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Leon Trotsky (help· info) (Russian: Лев Давидович Троцкий, Lev Davidovich Trotsky, also transliterated Leo, Lev, Trotskii, Trotski, Trotskij, Trockij and Trotzky) (November 7 [O.S. October 26] 1879 – August 21, 1940), born Lev Davidovich Bronstein (Лев Давидович Бронштейн), was a Ukrainian-born Bolshevik revolutionary and Marxist theorist. He was an influential politician in the early days of the Soviet Union, first as People's Commissar for Foreign Affairs and later as the founder and commander of the Red Army and People's Commissar of War. He was also among the first members of the Politburo. This page lists foreign ministers of Russian Empire, Soviet Union, and Russian Federation: // Heads of Posolsky Prikaz, 1549-1699 Ivan Viskovatyi 1549-70 Brothers Vasily and Andrey Shchelkalov 1570-1601 Ivan Gramotin 1605-06, 1610-12, 1618-26, 1634-35 Pyotr Tretyakov 1608-10, 1613-18 Almaz Ivanov 1635-67... November 8 is the 312th day of the year (313th in leap years) in the Gregorian Calendar, with 53 days remaining. ... Year 1917 (MCMXVII) was a common year starting on Monday of the Gregorian calendar (see link for calendar) or a common year starting on Tuesday of the 13-day slower Julian calendar (see: 1917 Julian calendar). ... March 13 is the 72nd day of the year in the Gregorian calendar (73rd in leap years). ... Year 1918 (MCMXVIII) was a common year starting on Tuesday of the Gregorian calendar (see link for calendar) or a common year starting on Wednesday of the Julian calendar. ... Georgy Vasilyevich Chicherin (Russian: Ð“ÐµÐ¾Ñ€Ð³Ð¸Ð¹ Ð§Ð¸Ñ‡ÐµÑ€Ð¸Ð½) (1872â€“1936) was Peoples Commissar of Foreign Affairs in the Soviet government from 1918 to 1930. ... Mikhail Ivanovich Tereshchenko (Russian: ) (March 18, 1886, Kiev â€“ April 1, 1956, Monaco) was a foreign minister of Russia from May 5 of 1917 to October 25 of 1917. ... Georgy Vasilyevich Chicherin (Russian: Ð“ÐµÐ¾Ñ€Ð³Ð¸Ð¹ Ð§Ð¸Ñ‡ÐµÑ€Ð¸Ð½) (1872â€“1936) was Peoples Commissar of Foreign Affairs in the Soviet government from 1918 to 1930. ... A Chairman is the presiding officer of a meeting, organization, committee, or other deliberative body. ... An assembly of the Petrograd Soviet, 1917 The Petrograd Soviet, or the Petrograd Soviet of Workers and Soldiers Deputies, was the council set up in Petrograd (Saint Petersburg, Russia) in March 1917 as the representative body of the citys workers. ... October 8 is the 281st day of the year in the Gregorian Calendar (282nd in leap years). ... Year 1917 (MCMXVII) was a common year starting on Monday of the Gregorian calendar (see link for calendar) or a common year starting on Tuesday of the 13-day slower Julian calendar (see: 1917 Julian calendar). ... November 8 is the 312th day of the year (313th in leap years) in the Gregorian Calendar, with 53 days remaining. ... Year 1917 (MCMXVII) was a common year starting on Monday of the Gregorian calendar (see link for calendar) or a common year starting on Tuesday of the 13-day slower Julian calendar (see: 1917 Julian calendar). ... November 7 is the 311th day of the year (312th in leap years) in the Gregorian Calendar, with 54 days remaining. ... 1879 (MDCCCLXXIX) was a common year starting on Wednesday (see link for calendar). ... Image File history File links Flag_of_Russia_(bordered). ... Kherson Oblast (Ð¥ÐµÑ€ÑÐ¾Ð½ÑÑŒÐºÐ° Ð¾Ð±Ð»Ð°ÑÑ‚ÑŒ, Khersonsâ€™ka oblastâ€™ or Ð¥ÐµÑ€ÑÐ¾Ð½Ñ‰Ð¸Ð½Ð°, Khersonshchyna in Ukrainian) is an oblast of southern Ukraine, just north of Crimea. ... Anthem: God Save the Tsar! Russian Empire in 1914 Capital Saint Petersburg Language(s) Russian Government Monarchy Emperor - 1721-1725 Peter the Great - 1894-1917 Nicholas II History - Established 22 October, 1721 - February Revolution 2 March, 1917 Area - 1897 22,400,000 km2 8,648,688 sq mi Population - 1897... August 21 is the 233rd day of the year (234th in leap years) in the Gregorian Calendar. ... 1940 (MCMXL) was a leap year starting on Monday (the link is to a full 1940 calendar). ... Image File history File links Flag_of_Mexico. ... Nickname: Ciudad de los Palacios Location of Mexico City in central Mexico Coordinates: Country Mexico Federal entity Federal District Boroughs The 16 delegaciones Founded (as Tenochtitlan) c. ... The Russian Social-Democratic Labour Party, or RSDLP (Ð Ð¾ÑÑÐ¸ÌÐ¹ÑÐºÐ°Ñ Ð¡Ð¾Ñ†Ð¸Ð°ÌÐ»-Ð”ÐµÐ¼Ð¾ÐºÑ€Ð°Ñ‚Ð¸ÌÑ‡ÐµÑÐºÐ°Ñ Ð Ð°Ð±Ð¾ÌÑ‡Ð°Ñ ÐŸÐ°ÌÑ€Ñ‚Ð¸Ñ = Ð Ð¡Ð”Ð ÐŸ), also known as the Russian Social-Democratic Workers Party and the Russian Social-Democratic Party, was a revolutionary socialist Russian political party formed in 1898 in Minsk to unite the various revolutionary organizations into one party. ... The Social Democratic Party of Switzerland (also rendered as Socialist Party of Switzerland, in German: Sozialdemokratische Partei der Schweiz (SPS), French Parti socialiste suisse (PSS), Italian Partito Socialista Svizzero, Romansh Partida Socialdemocrata de la Svizra. ... The Communist Party of the Soviet Union (Russian: ÐšÐ¾Ð¼Ð¼ÑƒÐ½Ð¸ÑÑ‚Ð¸ÌÑ‡ÐµÑÐºÐ°Ñ ÐŸÐ°ÌÑ€Ñ‚Ð¸Ñ Ð¡Ð¾Ð²ÐµÌÑ‚ÑÐºÐ¾Ð³Ð¾ Ð¡Ð¾ÑŽÌÐ·Ð° = ÐšÐŸÐ¡Ð¡) was the name used by the successors of the Bolshevik faction of the Russian Social-Democratic Labour Party from 1952 to 1991, but the wording Communist Party was present in the partys name since 1918 when the Bolsheviks became the Russian... Aleksandra Lvovna Sokolovskaya (1872 - ?) was a Russian Marxist revolutionary and Leon Trotskys first wife. ... Natalia Sedova Natalia Sedova (1882-1962) is best known as the second wife of Leon Trotsky, the Russian revolutionary. ... The term statesman is a respectful term used to refer to diplomats, politicians, and other notable figures of state. ... An Editor is a person who prepares textâ€”typically language, but also images and soundsâ€”for publication by correcting, condensing, or otherwise modifying it. ... Image File history File links Trotsky_signature. ... Image File history File links Ru-Leon_Trotsky. ... Transliteration is the practice of transcribing a word or text written in one writing system into another writing system. ... November 7 is the 311th day of the year (312th in leap years) in the Gregorian Calendar, with 54 days remaining. ... Old Style or O.S. is a designation indicating that a date conforms to the Julian calendar, formerly in use in many countries, rather than the Gregorian calendar, currently in use in most countries. ... 1879 (MDCCCLXXIX) was a common year starting on Wednesday (see link for calendar). ... August 21 is the 233rd day of the year (234th in leap years) in the Gregorian Calendar. ... 1940 (MCMXL) was a leap year starting on Monday (the link is to a full 1940 calendar). ... Bolshevik Party Meeting. ... Marxism refers to the philosophy and social theory based on Karl Marxs work on one hand, and the political practice based on Marxist theory on the other hand (namely, parts of the First International during Marxs time, communist parties and later states). ... It has been suggested that this article or section be merged with: :Sovnarkom. ... Red Army flag The Workers and Peasants Red Army (Russian: Ð Ð°Ð±Ð¾Ñ‡Ðµ-ÐšÑ€ÐµÑÑ‚ÑŒÑÐ½ÑÐºÐ°Ñ ÐšÑ€Ð°ÑÐ½Ð°Ñ ÐÑ€Ð¼Ð¸Ñ, Raboche-Krestyanskaya Krasnaya Armiya; RKKA or usually simply the Red Army) were the armed forces first organized by the Bolsheviks during the Russian Civil War in 1918 and that in 1922 became the army of the Soviet Union. ... The Politburo (in Russian: ÐŸÐ¾Ð»Ð¸Ñ‚Ð±ÑŽÑ€Ð¾), known as the Presidium from 1952 to 1966, functioned as the central policymaking and governing body of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union. ...

