As part of our Soviet Icons series, we attempt to explain a little about the ill-fated legend of the Soviet Union; Leon Trotsky.
Trotsky helped found the USSR and was second only to Lenin, eventually being branded an enemy of the state, exiled to South America and assassinated with an ice axe!
Interested to know a little more about this leather-wearing Soviet hipster? Then read on! We’ll try our best to cover the life of this most iconic of Soviet Icons from birth to tragic death.
Trotsky’s Early Years
Born on 7th November 1879 in the small village of Yanovka in modern-day Ukraine, Leon Trotsky was initially named Lev Davidovich Bronstein. Trotsky’s parents David and Aneta Bronstein were relatively well-off Jewish farmers.
The Bronstein farmstead was incredibly secluded, a 15-mile commute to the nearest post office is often used to indicate the farm’s remoteness. Trotsky was the fifth of eight children, of which only four would survive to adulthood.
As David and Aneta had worked hard to improve their lives, coming from a poor academic background, they were adamant that their children would have the best possible start. At the age of 9, Trotsky was sent over two hundred miles to study in the port city of Odessa.
From a rural setting to a relatively cosmopolitan city, from a Jewish family, to a Christian school, Leon’s world was somewhat turned upside down at a young age. Whilst in Odessa, Leon lived with his cousins Moshe and Fanni Shpentser; more like an aunt and uncle, they would help shape the young Trotsky as they not only took an interest in his reading Fanni worked in education whilst Moshe was a budding publisher with his own printing press.
At school, Trotsky impressed and excelled; always top of the class, study seemed easy for this young man who absorbed world literature fed to him from an equally interested Moshe and Fanni.
The Revolutionary Road
When Leon turned sixteen, he was sent to the city of Nikolaev; this would be the city that steered Trotsky onto the revolutionary course. With a natural interest in the world around him and a passion for literature, Trotsky began to digest and discuss the works of Karl Marx
Nikolaev was a rather uninspiring city inside Russia, so much so that the Tsarist authorities would regularly use it as a destination for political prisoners upon their release from Siberian exile.
When Trotsky turned 18, he left his comfortable lodgings and moved into a commune with fellow budding Marxists.
The friends eventually began sharing and reading the works of Marx and Engles. They set up a revolutionary group where Trotsky started making speeches and honing his skills as a full-time anarchist. Trotsky’s first marxist group came to an abrupt in 1898 when the Okhrana (The Tsar’s Secret Police) finally caught up with the young revolutionaries.
Prison, Marriage and Exile
The group were at first imprisoned in Nikolaev prison before being transferred to a newer holding in Odesa. Locked away in confinement with none of his beloved books, interaction with people Trotsky was to begin a relationship with fellow revolutionary Aleksandra Sokolovskaya. At first, they communicated by mail but were to marry in Moscow prison in 1900.
After they were wed, Trotsky and Aleksandra were transported as a married couple and sent 3400 miles to the village of Alexandrovskoe in eastern Siberia. It seemed that this wasn’t far enough for the tsarist authorities, and a little time later, Trotsky and Aleksandra were sent further north to the remote hamlet of Ust-Kut.
Life in exile was a busy time for Trotsky; not only did he father two children, but he spent time writing and reading. Leon would receive revolutionary Marxist writings and information some openly sent whilst the more inflammatory works were hidden away and smuggled. In 1902, Trotsky was eventually to obtain the works of a fellow rabble-rouser, Vladimir Lenin!
A Rush to Join the Cause
In 1902 it was as if Trotsky could sense revolution on the horizon and was eager to escape the confines of his Siberian exile. Reading socialist literature seemed to fill him with a new zeal.
Eventually, using a system of forged documents, bribes, and a considerable amount of luck, Leon fled Siberia, leaving his wife and children behind. Trotsky travelled across Russia and Europe calling at Samara, Poltava, Kharkov, Kiev and Geneva, eventually arriving in London on a chilly October morning.
Trotsky’s first port of call was to knock on the front door of Lenin. Lenin may not have been too enamoured with the fellow revolutionary, although he could see his potential. Before long, Trotsky was making speeches and raising awareness for the communist cause.
In 1903 Trotsky married another fellow revolutionary, Natalia Sedova. During this period, he grew in popularity whilst working alongside fellow activists. As Trotsky toiled to make a name with himself, his relationship with Lenin suffered as the two disagreed about party membership and activism. They would, of course, heal the rift many years later, but for a while, the eyes of all revolutionary groups looked towards Russia.
