Mir", Trotsky wrote dozens of articles, leaflets, and proclamations, which were sent to D.A. Volkogonov to St. Petersburg. Decree. Op. pp. 21 - 22. . When on May 14, 1905, the Russian squadron under the command of Vice Admiral Z.P. Rozhestvensky near the island of Tsushima took on the Japanese squadron of Admiral H. Togo, no one could have imagined how terrible the result would be. The Tsar's fleet suffered a catastrophic defeat. Russia was shocked. Trotsky immediately wrote a large proclamation: “Down with the shameful massacre!” The leaflet circulated from hand to hand not only in St. Petersburg, but also in many cities of Russia.
Even before the announcement of the tsar's manifesto, Trotsky returned to St. Petersburg. In the new conditions, he turned out to be one of the most sought-after figures. He came to the capital with a plan to create an elected non-partisan body, which would consist of representatives of enterprises, one delegate per thousand workers, but learned that a similar slogan for an elected body of a slightly larger scale had already been put forward by the Menshevik organization, and this body was called the Council of Workers' Deputies . Trotsky from the very beginning took an active part in the work of the Council, where he spoke under the name Yanovsky Chernyavsky G.I. Decree. Op. P. 77. . In the fall of 1905, Trotsky, together with Parvus, published the Russian Newspaper, then with the Mensheviks - the newspaper Nachalo, published articles in Izvestia, the organ of the St. Petersburg Council of Workers' Deputies. At the same time, he becomes Deputy Chairman of the Council S.G. Khrustalev-Nosar. Here Trotsky's ability to work without rest, his qualities as an orator and publicist were revealed. These days, the theoretical differences between the Bolsheviks and Trotsky largely faded into the background before the task of direct struggle against tsarism. The activities of the St. Petersburg Council continued for fifty-two days. On December 3, troops surrounded the building of the Technological Institute, where the Council met, and arrested its deputies.
Trotsky spent fifteen months in the capital's prisons. In the fall of 1906, a trial began that lasted about a month. There were about 50 people in the dock. The sentence was quite lenient: indefinite exile to the village of Obdorskoye, beyond the Arctic Circle. Before reaching 500 versts to his destination, Trotsky escaped. On a reindeer team with a driver, having traveled about 700 kilometers, he reached the Urals. Posing himself either as an engineer from Baron Toll’s polar expedition or as an official, Trotsky made his way to the railway. At one of the stations not far from St. Petersburg, he was met by Natalya Ivanovna, summoned by a telegram. Having visited Martov and Lenin on the Karelian Isthmus, he lived with his wife and son near Helsingfors (Helsinki) for about three months. A book about escape was written here - "There and Back Again". This is how the first Russian revolution ended for Trotsky personally. 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. The revolution of 1905 played an important role in Trotsky's life: with his decisive, bold actions in organizing the struggle, he earned the respect of workers, as well as experienced revolutionaries. “The revolution of 1905 created a turning point in the life of the country, in the life of the party and in my personal life. The turning point was towards maturity” Quote. By. Trotsky L. My life. Autobiographical experience. P. 250. .
In May 1907, Trotsky was a participant in the V (London) Congress of the RSDLP with the right of advisory vote. At the congress, Trotsky again took an unclear position, tried to form a certain group of the center, understanding no worse than others the precarious balance between the Bolsheviks and Mensheviks, seeing that much would depend at the congress on who the delegates of other movements would join.
From November 1908 to April 1912, Trotsky and his supporters in Vienna published a small circulation of the newspaper Pravda (the organ of “non-factional” social democrats), which turned into a publication that preached the principles that dominated the reformist parties of Western Europe. He was a permanent correspondent for the central press organs of the Social Democratic Party of Germany, was present at its congresses, regularly maintained contacts with its leaders K. Kautsky, K. Zetkin, immediately after arriving in Vienna he joined the Austrian Social Democratic Party, participated in its work, and a lot wrote in the party press, went to meetings, rallies, demonstrations, and entered the University of Vienna. In Vienna, Trotsky gave birth to his second son, Sergei, in 1908. The family did not live poorly, but modestly. Sometimes I had to pawn things in a pawnshop and sell books, although mostly my literary earnings provided my livelihood.