Following the failed struggle of the Left Opposition (led by Trotsky) against the policies and rise of Joseph Stalin in the 1920s and the increasing bureaucratization of the Soviet Union, Trotsky was expelled from the Communist Party and deported from the Soviet Union in the Great Purge. At the head of the Fourth International, he continued in exile to oppose the Stalinist bureaucracy in the Soviet Union, and was eventually assassinated in Mexico by Ramón Mercader, a Soviet agent.^[1] Trotsky's ideas form the basis of Trotskyism, a variation of Communist theory, which remains a major school of Marxist thought that is opposed to the theories of Stalinism and Maoism. The Left Opposition was a faction within the Communist Party of the Soviet Union during 1923-1927. ... The examples and perspective in this article or section may not represent a worldwide view. ... The 1920s is a decade sometimes referred to as the Jazz Age or the Roaring Twenties, usually applied to America. ... The Communist Party of the Soviet Union (Russian: ÐšÐ¾Ð¼Ð¼ÑƒÐ½Ð¸ÑÑ‚Ð¸ÌÑ‡ÐµÑÐºÐ°Ñ ÐŸÐ°ÌÑ€Ñ‚Ð¸Ñ Ð¡Ð¾Ð²ÐµÌÑ‚ÑÐºÐ¾Ð³Ð¾ Ð¡Ð¾ÑŽÌÐ·Ð° = ÐšÐŸÐ¡Ð¡) was the name used by the successors of the Bolshevik faction of the Russian Social-Democratic Labour Party from 1952 to 1991, but the wording Communist Party was present in the partys name since 1918 when the Bolsheviks became the Russian... Great Purge From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia (Redirected from Purges) Jump to: navigation, search The Great Purge (Russian: Ð‘Ð¾Ð»ÑŒÑˆÐ°Ñ Ñ‡Ð¸ÑÑ‚ÐºÐ°, transliterated Bolshaya chistka) is the name given to campaigns of political repression and persecution in the Soviet Union orchestrated by Joseph Stalin during the late 1930s. ... For other uses, see Fourth International (disambiguation). ... Jaume Ramon Mercader del Rio HernÃ¡ndez (February 7, 1914 â€“ October 18, 1978) was a Catalan Communist who served as a foreign agent of the NKVD during Joseph Stalins time as ruler of the Soviet Union. ... Trotskyism is the theory of Marxism as advocated by Leon Trotsky. ... Communism is an ideology that seeks to establish a classless, stateless social organization based on common ownership of the means of production. ... Marxism is the political practice and social theory based on the works of Karl Marx, a 19th century philosopher, economist, journalist, and revolutionary, along with Friedrich Engels. ... Joseph Stalin Stalinism is the political and economic system named after Joseph Stalin, who implemented it in the Soviet Union. ... This article or section does not cite its references or sources. ...

Before the 1917 Revolution

Image File history File links Download high-resolution version (366x636, 36 KB) File links The following pages on the English Wikipedia link to this file (pages on other projects are not listed): Leon Trotsky ... Image File history File links Download high-resolution version (366x636, 36 KB) File links The following pages on the English Wikipedia link to this file (pages on other projects are not listed): Leon Trotsky ... Image File history File links Lev Davidovich Bronstein as an 18 year old, 1897 File history Legend: (cur) = this is the current file, (del) = delete this old version, (rev) = revert to this old version. ... Image File history File links Lev Davidovich Bronstein as an 18 year old, 1897 File history Legend: (cur) = this is the current file, (del) = delete this old version, (rev) = revert to this old version. ...

