Leon Trotsky (born Lev Davidovich Bronshtein)
(7 November 1879 ---> 21 August 1940)
Born in November 1879, he was the son of a Jewish farmer from Bobrynets, Ukraine. He was educated at Odessa, where he learnt Russian and French. In 1896, he moved to Nikolayev. He was a revolutionary populist and was introduced to Marxism shortly after. He then started to pursue a Mathematics degree. He formed the South Russian Workers' Trade Union, writing propaganda.
In January 1898, he was arrested. While serving his sentence, he studied Philosophy. He became a journalist operating from London under the pen name 'Pero' (Feather) for the newspaper 'Iskra'.
In October 1917, Trotsky moved to Vienna. Here, he started a bi-weekly Russian language newspaper, with Social Democratic views. This was aimed at Russian workers. The newspaper was smuggled into Russia. Trotsky became a member of the Menshevik Party, a competitor of Lenin's Bolshevik Party.
Trotsky organized the August Bloc, which aimed to unite the Bolsheviks and Mensheviks, however, was unsuccessful.
In September 1912, Trotsky became the Balkans War Correspondent for Kiev's leading newspaper. In 1914, Vienna became absorbed by WWI, and Trotsky moved to Switzerland.
In 1915, he entered Paris, writing and editing Nashe Slavo. On 31st March, he left France for Spain from which he was deported to the United States in 1916.
He was living in New York City when the Tsar was overthrown in February 1917. He left New York in March but his ship was intercepted by British Naval authorities at Halifax, Nova Scotia. The Russian Foreign Minister demanded Trotsky's release. Trotsky reentered Russia in May 1917. He became the leader of the Mezhraionsty Party, which was a St Petersburg based Social Democratic party. The Mezhraionsty and Bolshevik parties were united in October and Trotsky became Chairman of the Bolshevik Party.
By 1917, Trotsky was 2nd in command after Lenin. Trotsky became Commissar for Foreign Affairs. On several occasions, he became independent from Lenin, however, he needed to gain support first. He refused to obey Lenin's commands, however, Lenin knew that his party would lose support if Trotsky was expelled. He pushed for the formation of a military council, which was initially rejected, causing his resign as Commissar for Foreign Affairs on 31st March 1918. He rejoined shortly after and became Commissar of Army + Navy Affairs. Trotsky gained full control of the Red Army in Spring 1918. The party became divided over trade unions. There were three different factions: Lenin's, Trotsky's and Bukharin's. The factions of Trotsky and Bukharin united. Following Lenin's death, the party was reunited, with Trotsky as the main leader.
Almost all of Trotsky's men were massacred by Stalin. Stalin commanded the exile of Trotsky on a remote Turkish island. In 1933, he was offered asylum in France, moving to Norway in 1935. He moved to Mexico in 1937.
On 20 August 1940, his Mexican house was raided and Trotsky was assassinated.
Trotsky