In April 1910, by decision of the Central Committee of the RSDLP, L.B. arrived to work together on the editorial board of the Vienna Pravda. Kamenev. After participating in the release of two issues of the newspaper, he refused to cooperate. “The experience of working together with Trotsky is, boldly, an experience that I sincerely accomplished,” wrote
Kamenev, - showed that conciliationism uncontrollably slides towards the defense of liquidationism, decisively takes the side of the latter against the RSDLP" Quoted from Kamenev Yu. Two Parties. With a preface by N. Lenin. - L., 1924. P. 136. .
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. On August 1, 1914, the First World War began. The attitude towards her changed the balance of power in the international labor movement. On August 3, Trotsky and his family left for Switzerland, as he was threatened with internment. In 1914, he published a brochure in German, “War and the International,” for distributing which in Germany a German court sentenced the author in absentia to eight months in prison. In November 1914, Trotsky moved to France with a certificate as a correspondent of the Kyiv Thought. Six months later, his family joined him. In Paris, shortly before this, the newspaper “Voice” began to be published, in which V.A. collaborated. Antonov-Ovseenko, A.M. Kollontai, A.V. Lunacharsky, Yu.O. Martov, M.S. Uritsky and others. Trotsky quickly became one of the central figures in the editorial office, and although the burden of old disagreements with Lenin made itself felt, during these years the political basis for future rapprochement was created. Lenin had already agreed to join Trotsky in the editorial office of the journal "Harbinger" published in German, but at the end of 1916 the French government closed the newspaper and expelled Trotsky from the country Volkogonov D.A. Decree. Op. pp. 45-50. . England, Italy, Switzerland denied him entry. Only Spain remained. Two weeks later he was arrested by Spanish police in Madrid. From here they wanted to send Trotsky to Havana, and only the intervention of Republican deputies and liberal newspapers helped him get permission to travel with his family to New York. In January 1917, Trotsky arrived in the USA. In two months, he managed to write many articles, give presentations in Russian and German in a number of cities, work in the library, studying the economic life of a new country for him, and become one of the editors of the newspaper “New World” together with Bukharin, Volodarsky and Chudnovsky. Here the news of the February Revolution found him.
In the first chapter we examined the political endeavors of L.D. Trotsky, in particular, was not spared his personal life, without which, in our opinion, it is impossible to give a complete political portrait. Let's summarize some results. First of all - L.D. Trotsky was a revolutionary. He joined the Social Democratic movement back in 1898. He was exiled to Siberia. Afterwards he fled abroad. The fact that even then he took an active part in the political struggle against tsarism is evidenced by the fact that Trotsky was a participant in the famous Second Congress of the RSDLP. On it, he disagreed in political views with Lenin and joined the Mensheviks, but soon left their ranks. He also stayed away from the Bolsheviks and considered himself an “independent Social Democrat.”
When the first Russian revolution broke out, Trotsky returned to bustling St. Petersburg. Here he managed to advance to the leadership core of the St. Petersburg Council, moreover, for some time to become its chairman. Then another arrest, followed by exile to the north, another escape. In exile, I get to know almost all the most prominent leaders of the European Social Democratic movement. From 1908 to 1912 he published the newspaper Pravda. In August 1912 he created an anti-Bolshevik bloc ("Augustovsky"), which collapsed in 1914. For his anti-war propaganda, Trotsky was expelled from France to Spain, where he was arrested. Having received permission to leave Spain, Trotsky went with his family to the United States.
Having studied together the factors that influenced the formation of Trotsky’s personality in his early youth, as well as the first successes and failures in the political arena, in the second chapter we will begin to identify new controversial issues related to the role of Lev Davidovich in the revolution of 1917 and the events associated with Civil war.