Childhood and family (1879-1896)

Trotsky was born in Yanovka, Kherson Province, Ukraine on November 7, 1879, in a small village 15 miles from the nearest post office. He was the fifth child of a wealthy but illiterate Jewish farmer, David Leontyevich Bronstein (or Bronshtein, 1847–1922) and Anna Bronstein (d. 1910). Trotsky was born Lev Davidovich Bronstein, named after an uncle who would, later that month, attempt to blow up the imperial railway carriage. Although the family was ethnically Jewish, it was not religious, and the languages spoken at home were Russian and Ukrainian instead of Yiddish. Bronstein's younger sister, Olga, married Lev Kamenev, a leading Bolshevik. Categories: Ukraine-related stubs | Subdivisions of Ukraine ... November 7 is the 311th day of the year (312th in leap years) in the Gregorian Calendar, with 54 days remaining. ... 1879 (MDCCCLXXIX) was a common year starting on Wednesday (see link for calendar). ... Judaism is the religion of the Jewish people. ... Propaganda of the deed (or propaganda by the deed, from the French propagande par le fait) is a concept of anarchist origin, which appeared towards the end of the 19th century, that promoted terrorism against political enemies as a way of inspiring the masses and catalyzing revolution. ... Yiddish (ייִדיש, Jiddisch) is a Germanic language spoken by about four million Jews throughout the world. ... Olga Davidovna Kameneva (1883 (?) - 1941) (nee Bronstein, sometimes translated as Olga Kamenev) was a Russian Bolshevik revolutionary and an early Soviet functionary in the theater field. ... Lev Borisovich Kamenev (Russian: Ð›ÐµÐ² Ð‘Ð¾Ñ€Ð¸ÑÐ¾Ð²Ð¸Ñ‡ ÐšÐ°Ð¼ÐµÐ½ÐµÐ², born Rosenfeld, Ð Ð¾Ð·ÐµÐ½Ñ„ÐµÐ»ÑŒÐ´) (July 18 [O.S. July 6] 1883 â€“ August 25, 1936) was a Bolshevik revolutionary and a prominent Soviet politician. ...

When Bronstein was nine, his father sent him to Odessa for education. He was enrolled in a historically German school, which became increasingly Russified during his years in Odessa due to the government's policy of Russification. For other uses, see Odessa (disambiguation). ... To meet Wikipedias quality standards, this article or section may require cleanup. ...

Revolutionary activity and exile (1896-1902)

Bronstein became involved in revolutionary activities in 1896 after moving to Nikolayev (now Mykolaiv. At first a narodnik (revolutionary populist), he was introduced to Marxism later that year and gradually became a Marxist. (In the beginning, Trotsky was opposed to Marxism. However during his periods of exile and imprisonment he became a follower of the Marxist school of thought.) Instead of pursuing a mathematics degree, Bronstein helped organize the South Russian Workers' Union in Nikolayev in early 1897. Using the name 'Lvov' ^[2], he wrote and printed leaflets and proclamations, distributed revolutionary pamphlets and popularized socialist ideas among industrial workers and revolutionary students. Mykolaiv or Mykolayiv (Ukrainian: ), also known by its Russian name (Nikolaev or Nikolayev) is a city in Southern Ukraine with the population of 514,000 (2001 estimation). ... Narodniks was the name for Russian revolutionaries of the 1860s and 1870s. ... Populism is a political ideology or rhetorical style that holds that the common person is oppressed by the elite in society, which exists only to serve its own interests, and therefore, the instruments of the State need to be grasped from this self-serving elite and instead used for the... Marxism refers to the philosophy and social theory based on Karl Marxs work on one hand, and the political practice based on Marxist theory on the other hand (namely, parts of the First International during Marxs time, communist parties and later states). ... Euclid, Greek mathematician, 3rd century BC, as imagined by by Raphael in this detail from The School of Athens. ...

In January 1898, over 200 members of the Union, including Bronstein, were arrested and he spent the next two years in prison awaiting trial. Two months after Bronstein's arrest and imprisonment, the 1st Congress of the newly formed Russian Social Democratic Labor Party (RSDLP) was held and from that point on, Bronstein considered himself a member of the party. While in prison, he married a fellow Marxist, Aleksandra Sokolovskaya, and studied philosophy. In 1900 he was sentenced to four years in exile in Ust-Kut and Verkholensk (see map) in the Irkutsk region of Siberia, where his first two daughters, Nina Nevelson and Zinaida Volkova, were born. The Russian Social Democratic Labour Party, or RSDLP (Росси́йская Социа́л-Демократи́ческая Рабо́ча&#1103... Aleksandra Lvovna Sokolovskaya (1872 - ?) was a Russian Marxist revolutionary and Leon Trotskys first wife. ... Ust-Kut (Russian: ) is a town in Irkutsk Oblast, Russia, situated on the river Lena. ... Irkutsks location Kazansky Church in Irkutsk Irkutsk (Russian: ) is one of the largest cities in Siberia. ... Siberian Federal District (darker red) and the broadest definition of Siberia (red) arctic northeast Siberia Udachnaya pipe Siberia (Russian: , Sibir; Tatar: ) is a vast region of Russia constituting almost all of Northern Asia and comprising a large part of the Euro-Asian Steppe. ... Nina Nevelson (nee Bronstein) (1902-June 9, 1928) was a Russian Trotskyist and Leon Trotskys younger daughter by Aleksandra Sokolovskaya. ... Zinaida Volkova (nee Bronstein) (1901 - January 5, 1933) was a Russian Marxist. ...

It was in Siberia that Bronstein became aware of the differences within the party, which had been decimated by arrests in the last two years of the 19th century. Some social democrats known as "economists" were arguing that the party should concentrate on helping industrial workers improve their lot in life. Others argued that overthrowing the monarchy was more important and that a well organized and disciplined revolutionary party was essential. The latter were led by the London-based newspaper Iskra, which was founded in 1900. Bronstein quickly sided with the Iskra position. This article is about the capital of England and the United Kingdom. ... The first edition of Iskra Iskra (Spark) was a political newspaper of Russian socialist emigrants. ...

First emigration and second marriage (1902-1903)

Bronstein escaped from Siberia in the summer of 1902, having forged a passport in the name of Leon Trotsky. It is said he adopted the name of a jailer of the Odessa prison in which he had earlier been held^[3], and this became his primary revolutionary pseudonym. Once abroad, he moved to London to join Georgy Plekhanov, Vladimir Lenin, Julius Martov and other editors of Iskra. Under the penname Pero ("feather" or "pen" in Russian) Trotsky soon became one of the paper's leading authors. G. V. Plekhanov Georgi Valentinovich Plekhanov (December 11, 1856 â€“ May 30, 1918; Old Style: November 29, 1856 â€“ May 17, 1918) was a Russian revolutionary and a Marxist theoretician. ... Lenin redirects here. ... Julius Martov or L. Martov (ÐœÐ°ÌÑ€Ñ‚Ð¾Ð², real name Yuli Osipovich Zederbaum (Russian Ð®ÌÐ»Ð¸Ð¹ ÐžÌÑÐ¸Ð¿Ð¾Ð²Ð¸Ñ‡ Ð¦ÐµÐ´ÐµÑ€Ð±Ð°ÌÑƒÐ¼)) (November 24, 1873 â€“ April 4, 1923) was born in Constantinople in 1873. ... The first edition of Iskra Iskra (Spark) was a political newspaper of Russian socialist emigrants. ...

