Leon Trotsky was a Russian Marxist and was one of the main organisers of the Russian Revolution. He also helped bring the Bolshevik's into power in October 1917 in Russia. Trotsky was renowned as a great Marxist theorist and as such held powerful positions in Soviet Russia.

Trotsky was born Lev Davidovich Bronstein in Russian held Ukraine in a town called Yanovka in 1879. His father was a rich Jewish farmer and so Trotsky was sent to a Jewish primary school and later on to high school and finally on to Mikolayiv collage where he excelled in every subject and was top of his classes.

Trotsky first heard of radical new political ideas as a student in Makolayiv and while he was there he joined an illegal organisation of militants. The organisation was concerned with people's rights under the Russian imperial government. It was here that he became a Marxist supporter and a member of the Social Democrats. In 1887 he helped found the South Russian Workers Union a Marxist organisation. Then in 1888 Trotsky was arrested and sent into exile to Siberia where he married Alexandra Solovskaya also a believer in Marxism. In 1902 Trotsky escaped to London where he met with Lenin and there he wrote a newspaper called the Iskra (The Spark). He then attended the historic second RSDLP (Russian Social Democratic Labour Party) meeting. This meeting split the party into two parties, that is the Bolsheviks and the Mensheviks. Up until 1917 Trotsky left both parties and became independent because of his disagreements with both. Then in 1905 Trotsky hurried back to Russia to take part in the Revolution started by the socialist workers movement. During the time he became Soviet chairman in St. Petersburg.

He was then arrested again, this time for publishing his ideas of a revolution in Russia. He now believed that the revolution in Russia could only work if the monarchy fell. He also believed by the example of Russia that the rest of the European countries would follow and this would start a world Revolution.

From 1907 to 1914 Trotsky lived in Vienna with Natalya Sedova who was his second wife after his first marriage ended in 1903. As a revolutionary socialist Trotsky didn't believe in workers fighting a war over land so he moved to Switzerland (A neutral country) when World War I broke out in 1914. His arguments against the war got attention from Lenin and other revolutionaries. He left Switzerland so Trotsky and Lenin could form an international organisation that brought Marxist together called the Comintern that wasn't set up until 1919. After leaving Switzerland Trotsky was forced to look for asylum in New York in 1917 after failing in France and Spain, as inteligence in these countries knew he was a revolutionary and didn't want him in their country. He returned back to Russia when the February Rebellion broke out. By now Nicholas II was dead and a provisional government was set up.

In July 1917 Trotsky abandoned his independent course and joined the Bolsheviks. Lenin and Trotsky were now the most influential people who apposed the government while the Mensheviks went along with the government. Trotsky was imprisoned in August for treason but later released on bail in September and elected chairman of the Executive Committee of the Petrograd Soviet. While Lenin was still in hiding Trotsky led masses of soldiers and workers in the insurrection that brought down the provisional government which was the second part of the revolution.

When the Bolsheviks came into power Trotsky became commissioner of foreign affairs in the new government led by Lenin, his job was mainly negotiate with Germany and the other Central powers. He later resigned because of his objection with the Treaty of Brest-Litovsk. Trotsky then took charge of the Russian military, which he turned into a well-organised and efficient fighting force. This army was called the Red Army and although Trotsky wasn’t a great military leader he was a good organiser and won the respect of his soldiers. Trotsky and his Red Army won the Russian Civil War in 1918-1921 thanks to his organisation. This war was fought against anti-revolutionaries called White Russians.

Trotsky was a very successful publicist and wrote many important books during the 1920’s. These include the ‘Terrorism and Communism’ in 1920, the ‘Problems of Everyday Life’ in 1923, ‘On Lenin: Materials for a Biographer’ in 1924 and ‘Literature and Revolution’ in 1925.

Trotsky was only second to Lenin and Lenin believed Trotsky to be able to take over after him. In December 1922 Lenin formed the USSR with the help of Trotsky’s Red Army. Lenin suffered from a heavy stroke and Stalin looked for total control over the Communist earlier the Bolshiviks and the USSR. Trotsky and Stalin where now aponants and both had totally different views on the future of Russia. While Trotsky believed in spreading Communism throughout the world even if that ment going to war, while Stalin believed in ‘socilism in one country’ which was building up Russia and then thinking of spreading socilism to other countries.

Trotsky stood no chance against Stalin because of the support he had from the people and from two high-ranking Communists called Grigory and Len Kamener. Now that Lenin was dead by 1924 Trotsky’s popularity droped. From 1927 he suffered ridicule from Stalin this led to Stalin ordering Trotsky to leave the USSR in 1929. Trotsky lived Turkey up until 1933 and then France and Norway until finally moving to Mexico City in Mexico with his family. In Mexico he still opposed Stalin and went against Stalinism, which was the name givin to Stalins rule in Russia. He wrote many other books including ‘History of the Russian Revolution’ said to be one of his best works. He also wrote ‘The Revolution Betrayed’ this opposed Stalin completely.

In Stalin’s eyes Trotsky was still a treat to Stalin and a strong opposition so Stalin ordered him killed. An attempt on his life was made in May 1940 but failed until another attempt was made that was successful the following August by Ramon Mecader a Spainish born agent of Stalins.

Trotsky’s whole life was devoted to spreading the idea of Socilism throughout the world and he would go to any lenths to get the idea to every country in the world starting with his own country, Russia. He was a renowed Marxist leader and writer and few polititions arousd more passion and controversy than Trotsky. He was deeply commited to his beliefs and would not stop until he achieved world revolution. Despite his ability to be ruthless he was no match for Stalin. Stalin was better at building support amoung party members and this is what Trotsky could not achieve and was to be his downfall even though he was second to Lenin.

Service, R.S. The Russian Revolution 1900-1927, MacMillian Education Ltd., Hong Kong, 1988

Pipes, R.P., A Concise History Of The Russian Revolution, The Harvill Press, Great Britain, 1995

Pitcher, H.P., Witness Of The Russian Revolution, John Murry (Publishers) Ltd., London, 1994

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Reasons why this was worth studding:

1. Trotsky played an essential roll in the Russian Revolution, which changed the system of government in that country.
2. His life gives an insight into the mind of a revolutionary living in Russia in the first two decades of the century.

One of the books used in the essay was a book called ‘A Concise History of the Russian Revolution’ written by Richard Pipes. The Harvill Press published this book in 1995. The book gives an in depth description of the Russian Revolution in which Leon Trotsky played an important part. It shows how Russia was falling apart under Nicholas II and the uneasiness of the peasants. It shows how the Bolchiviks then came into power under Lenin.

It was a good book as it contained a good amount of primary material. The book also had great pictures from the time, which gave a good image of the Russian Revolution. The book contained a great bibliography giving a good refrence to other books on the topic.

1. I learned how to find suitable books in school and local libraries. (Reseach skills)
2. I learned how to use the Internet to find information. (Reseach skills)
3. I learned how to read many souces before writing the essay. (Analysis skills)
4. I learned how to type the essay using Microsoft Word. (I.T. skills)