2. Trotsky in the 1917 Revolution and Civil War
The years of the second Russian revolution and the Civil War became the most significant time for Trotsky the politician, statesman, and leader. At the end of March, Trotsky and his family sailed to Europe on the Norwegian steamer Christianiafjord, but a few days later in the Canadian port of Halifax, along with several emigrants, he was arrested and imprisoned in a camp for German sailors. Trotsky himself wrote about this incident: “In Halifax (Canada), where the ship was subject to inspection by the British naval authorities, the police officers ... subjected us Russians to direct interrogation: what are our beliefs, political plans, etc.? I refused to enter into conversations on this subject. The detective officers insisted that I was a terrible socialist. The whole search was of such an obscene nature and put the Russian revolutionaries in such an exceptional position compared to other passengers who did not have the misfortune of belonging to a nation allied with England, that some of those interrogated immediately sent a vigorous protest to the British authorities against the conduct of the police agents... On April 3, British officers, accompanied by sailors, came on board the Christianiafiord and, on behalf of the local admiral, demanded that I, my family and five other passengers leave the ship... we were promised to "clarify" the whole incident in Halifax We declared the demand illegal and refused to comply with it. Armed sailors pounced on us and, with shouts of “sham” (shame) from a significant part of the passengers, carried us in their arms onto a military boat, which, under the escort of a cruiser, took us to Halifax" Quoted from Trotsky L. My life. Experience of autobiography. With 320. Under pressure from the Petrograd Soviet, the Provisional Government was forced to intervene, and a month later Trotsky and his comrades were released. Through Sweden and Finland, he arrived in Petrograd on May 5, 1917 (as we can see, Trotsky missed the April crisis, as a result of which the first coalition Provisional Government was formed). A solemn meeting awaited him here. For his services in 1905, he was included in the Executive Committee of the Petrograd Soviet with the right of an advisory vote. “It was decided to include me with an advisory vote. I received my membership card and my glass of tea with black bread." Quoted from L. Trotsky. My life. The experience of an autobiography. P. 340. .
Upon his return, Trotsky was faced with the question of choosing political guidelines. Lev Davidovich considered the best option to join the interdistrict members - the St. Petersburg Interdistrict Committee. Basically, Mezhrayontsy supported the slogans of the Bolsheviks, with the exception of turning the imperialist war into a civil war. Trotsky, although he did not take an official position, became the de facto leader of the organization G.I. Chernyavsky. Decree. Op. P. 178. .
On May 10, Lenin, Kamenev and Zinoviev attended a conference of inter-district members and proposed a plan according to which all left-wing groups would merge into a single party. Trotsky spoke restrainedly and positively on this matter, but was in no hurry to accept Lenin’s proposal. Let us note that this was the first step towards Trotsky’s joining Bolshevism. Ibid. pp. 179-180. .
A month after Trotsky’s arrival in Petrograd, he was already one of the most prominent figures in the colorful political background of the revolution. Having looked around and taken his bearings, the revolutionary recklessly and irrevocably plunged into the seething stream of human passions, disputes, debates, and political claims. In the summer and autumn of 1917, Trotsky was in great demand: he was invited by Baltic sailors, workers of the Putilov plant and tram depot, students, invited to meetings of the Socialist Revolutionaries and Bolsheviks, to meetings of soldiers' committees of military units. The singer of the revolution almost never refused. Sometimes he went to rallies with Lunacharsky, also a brilliant speaker. This tandem, or rather, the duo of revolutionary agitators, was very popular in Petrograd in those distant days of D.A. Volkogonov. Trotsky: Political Portrait. - M., 1992.T. 1. P. 50. .
At the beginning of the July events in Petrograd, Trotsky had not yet formally joined the Bolshevik Party, although in fact he already stood on their platform. With the outbreak of events, Trotsky played a significant role in protecting the Minister of Agriculture of the Provisional Government, the leader of the Socialist Revolutionary Party V.M. Chernov, from the revolutionary crowd. The crowd tried to arrest Chernov instead of Justice Minister Pereverzev; the Kronstadt sailors had already dragged Chernov into the car, tearing his jacket, but then Trotsky spoke to the crowd of Kronstadt sailors with a fiery speech and the crowd parted.