Unbeknownst to Trotsky, the six editors of Iskra were evenly split between the "old guard" led by Plekhanov and the "new guard" led by Lenin and Martov. Not only were Plekhanov's supporters older (in their 40s and 50s), but they had also spent the previous 20 years in European exile together. Members of the new guard were in their early 30s and had only recently come from Russia. Lenin, who was trying to establish a permanent majority against Plekhanov within Iskra, expected Trotsky, then 23, to side with the new guard and wrote in March 1903:^[4]

Due to Plekhanov's opposition, Trotsky did not become a full member of the editorial board, but from that point on he participated in its meetings in an advisory capacity, which earned him Plekhanov's enmity.

In late 1902, Trotsky met Natalia Sedova, who soon became his companion and, from 1903 until his death, wife. They had two children together, Leon Sedov (b. 1906) and Sergei Sedov (b. 1908). As Trotsky later explained,^[5] after the 1917 revolution: Natalia Sedova Natalia Sedova (1882-1962) is best known as the second wife of Leon Trotsky, the Russian revolutionary. ... Leon Lvovich Sedov (Russian: Ð›ÐµÐ² Ð›ÑŒÐ²Ð¾Ð²Ð¸Ñ‡ Ð¡ÐµÐ´Ð¾Ð²; February 1906 - February 16, 1938) was the son of the Russian Communist leader Leon Trotsky and his second wife Natalia Sedova. ... Sergei Sedov (1908 - 1937) was Leon Trotskys youngest son by his second wife, Natalia Sedova, and an engineer. ...

However, the name change remained a technicality and he never used the name "Sedov" either privately or publicly. Natalia Sedova sometimes signed her name "Sedova-Trotskaya". Trotsky and his first wife, Aleksandra Sokolovskaya, maintained a friendly relationship until Sokolovskaya disappeared in 1935 during the Great Purges. The Great Purge is the name given to campaigns of repression in the Soviet Union during the late 1930s which included a purge of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union. ...

Split with Lenin (1903-1904)

In the meantime, after a period of secret police repression and internal confusion that followed the first party Congress in 1898, Iskra succeeded in convening the party's 2nd congress in London in August 1903, with Trotsky and other Iskra editors in attendance. At first the Congress went as planned, with Iskra supporters handily defeating the few "economist" delegates at the Congress. Then the Congress discussed the position of the Jewish Bund, which had co-founded the RSDLP in 1898 but wanted to remain autonomous within the Party. In the heat of the debate, Trotsky made a controversial statement to the effect that he and eleven other non-Bund Jewish delegates who had signed an anti-Bund statement A Bundist demonstration, 1917 The General Jewish Labour Union of Lithuania, Poland and Russia, in Yiddish the Algemeyner Yidisher Arbeter Bund in Lite, Poyln un Rusland (אלגמײנער ײדישער ארבײטרסבו&#1504... The word Jew ( Hebrew: יהודי) is used in a wide number of ways, but generally refers to a follower of the Jewish faith, a child of a Jewish mother, or someone of Jewish descent with a connection to Jewish culture or ethnicity and often a combination...

As Trotsky explained two months later, his statement was just a tactical maneuver made on Lenin's request.^[6]

Shortly thereafter, pro-Iskra delegates unexpectedly split in two factions. Lenin and his supporters (known as "Bolsheviks") argued for a smaller but highly organized party. Martov and his supporters (known as "Mensheviks") argued for a larger and less disciplined party. In a surprise development, Trotsky and most of the Iskra editors supported Martov and the Mensheviks while Plekhanov supported Lenin and the Bolsheviks. Bolshevik Party Meeting. ... Leaders of the Menshevik Party at Norra Bantorget in Stockholm, Sweden, May 1917. ...

The two factions were in a state of flux in 1903-1904 with many members changing sides. Plekhanov soon parted ways with the Bolsheviks. Trotsky left the Mensheviks in September 1904 over their insistence on an alliance with Russian liberals and their opposition to a reconciliation with Lenin and the Bolsheviks. From that point until 1917 he remained a self-described "non-factional social democrat".

Trotsky spent much of his time between 1904 and 1917 trying to reconcile different groups within the party, which resulted in many clashes with Lenin and other prominent party members. Trotsky later conceded he had been wrong in opposing Lenin on the issue of the party. During these years Trotsky began developing his theory of permanent revolution, which led to a close working relationship with Alexander Parvus in 1904-1907. Permanent Revolution is a Marxist theory most closely associated with Leon Trotsky, devised as an explanation of how socialist revolutions could occur in societies that had not achieved advanced capitalism. ... Dr. Helphand (Parvus) Dr. Israel Lazarevich Helphand (last name also spelt as Gelfant), in Russian: Ð˜Ð·Ñ€Ð°Ð¸Ð»ÑŒ Ð›Ð°Ð·Ð°Ñ€ÐµÐ²Ð¸Ñ‡ Ð“ÐµÐ»ÑŒÑ„Ð°Ð½Ð´, is known also by his frequently used pseudonym Alexander Parvus. ...

1905 revolution and trial (1905-1906)

After the events of Bloody Sunday (1905), Trotsky secretly returned to Russia in February 1905. At first he wrote leaflets for an underground printing press in Kiev, but soon moved to the capital, Saint Petersburg. There he worked with both Bolsheviks like Central Committee member Leonid Krasin as well as the local Menshevik committee, which he pushed in a more radical direction. The latter, however, was betrayed by a secret police agent in May. Trotsky had to flee to rural Finland where he worked on fleshing out his theory of permanent revolution until October, when a nationwide strike made it possible for him to return to St. Petersburg. Image File history File links Download high-resolution version (658x617, 59 KB) Summary I obtained this image from here. ... Image File history File links Download high-resolution version (658x617, 59 KB) Summary I obtained this image from here. ... Demonstrators march to the Winter Palace Bloody Sunday (Russian: ) was an incident on 22 January [O.S. 9 January] 1905 in St. ... Location Map of Ukraine with Kiev highlighted. ... Saint Petersburg (Russian: Санкт-Петербу́рг, English transliteration: Sankt-Peterburg), colloquially known as Питер (transliterated Piter), formerly known as Leningrad (Ленингра́д, 1924–1991) and... Bolshevik Party Meeting. ... Krasin Leonid Borisovich Krasin (Russian: , 1870 â€“ 1926) was a Russian Bolshevik leader. ... Leaders of the Menshevik Party at Norra Bantorget in Stockholm, Sweden, May 1917. ...