In 1905 it seemed as though the touchpaper had been lit as the spirit of rebellion spread throughout the Russian Empire.
Trotsky Returns! Then Leaves… And Then Returns!
After the events of Bloody Sunday where Tsarist soldiers gunned down a thousand unarmed protesters, it looked as though the revolution would spread fast. An eager Trotsky returned to Russia via Kiev and made his way to the capital, St Petersberg.
Trotsky worked producing leaflets to hand out whilst also mediating between the various revolutionary factions. On one such occasion, while working for the Mensheviks, Trotsky narrowly avoided arrest as the group were caught by the secret police causing Trotsky to flee Russia into neighbouring Finland.
As 1905 moved on, it again looked as though Russia might be on the verge of revolution, so Trotsky returned unto the breech. He made himself busy delivering speeches to many of the country’s striking workers, a campaign which proved popular. Whilst trying to incite further demonstrations, Trotsky’s luck ran out, he was arrested.
You Can Never Keep a Good Revolutionary Down
As was common practice at the time, it took a while for Trotsky to be processed through the penal system. Eventually sentenced to exile in Siberia, sent further into this inhospitable region.
However, instead of escaping from his icy destination, Trotsky absconded en route, fleeing Russia and returning to London. Over the next ten years, unable to return to his mother, Russia, Trotsky moved from country to country, never safe partly due to his communist beliefs and fear of Tsarist agents aligned with Russia. Towards the end of his exile, Trotsky visited America before returning to a 1917 Russia in the grip of revolution.
From Exile to Government
After a rush to return, Trotsky arrived in a vastly different Russia from the one he had left. Following a disastrous foray into the First World War, the Tsar and his government had resigned, replaced by the Russian Provisional Government.
With no solid leadership and a country bordering on civil war, Russia was ripe for revolution.
It was not long before Trotsky had not only sided with the Bolsheviks, but taken control of the Red Army, helping steer Soviet Russia through its revolution and the ensuing bloody civil war.
During this time, a certain Joseph Stalin would become increasingly jealous of Trotsky’s position of power and slowly, in true Stalinist form, he began putting pressure on his allies and comrades to have Trotsky moved on or even demoted.
Always the idealist, and forever outspoken, this would put Trotsky at odds with Lenin; Stalin was able to work on this divide and gradually marginalise Trotsky and his supporters.
As Lenin’s health deteriorated, he realised that his precious Party was heading for trouble with a power-hungry Stalin slowly taking the reigns, he tried to put the breaks on, but it was all too late. And a sidelined Trotsky (believing in the Party apparatus) failed to act. When Lenin passed away, Stalin was already poised to seize power and see that Trotsky would fade into the shadows.
Trotsky’s Final Exile and Assasination
Unfortunately for Stalin, Trotsky wouldn’t go quietly, and during the mid-twenties, after the death of Lenin, there was continued political manoeuvring within the Communist Party. Stalin worked to get rid of his enemies, forming alliances and building internal support.
Unfortunately for Trotsky, his health was declining. He would slowly lose his position within the party until he was finally expelled in 1928 and sent to Kazakhastan before leaving the USSR for Turkey.
After Leon’s departure, many of his family, supporters and followers were punished and eventually killed during the purges of the 1930s.
Trotsky, ever the revolutionary, kept writing as he travelled. Turkey, Italy, Denmark, France, Norway and finally Mexico. As Trotsky travelled, he had to take care as White Army officers (formerly loyal to the Tsar) could be after him; also, NKVD agents loyal to Stalin kept tabs on him.
Trotsky was also a potential threat to many of the countries he travelled to as workers of the world still seemed eager to hear his message. Finally, Trotsky would find sanctuary in Mexico, but his outspokenness about Stalin and the party would mean that the NKVD’s relentless hunt for the rogue revolutionary would never cease.
On 24th May 1940, NKVD agents botched a raid in which they stormed Trotsky’s residence, shot his grandson in the foot and executed one of his bodyguards (thought to be an accomplice who had second thoughts.)
20th August 1940 saw the final, successful attempt on Trotsky’s life when the Spanish-born NKVD agent Ramón Mercader entered the Trotsky residence under the pretext of sharing some documents on economics.