After the events of July 3-4, arrests were made among the Bolshevik leaders. Lenin and Zinoviev went underground. It was during these days that Trotsky decided to take a defiant and spectacular step: he demanded his own arrest in the press. In an open letter to the Provisional Government, he noted: “Citizens ministers! I know that you have decided to arrest comrades Lenin, Zinoviev and Kamenev. But an arrest warrant has not been issued for me. Therefore, I consider it necessary to draw your attention to the following facts. In principle, I agree the position of Lenin, Zinoviev and Kamenev and defended it in all my public speeches" Trotsky L.D. Letter to the Provisional Government [Electronic resource] // URL: http: //www.magister. msk.ru/library/trotsky/trotl266. htm (date of access: 04/19/2015). . The authorities did not tolerate such insolence and soon arrested the author of the letter. Trotsky stayed in “Kresty” for more than 40 days. During this time, his popularity grew at the same speed as his articles and notes appeared in the Bolshevik "Worker and Soldier", the magazine "Forward" and other printed publications. In prison, he wrote two works: “What’s next? (results and prospects)” and “When will the damned massacre end?” Both brochures were published by the Bolshevik publishing house Priboi and immediately attracted attention.
A few days after Trotsky’s arrest, the VI Congress of the RSDLP (b) opened at the end of July, which worked in semi-legal conditions. At the beginning, meetings of the congress were held on the Vyborg side, and then behind the Narvskaya outpost. Many party leaders, who were forced to go underground or were imprisoned by the Provisional Government, were not at the congress. In essence, at the congress, Lenin’s main characteristic of the moment was voiced: since the counter-revolution temporarily gains the upper hand, the possibility of seizing power by peaceful means disappears. The issue of armed uprising was put on the agenda. From this moment on, the radical line of the Bolsheviks emerged even more clearly.
For Trotsky's revolutionary fate, the congress was of great importance. He was even elected an honorary member of the presidium. After negotiations and approvals, a large group of “Mezhrayontsev” was accepted into the party. Thus, while Trotsky was in prison, the question of his party membership was resolved in a new way. Together with Trotsky, M.M. also became Bolsheviks. Volodarsky, A.A. Ioffe, A.V. Lunacharsky, D.Z. Manuilsky, M.S. Uritsky and many of their comrades. Trotsky's authority was already so high that when elected at the congress of the Central Committee, he was immediately elected to it.
At the request of the Petrograd Soviet, on September 2, 1917, Lev Davidovich was released on bail of three thousand rubles. But in reality, Kerensky, who only with the help of the Bolsheviks was able to repel Kornilov’s threat, felt that the tightening of the regime only weakened his position. There is reason to believe that it was Kornilov’s August adventure that strengthened the position of the Bolsheviks and made the October events possible. Trotsky, together with Lunacharsky, Kamenev, Kollontai, and other revolutionaries, leaves prison as a hero and plunges headlong into party affairs D.A. Volkogonov. Decree. Op. pp. 53--56. .
During the Bolshevization of the Soviets in September 1917, the Bolsheviks managed to gain a majority of seats in the Petrograd Soviet. On September 25, re-elections of the Executive Committee of the Petrograd Soviet were held, the Bolsheviks proposed L.D. for the post of chairman. Trotsky. After the election, the new chairman gave a speech to the approving cheers of the audience, in which he expressed confidence that he would try to “mark his second election to the Council (after 1905) with a more successful outcome.” D.A. Volkogonov. Decree. Op. P. 56. On October 12, Trotsky, as chairman of the Petrograd Soviet, formed the Petrograd Military Revolutionary Committee - the main body for leading the Bolshevik uprising.