After returning to the capital, Trotsky and Parvus took over the newspaper Russian Gazette and increased its circulation to 500,000. Trotsky also co-founded Nachalo ("The Beginning") with Parvus and the Mensheviks, which proved to be very successful. Dr. Helphand (Parvus) Dr. Israel Lazarevich Helphand (last name also spelt as Gelfant), in Russian: Ð˜Ð·Ñ€Ð°Ð¸Ð»ÑŒ Ð›Ð°Ð·Ð°Ñ€ÐµÐ²Ð¸Ñ‡ Ð“ÐµÐ»ÑŒÑ„Ð°Ð½Ð´, is known also by his frequently used pseudonym Alexander Parvus. ...

Immediately prior to Trotsky's return to the capital, the Mensheviks had independently come up with the same idea that Trotsky had -- an elected non-party revolutionary organization representing the capital's workers, the first Soviet ("Council") of Workers. By the time of Trotsky's arrival, the St. Petersburg Soviet was already functioning with Khrustalyov-Nosar (Georgy Nosar, alias Pyotr Khrustalyov), a compromise figure, at its head and proved to be very popular with the workers in spite of the Bolsheviks' original opposition. Trotsky joined the Soviet under the name "Yanovsky" (after the village he was born in, Yanovka) and was elected vice-Chairman. He did much of the actual work at the Soviet and, after Khrustalev-Nosar's arrest on November 26, was elected its Chairman. On December 2, the Soviet issued a proclamation which included the following statement about the Tsarist government and its foreign debts:^[7] A soviet (Russian: , IPA: , council[1]) originally was a workers local council in late Imperial Russia. ... St. ... November 26 is the 330th day (331st on leap years) of the year in the Gregorian calendar. ... December 2 is the 336th day (337th in leap years) of the year in the Gregorian calendar. ...

The following day, December 3, the Soviet was surrounded by troops loyal to the government and the deputies were arrested. December 3 is the 337th (in leap years the 338th) day of the year in the Gregorian calendar. ...

Trotsky and other Soviet leaders were put on trial in 1906 on charges of supporting an armed rebellion. At the trial, Trotsky delivered some of the best speeches of his life and solidified his reputation as an effective public speaker, which he confirmed in 1917-1920. He was convicted and sentenced to deportation.

Second emigration (1907-1914)

In January 1907, Trotsky escaped en route to deportation to Siberia and once again made his way to London, where he attended the 5th Congress of the RSDLP. In October 1907, he moved to Vienna where he frequently participated in the activities of the Austrian Social Democratic Party and, occasionally, of the German Social Democratic Party, for the next seven years. This article is about the capital of England and the United Kingdom. ... The Russian Social Democratic Labour Party, or RSDLP (Росси́йская Социа́л-Демократи́ческая Рабо́ча&#1103... Vienna (German: , see also other names) is the capital of Austria, and also one of the nine States of Austria. ... The Social Democratic Party of Austria (Sozialdemokratische Partei Österreichs, SPÖ) is a political party in Austria. ... SPD redirects here. ...

It was in Vienna that Trotsky became close to Adolph Joffe, his friend for the next 20 years, who introduced Trotsky to psychoanalysis.^[8] In October 1908 he started a bi-weekly Russian language Social Democratic paper aimed at Russian workers called Pravda ("The Truth"), which he co-edited with Joffe, Matvey Skobelev and Victor Kopp and which was smuggled into Russia. The paper avoided factional politics and proved popular with Russian industrial workers. When various Bolshevik and Menshevik factions (both the Bolsheviks and the Mensheviks split multiple times after the failure of the 1905-1907 revolution) tried to re-unite at the January 1910 RSDLP Central Committee meeting in Paris over Lenin's objections, Trotsky's Pravda was made a party-financed 'central organ'. Lev Kamenev, Trotsky's brother-in-law, was added to the editorial board from the Bolsheviks, but the unification attempts failed in August 1910 when Kamenev resigned from the board amid mutual recriminations. Trotsky continued publishing Pravda for another two years until it finally folded in April 1912. Adolph Joffe Adolph Abramovich Joffe (Russian: ÐÐ´Ð¾Ð»ÑŒÑ„ ÐÐ±Ñ€Ð°Ð¼Ð¾Ð²Ð¸Ñ‡ Ð˜Ð¾Ñ„Ñ„Ðµ, alternative transliterations Adolf Ioffe or, rarely, Yoffe) (October 10, 1883 (Simferopol) â€“ November 16, 1927, Moscow) was a Russian Communist revolutionary, a Bolshevik politician and a Soviet diplomat. ... The front page of an issue of Pravda. ... Matvey Ivanovich Skobelev (1885 - 1938) was a Russian revolutionary and politician. ... Lev Borisovich Kamenev (Russian: Ð›ÐµÐ² Ð‘Ð¾Ñ€Ð¸ÑÐ¾Ð²Ð¸Ñ‡ ÐšÐ°Ð¼ÐµÐ½ÐµÐ², born Rosenfeld, Ð Ð¾Ð·ÐµÐ½Ñ„ÐµÐ»ÑŒÐ´) (July 18 [O.S. July 6] 1883 â€“ August 25, 1936) was a Bolshevik revolutionary and a prominent Soviet politician. ...

When the Bolsheviks started a new workers-oriented newspaper in St. Petersburg on April 22, 1912, they called it Pravda as well. In what appeared to be a minor development at the time, in April 1913 Trotsky was so upset by what he saw as a usurpation of 'his' newspaper's name that he wrote a letter to Nikolay Chkheidze, a Menshevik leader, bitterly denouncing Lenin and the Bolsheviks. Trotsky was able to suppress the contents of the letter in 1921 to avoid embarrassment, but once he started losing power in the early 1920s, the letter was made public by his opponents within the Communist Party in 1924 and used to paint him as Lenin's enemy. April 22 is the 112th day of the year in the Gregorian calendar (113th in leap years). ... Nikolay (Karlo) Chkheidze (1864-1926) was a Georgian revolutionary and politician, one of the founders and leaders of the Social-Democratic (Menshevik) Party of Georgia. ...

This was a period of heightened tension within the RSDLP and led to numerous frictions between Trotsky, the Bolsheviks and the Mensheviks. The most serious disagreement that Trotsky and the Mensheviks had with Lenin at the time was over the issue of "expropriations",^[9] i.e. armed robberies of banks and other companies by Bolshevik groups to procure money for the Party, which had been banned by the 5th Congress, but continued by the Bolsheviks. Vladimir Ilyich Lenin ( Russian: Влади́мир Ильи́ч Ле́нин listen?), original surname Ulyanov (Улья́нов) ( April 22 (April 10 ( O.S.)), 1870 – January 21, 1924), was a...