As Mercader entered Trotsky’s residence, he wore a long raincoat that concealed a dagger and an ice axe. While Trotsky sat reviewing the papers, Mercader drove the pickaxe into the top of his skull.
Trotsky however would not give in so easily, biting Mercader’s hand and spitting at him before security ran to aid their dying ward. Trotsky passed away the following day whilst Mercader would go on serve 20 years in prison (ironically, receiving the Order of Lenin upon his release).
Trotsky’s Legacy
Leon Trotsky, (Lev Bronstein), was the most productive Marxist theorist and strategist of the 20th century; perhaps Trotsky’s adversary Stalin summed his former comrade up best when he said:
“All practical work in connection with the organisation of the uprising was done under the immediate direction of Comrade Trotsky, the President of the Petrograd Soviet. It can be stated with certainty that the Party is indebted primarily and principally to Comrade Trotsky for the rapid going over of the garrison to the side of the Soviet and the efficient manner in which the work of the Military Revolutionary Committee was organised.”
Joseph Stalin
Trotsky was the founder of the Red Army and its leader during the Civil War as well as a mentor of the Third Internationale. He supported worldwide revolution and the theory of perpetual revolution. For many, Trotsky was second only to Lenin, without whom the Soviet Union may not have made it out of the starting blocks.
Aside from Leon Trotsky’s contribution to the founding of the Soviet Union when his life was taken, he left behind a vast contribution in the form of his published works and writings from books, pamphlets, newspaper and magazine articles. Many still debate the works of Trotsky to this day, of which Trotsky would be proud.
Trotsky’s Birthday
Leon Trotsky was born Lev Davidovich Bronstein on 7th November 1879.
Trotsky’s Family
Trotsky’s First Wife: Leon Trotsky married his first wife, Aleksandra Sokolovskaya, in 1899; they were married for just a couple of years, divorcing in 1902. Trotsky left Aleksandra in Siberia, where she would remain until 1917, freed during to the revolution. Remaining a keen supporter of the left and Trotsky, she would be returned to internment by Stalin in 1935 and executed in April 1938.
Trotsky had two daughters with Aleksandra:
Zinaida Volkova 1901–1933
Suffering from TB and depression, Volkova committed suicide in Berlin on 5 January 1933
Nina Nevelson 1902–1928:
Nina passed away in 1928 from tuberculosis.
Trotsky’s Second Wife
Natalia Ivanovna Sedova met Trotsky on the revolutionary path in 1902; it was love at first sight, and the two were married in 1903. They would remain together up until Trotsky’s assassination in 1938. Natalia was a revolutionary in her own right and would continue her work until her death in France in 1962.
Natalia and Trotsky had two children:
Lev Sedov 1906 – 1938
Trotsky’s oldest son would follow his father into politics and join the Trotiskest cause. Lev followed his father and mother into exile from where they would continue their work; unfortunately, Lev would die due to complications whilst having an appendectomy.
Soviet agents have been blamed for possibly poisoning Lev, although no concrete proof has ever surfaced.
Sergei Sedov 1908-1937
Sergei was a Soviet engineer and scientist who published works on thermodynamics and diesel engines and became a professor at the prestigious Moscow Institute of Physics and Technology.
Sadly Sergei was killed in 1937 after being deported to the Gulags for being the son of Leon Trotsky.
Trotsky’s Final Testament
We leave you with the words of Trotsky, known as his final testament written just a few months before his assassination:
In addition to the happiness of being a fighter for the cause of socialism, fate gave me the happiness of being her husband. During the almost forty years of our life together, she remained an inexhaustible source of love, magnanimity, and tenderness. She underwent great suffering, especially in the last period of our lives. But I find some comfort in the fact that she also knew days of happiness. For forty-three years of my conscious life, I have remained a revolutionist; for forty-two of them, I have fought under the banner of Marxism. If I had to begin all over again, I would, of course, try to avoid this or that mistake, but the main course of my life would remain unchanged. I shall die a proletarian revolutionist, a Marxist, a dialectical materialist, and, consequently, an irreconcilable atheist. My faith in the communist future of mankind is not less ardent; indeed, it is firmer today than it was in the days of my youth.
Natasha has just come up to the window from the courtyard and opened it wider so that the air may enter more freely into my room. I can see the bright green strip of grass beneath the wall, and the clear blue sky above the wall, and sunlight everywhere. Life is beautiful. Let the future generations cleanse it of all evil, oppression and violence, and enjoy it to the full.