With the formation of the Pre-Parliament, Trotsky was also elected to this body and headed the Bolshevik faction in it. From the very beginning, Trotsky demanded a boycott of the work of the Pre-Parliament, as too “bourgeois” in composition. After receiving the approval of Lenin, who was then hiding in Finland, Trotsky on October 7 (20), on behalf of the Bolsheviks, officially announced a boycott of the Pre-Parliament.
In general, by the autumn of 1917, the old differences between Lenin and Trotsky were becoming a thing of the past. At the same time, disagreements arose between Lenin and Trotsky regarding the preparation of an armed uprising. While Kamenev and Zinoviev at that time, fearing a repetition of the July defeat, demanded not to raise any uprising, Lenin insisted on an immediate uprising. Trotsky differed with him regarding the form of the coup. If Lenin demanded that the Bolsheviks take power on their own behalf, then Trotsky proposed raising the question of transferring power to the Soviets at the Second Congress of Soviets. In two or three weeks, Trotsky made a meteoric rise in Bolshevik circles, becoming the second person in them after Lenin. In the absence of the latter, G.I. Chernyavsky became the main spokesman for his positions and ideas. Decree. Op. P. 193. .
We will not dwell in detail on the events of the October Revolution, we will only say that, ultimately, the uprising began on October 23-24, when by government order Rabochaya Pravda and Izvestia of the Petrograd Soviet were banned. Trotsky reacted immediately and gave the order to send detachments of the Sixth Engineer Battalion and the Lithuanian Regiment to the printing house. Trotsky did not leave the phone then, receiving more and more confirmation about the successful course of events. On the evening of October 24, Lenin appeared in Smolny, immediately learning about the coup G.I. Chernyavsky. Decree. Op. pp. 196-197. . The decisive events unfolded on October 25, the opening day of the Congress of Soviets. At a meeting of the Central Committee on the night of the 25th, when discussing the new government, Trotsky’s proposal was adopted to be called not ministers, but people’s commissars. On October 26, Trotsky made a report on the composition of the government at the congress meeting. It was at this congress that Trotsky uttered his famous words regarding the Mensheviks: “You are pitiful units, you are bankrupt, your role has been played, go to where you should be from now on: into the trash can of history.” Quote. By. Trotsky L. My life. Autobiographical experience. P. 380. . Trotsky made his choice: he is a Bolshevik, and he is in power. He himself became People's Commissar for Foreign Affairs.
Trotsky in 1935 assessed his role in the October events as follows: “If it were not for me in St. Petersburg in 1917, the October Revolution would have occurred - provided that Lenin was present and led. If there had been neither Lenin nor me in St. Petersburg, there would have been no October Revolution: the leadership of the Bolshevik party would have prevented it from happening... If Lenin had not been in St. Petersburg, I would hardly have managed it... the outcome of the revolution would have been under a question mark. But, I repeat, if Lenin had been present, the October Revolution would still have led to victory" Trotsky L.D. Diaries and letters / Under the general. ed. SOUTH. Felshtinsky. - M., 1994. P. 119. . There is eloquent testimony from Lenin about Trotsky's leading role in the October armed uprising. “After the St. Petersburg Soviet passed into the hands of the Bolsheviks,” says the XXIV volume of the first Collected Works of V.I. Lenin, “(Trotsky) was elected its chairman, in whose capacity he organized and led the uprising of October 25.” Lenin.V. Collection Op. - M., 1923. T. 24. P. 482. .
However, after Lenin's death, Stalin gave Trotsky a completely different assessment of the revolution. “But I must say that Trotsky did not and could not play any special role in the October Uprising, that, as Chairman of the Petrograd Soviet, he carried out only the will of the relevant party authorities that guided Trotsky’s every step” Stalin I.V. Essays. - M.; Tver, 1946-2006. T. 6. pp. 328-329. . So what role did Lev Davidovich play in the October coup? Based on numerous documents, eyewitness accounts, and analysis of Lenin’s works of that period, we can conclude that Trotsky in October proved himself to be one of the main leaders of the revolution, as a man who found himself in his native element.