In January 1912, the majority of the Bolshevik faction led by Lenin and a few Mensheviks held a conference in Prague and expelled their opponents from the party. In response, Trotsky organized a "unification" conference of social democratic factions in Vienna in August 1912 (a.k.a. "The August Bloc") and tried to re-unite the party. The attempt was generally unsuccessful. Nickname: City of a Hundred Spires Motto: Praga Caput Rei publicae Location within the Czech Republic Coordinates: Country Czech Republic Region Capital City of Prague Founded 9th century - Mayor Pavel BÃ©m Area - City 496 kmÂ² (191. ...

While in Vienna, Trotsky continuously published articles in radical Russian and Ukrainian newspapers like Kievskaya Mysl under a variety of pseudonyms, often "Antid Oto". In September 1912 Kievskaya Mysl sent him to the Balkans as its war correspondent, where he covered the two Balkan Wars for the next year and became a close friend of Christian Rakovsky, later a leading Soviet politician and Trotsky's ally in the Soviet Communist Party. Combatants Ottoman Empire Balkan League Bulgaria Commanders Nizam Pasha, Zekki Pasha, Esat Pasha, Abdullah Pasha, Ali Rizah Pasha Bulgaria: Vladimir Vazov, Vasil Kutinchev, Nikola Ivanov, Radko Dimitriev Serbia: Radomir Putnik, Petar BojoviÄ‡, Stepa StepanoviÄ‡ Greece:Crown Prince Constantine, Panagiotis Danglis, Pavlos Kountouriotis Nikola Ivanov, Vasil Kutinchev, Radko Dimitriev The outcome... Dr. Christian Georgievich Rakovsky (ÐšÑ€Ð¸ÑÑ‚Ð¸ÑÐ½ Ð“ÐµÐ¾Ñ€Ð³Ð¸ÐµÐ²Ð¸Ñ‡ Ð Ð°ÐºÐ¾Ð²ÑÐºÐ¸; ÐšÑ€ÑŠÑÑ‚ÑŒÐ¾ Ð Ð°ÐºÐ¾Ð²ÑÐºÐ¸ - Krastyo Rakovski in Bulgarian or, in Romanian spelling, Cristian Racovschi; August 13 (August 1, Old Style), 1873 - September 11, 1941) was a socialist revolutionary, a Bolshevik politician and a Soviet diplomat. ...

On August 3 1914, at the outbreak of World War I which pitted Austria-Hungary against the Russian empire, Trotsky was forced to flee Vienna for neutral Switzerland to avoid arrest as a Russian émigré. August 3 is the 215th day of the year in the Gregorian Calendar (216th in leap years), with 150 days remaining. ... Combatants Allied Powers: Russian Empire France British Empire Italy United States Central Powers: Austria-Hungary German Empire Ottoman Empire Bulgaria Commanders Nikolay II Aleksey Brusilov Georges Clemenceau Joseph Joffre Ferdinand Foch Robert Nivelle Herbert H. Asquith D. Lloyd George Sir Douglas Haig Sir John Jellicoe Victor Emmanuel III Luigi Cadorna... Ã‰migrÃ© is a French term that shows how Martin B. loves stephanie. ...

World War I (1914-1917)

The outbreak of WWI caused a sudden realignment within the RSDLP and other European social democratic parties over the issues of war, revolution, pacifism and internationalism. Within the RSDLP, Lenin, Trotsky and Martov advocated various internationalist anti-war positions, while Plekhanov and other social democrats (both Bolsheviks and Mensheviks) supported the Russian government to some extent.

While in Switzerland, Trotsky briefly worked within the Swiss Socialist Party, prompting it to adopt an internationalist resolution, and wrote a book against the war, The War and the International. The thrust of the book was against the pro-war position taken by the European social democratic parties, primarily the German party. {The Social Democratic Party of Switzerland (also rendered as Socialist Party of Switzerland, in German: Sozialdemokratische Partei der Schweiz (SPS), French Parti socialiste suisse (PSS), Italian Partito Socialista Svizzero, Romansh Partida Socialdemocrata de la Svizra. ...

Trotsky moved to France on November 19, 1914, as a war correspondent for the Kievskaya Mysl. In January 1915 he began editing (at first with Martov, who soon resigned as the paper moved to the Left) Nashe Slovo ["Our Word"], an internationalist socialist newspaper, in Paris. He adopted the slogan of "peace without indemnities or annexations, peace without conquerors or conquered", which didn't go quite as far as Lenin, who advocated Russia's defeat in the war and demanded a complete break with the Second International. Image File history File links Trotskynina1915. ... Image File history File links Trotskynina1915. ... November 19 is the 323rd day of the year (324th in leap years) in the Gregorian Calendar. ... The phrase Second International has two meanings: For the international association of socialist parties of the late 19th century, see Second International (politics) and a successor organization, the Socialist International For one of the Merriam-Webster dictionaries of American English, see Websters New International Dictionary, Second Edition This is...

Trotsky attended the Zimmerwald Conference of anti-war socialists in September 1915 and advocated a middle course between those who, like Martov, would stay within the Second International at any cost and those who would, like Lenin, break with the Second International and form a Third International. The conference adopted the middle line proposed by Trotsky. At first opposed to it, in the end Lenin voted^[10] for Trotsky's resolution to avoid a split among anti-war socialists. The Zimmerwald Conference was held in Zimmerwald, Switzerland, from September 5 through September 8, 1915. ... The term Third International has two well-established meanings: For the unabridged dictionary, see Websters Third New International Dictionary. ...

In September 1916, Trotsky was deported from France to Spain for his anti-war activities. Spanish authorities wouldn't let him stay and he was deported to the United States on December 25, 1916. He arrived in New York City on January 13, 1917. In New York, he wrote articles for the local Russian language socialist newspaper Novy Mir and the Yiddish language daily Der Forverts (The Forward) in translation and made speeches to Russian émigrés. December 25 is the 359th day of the year (360th in leap years) in the Gregorian Calendar, with 6 days remaining in the year. ... Nickname: Big Apple, Gotham, NYC, City That Never Sleeps, The Concrete Jungle, The City So Nice They Named It Twice Location in the state of New York Coordinates: Country United States State New York Boroughs The Bronx Brooklyn Manhattan Queens Staten Island Settled 1676 Government - Mayor Michael Bloomberg (R) Area... January 13 is the 13th day of the year in the Gregorian calendar. ... Novy Mir (rus. ... The Forward is a Jewish-American newspaper published in New York. ...