Trotsky proved himself a reliable ally of Lenin during the internal crisis of the Central Committee and the Council of People's Commissars, which occurred in the very first days of the existence of the new government. On October 29, the Bolshevik Central Committee began negotiations on the creation of a homogeneous socialist government. The “right” Bolsheviks (Kamenev, Zinoviev, Nogin, Rykov, etc.) insisted on an agreement. Lenin, with the active support of Trotsky, managed to break the hesitations of the members of the Central Committee and insist on putting forward conditions that were unacceptable to the right Socialist Revolutionaries and the majority of the Mensheviks. And although fifteen members of the Central Committee, people's commissars and their deputies resigned on November 4, Lenin and Trotsky won. During these same days, Trotsky was actively involved in organizing resistance to the troops of Kerensky and Krasnov and the defeat of the cadet rebellion in Petrograd. With Lenin he goes to the Putilov plant, to the headquarters of the Petrograd Military District.
Regarding his direct responsibilities - People's Commissar for Foreign Affairs - Trotsky later admitted that “the matter still turned out to be somewhat more complicated than I expected” Quote. By. Trotsky L. My life. Autobiographical experience. P. 400. . Trotsky's first major action in his new post was the publication of secret treaties concluded by Russia with the Entente countries. Trotsky’s assistant, sailor Nikolai Markin, was directly involved in organizing the deciphering and publication of these documents. Within a few weeks, seven yellow collections were published, causing a stir in the multilingual press. The newspapers published their contents in advance. By this the Bolsheviks proved their promise to end secret diplomacy. But Trotsky himself had been in Brest-Litovsk since the end of December, leading the Russian delegation in negotiations with Germany, Austria-Hungary, Turkey and Bulgaria. There he gave fiery speeches that were aimed not so much at his negotiating partners as at the broad masses. German newspapers also published Trotsky’s speeches, and the Soviet press published complete transcripts of the meetings. From the very beginning, Trotsky played the role of “delaying” the negotiations: “It was necessary to give the European workers time to properly perceive the very fact of the Soviet revolution, and in particular its peace policy” Quote. By. Trotsky L. My life. Autobiographical experience. P. 440. . The negotiations were extremely difficult: the Soviet side offered a democratic peace without annexations and indemnities on the basis of self-determination of peoples, and the German side, with its outward “friendly” attitude, set obviously unacceptable conditions. At the same time, peace had to be concluded: “The impossibility of continuing the war was obvious: the trenches were almost empty. No one dared to talk even conditionally about continuing the war. Peace, peace at all costs!.” Ibid. P. 440. . But how to achieve it? This is where disagreements arose. "Three points of view emerged. Lenin was in favor of trying to drag out the negotiations further, but, in the event of an ultimatum, to immediately capitulate. I considered it necessary to bring the negotiations to a break, even with the danger of a new German offensive, so that capitulation would have to be - if at all - already before the obvious use of force. Bukharin demanded war to expand the arena of the revolution" Ibid. P. 443. . Since the latter position “drowned” in the sea of criticism of Lenin and Trotsky, the main contradiction lay in the timing of the signing of the ultimatum peace: after words about the possible continuation of the war or after the actual offensive. Trotsky managed to prove to other Bolsheviks that it was the latter that was required, since in this case the entire proletarian world would be able to see that revolutionary Russia was physically forced to sign peace with bourgeois Germany. In addition, Trotsky and his supporters hoped that Germany, devastated by years of war, would not be able to carry out an actual offensive. But everything happened just according to the worst scenario: the Germans attacked and, without receiving any resistance, quickly advanced deep into Russia. The Soviet government urgently declares a truce and on March 3, 1918 signs the harsh Treaty of Brest-Litovsk. Russia was losing vast territories and was obliged to pay a huge indemnity to G.I. Chernyavsky. Decree. Op. pp. 221-223. . In return, according to Trotsky, she retained “the sympathies of the world proletariat or a significant part of it. Over time, everyone will be convinced that we have no other choice.” Quote. By. Trotsky L. My life. Autobiographical experience. P. 452. .
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