Trotsky was living in New York City when the February Revolution of 1917 overthrew Czar Nicholas II. He left New York on March 27, but his ship was intercepted by British naval officials in Halifax, Nova Scotia and he spent a month detained at Amherst, Nova Scotia. After initial hesitation by the Russian foreign minister Pavel Milyukov, he was forced to demand that Trotsky be released and the British government freed Trotsky on April 29. He finally made his way back to Russia on May 4 of that year. Nickname: Big Apple, Gotham, NYC, City That Never Sleeps, The Concrete Jungle, The City So Nice They Named It Twice Location in the state of New York Coordinates: Country United States State New York Boroughs The Bronx Brooklyn Manhattan Queens Staten Island Settled 1676 Government - Mayor Michael Bloomberg (R) Area... The February Revolution (N.S.: March Revolution) of 1917 in Russia was the first stage of the Russian Revolution of 1917. ... Nicholas II of Russia (18 May [O.S. 6 May] 1868 â€“ 17 July [O.S. 4 July] 1918) (Russian: , Nikolay II) was the last Emperor of Russia, King of Poland,[1] and Grand Duke of Finland. ... Nickname: Big Apple, Gotham, NYC, City That Never Sleeps, The Concrete Jungle, The City So Nice They Named It Twice Location in the state of New York Coordinates: Country United States State New York Boroughs The Bronx Brooklyn Manhattan Queens Staten Island Settled 1676 Government - Mayor Michael Bloomberg (R) Area... March 27 is the 86th day of the year in the Gregorian Calendar (87th in leap years). ... Motto: Template:Unhide = E Mari Merces (Wealth from the Sea) Logo: Location City Information Established: April 1, 1996 Area: (former city) 79. ... Motto: Munit Haec et Altera Vincit (Latin: One defends and the other conquers) Official languages English, French (Canadian Gaelic) [] Capital Halifax Largest city Halifax Regional Municipality Lieutenant-Governor Mayann E. Francis Premier Rodney MacDonald (PC) Parliamentary representation - House seats - Senate seats 11 10 Area Total - Land - Water (% of total) Ranked... The Nova Scotia Visitor Information Centre, located in Fort Lawrence, 3 kilometres west of Amherst. ... Pavel Nikolayevich Milyukov (Cyrillic: Павел Николаевич Милюков) (1859-1943) was (alongside Vladimir Lenin and Peter Stolypin) the greatest Russian politician of pre-revolutionary years. ... April 29 is the 119th day of the year in the Gregorian calendar (120th in leap years). ... May 4 is the 124th day of the year in the Gregorian calendar (125th in leap years). ...

Upon his return, Trotsky was in substantive agreement with the Bolshevik position, but he didn't join them right away. At the time, Russian social democrats were split in at least 6 groups and the Bolsheviks were waiting for the next party Congress to determine which factions they would merge with. Trotsky temporarily joined the Mezhraiontsy, a regional social democratic organization in St. Petersburg, and became one of its leaders. At the First Congress of Soviets in June, he was elected member of the first All-Russian Central Executive Committee ("VTsIK") from the Mezhraiontsy faction. Bolshevik Party Meeting. ... Mezhraiontsy or Mezhraoinka (Russian: Ð¼ÐµÐ¶Ñ€Ð°Ð¹Ð¾Ð½Ñ†Ñ‹), usually translated as the interdistrictites (from the Russian mezh-, i. ... The Congress of Soviets was the supreme governing body of the Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic and the Soviet Union in two periods, from 1917 to 1936 and from 1989 to 1993. ... The term Central Executive Committee refers to governing bodies with executive power of various parties and governments. ...

Trotsky was arrested on August 7, 1917 (New Style) after an unsuccessful pro-Bolshevik uprising in Petrograd, but was released 40 days later in the aftermath of the failed counter-revolutionary uprising by Lavr Kornilov. After the Bolsheviks gained a majority in the Petrograd Soviet, Trotsky was elected Chairman on October 8 (New Style). He sided with Lenin against Grigory Zinoviev and Lev Kamenev when the Bolshevik Central Committee discussed staging an armed uprising and he led the efforts to overthrow the Provisional Government headed by Aleksandr Kerensky. August 7 is the 219th day of the year in the Gregorian Calendar (220th in leap years), with 146 days remaining. ... In Britain and countries of the British Empire, Old Style or O.S. after a date means that the date is in the Julian calendar, in use in those countries until 1752; New Style or N.S. means that the date is in the Gregorian calendar, adopted on 14 September... The Kornilov Affair was a confused struggle between General Lavr Kornilov and Aleksandr Kerensky in August/September, 1917, in between the abdication of Tsar Nicholas II and the October Revolution. ... An assembly of the Petrograd Soviet, 1917 The Petrograd Soviet, or the Petrograd Soviet of Workers and Soldiers Deputies, was the council set up in Petrograd (Saint Petersburg, Russia) in March 1917 as the representative body of the citys workers. ... October 8 is the 281st day of the year in the Gregorian Calendar (282nd in leap years). ... In Britain and countries of the British Empire, Old Style or O.S. after a date means that the date is in the Julian calendar, in use in those countries until 1752; New Style or N.S. means that the date is in the Gregorian calendar, adopted on 14 September... Grigory Zinoviev Grigory Yevseevich Zinoviev (Ð“Ñ€Ð¸Ð³Ð¾ÌÑ€Ð¸Ð¹ Ð•Ð²ÑÌÐµÐµÐ²Ð¸Ñ‡ Ð—Ð¸Ð½ÌÐ¾Ð²ÑŒÐµÐ², alternative transliteration Grigorii Ovseyevish Zinoviev, real name Ovsei-Gershon Aronovich Radomyslsky (Ð Ð°Ð´Ð¾Ð¼Ñ‹ÑÐ»ÑŒÑÐºÐ¸Ð¹), also known as Hirsch Apfelbaum, primary revolutionary pseudonym Grigory, privately Grisha), (September 23 [O.S. September 11] 1883 - August 25, 1936) was a Bolshevik revolutionary and a Soviet Communist politician. ... Lev Borisovich Kamenev (Russian: Ð›ÐµÐ² Ð‘Ð¾Ñ€Ð¸ÑÐ¾Ð²Ð¸Ñ‡ ÐšÐ°Ð¼ÐµÐ½ÐµÐ², born Rosenfeld, Ð Ð¾Ð·ÐµÐ½Ñ„ÐµÐ»ÑŒÐ´) (July 18 [O.S. July 6] 1883 â€“ August 25, 1936) was a Bolshevik revolutionary and a prominent Soviet politician. ... The Russian Provisional Government was formed in Petrograd after the deterioration of the Russian Empire and the abdication of the Tsars. ... Alexander Fyodorovich Kerensky ( Russian:Алекса́ндр Фёдорович Ке́ренский) ( April 22, 1881 ( May 2, New Style) - June 11, 1970) was the second prime minister of the...

The following summary of Trotsky's Role in 1917 was given by Stalin in Pravda, November 6, 1918. (Although this passage was quoted in Stalin's book "The October Revolution" issued in 1934, it was expunged in Stalin's Works released in 1949.)

After the success of the uprising on November 7-8 (New Style), Trotsky led the efforts to repel a counter-attack by Cossaks under General Pyotr Krasnov and other troops still loyal to the overthrown Provisional Government at Gatchina. Allied with Lenin, he successfully defeated attempts by other Bolshevik Central Committee members (Zinoviev, Kamenev, Alexei Rykov, etc) to share power with other socialist parties. In Britain and countries of the British Empire, Old Style or O.S. after a date means that the date is in the Julian calendar, in use in those countries until 1752; New Style or N.S. means that the date is in the Gregorian calendar, adopted on 14 September... Kerensky-Krasnov uprising is the term used in Soviet historiography to denote an attempt of Alexander Kerensky to retake power from Bolsheviks. ... The Reply of the Zaporozhian Cossacks to Sultan Mehmed IV of Turkey. ... Ataman Pyotr Krasnov Pyotr Nikolayevich Krasnov (ÐŸÐµÑ‚Ñ€ ÐÐ¸ÐºÐ¾Ð»Ð°ÐµÐ²Ð¸Ñ‡ ÐšÑ€Ð°ÑÐ½Ð¾Ð² in Russian) (September 22 (10 O.S.), 1869 â€” January 17, 1947), sometimes referred to in English as Peter Krasnov, was Lieutenant General of the Russian army when the revolution broke out in 1917, and one of the leaders of the counterrevolutionary White movement afterwards. ... Gatchina is the city of 84900 inhabitants in the Leningrad oblast of the Russian Federation, 45 km south of St Petersburg by the road leading to Pskov. ... Alexei Rykov Alexey Ivanovich Rykov (ÐÐ»ÐµÐºÑÐµÐ¹ Ð˜Ð²Ð°Ð½Ð¾Ð²Ð¸Ñ‡ Ð Ñ‹ÐºÐ¾Ð², February 25 (February 13, Old Style), 1881 - March 15, 1938) was a Russian Marxist revolutionary and Soviet politician. ...

By the end of 1917, Trotsky was unquestionably the second man in the Bolshevik Party after Lenin, overshadowing the ambitious Zinoviev, who had been Lenin's top lieutenant over the previous decade, but whose star appeared to be fading. This turnaround planted the seeds of the two Bolshevik leaders' mutual enmity, which lasted until 1926 and, in the end, did much to destroy them both.

After the Russian Revolution

Trotsky in his military uniform walking with soldiers. ... Trotsky in his military uniform walking with soldiers. ...

Commissar for Foreign Affairs and Brest-Litovsk (1917-1918)

After the Bolsheviks came to power, Trotsky became the People's Commissar for Foreign Affairs and published the secret treaties previously signed by the Triple Entente that detailed plans for post-war reallocation of colonies and redrawing state borders. It has been suggested that this article or section be merged with: :Sovnarkom. ... European military alliances in 1915. ...

Trotsky was the head of the Soviet delegation during the peace negotiations in Brest-Litovsk between December 22, 1917 and February 10, 1918. At that time the Soviet government was split on the issue. Left Communists, led by Nikolai Bukharin, continued to believe that there could be no peace between a Soviet republic and a capitalist country and that only a revolutionary war leading to a pan-European Soviet republic would bring a durable peace. They cited the successes of the newly formed (January 15, 1918) voluntary Red Army against Polish forces of Gen. Józef Dowbor-Muśnicki in Belarus, White forces in the Don region, and newly independent Ukrainian forces as proof that the Red Army could successfully repel German forces, especially if propaganda and asymmetrical warfare were used. Left Communists didn't mind holding talks with the Germans as a means of exposing German imperial ambitions (territorial gains, reparations, etc) in hopes of accelerating the hoped−for Soviet revolution in the West, but they were dead set against signing any peace treaty. In case of a German ultimatum, they advocated proclaiming a revolutionary war against Germany in order to inspire Russian and European workers to fight for socialism. Their opinion was shared by Left Socialist Revolutionaries, who were then the Bolsheviks' junior partners in a coalition government. For a city in France, see Brest, France. ... December 22 is the 356th day of the year (357th in leap years) in the Gregorian Calendar. ... February 10 is the 41st day of the year in the Gregorian Calendar. ... Left Communism is a term describing a whole range of communist viewpoints which oppose the political ideas of the Bolsheviks from a position which is asserted to be more authentically Marxist and proletarian than the views held by the Communist International after its first two Congresses. ... Nikolai Bukharin Nikolai Ivanovich Bukharin (Russian: ), (October 9, 1888 [O.S. September 27] â€“ March 15, 1938) was a Bolshevik revolutionary and intellectual, and later a Soviet politician. ... January 15 is the 15th day of the year in the Gregorian calendar. ... Red Army flag The Workers and Peasants Red Army (Russian: Ð Ð°Ð±Ð¾Ñ‡Ðµ-ÐšÑ€ÐµÑÑ‚ÑŒÑÐ½ÑÐºÐ°Ñ ÐšÑ€Ð°ÑÐ½Ð°Ñ ÐÑ€Ð¼Ð¸Ñ, Raboche-Krestyanskaya Krasnaya Armiya; RKKA or usually simply the Red Army) were the armed forces first organized by the Bolsheviks during the Russian Civil War in 1918 and that in 1922 became the army of the Soviet Union. ... JÃ³zef Dowbor-MuÅ›nicki JÃ³zef Dowbor-MuÅ›nicki (sometimes also DowbÃ³r-MuÅ›nicki, 25 October 1867-26 October 1937) was first a tsarist Lieutenant-General, who served in Manchuria in 1904/05. ... The term may have the following meanings White Guard, Finnish Civil War White Army, Russian Civil War The White Guard - a novel by Mikhail Bulgakov about the Russian White movement. ... The Don (Ð”Ð¾Ð½) is one of the major rivers of Russia. ... An Australian anti-conscription propaganda poster from World War One U.S. propaganda poster, which warns against civilians sharing information on troop movements (National Archives) The much-imitated 1914 Lord Kitchener Wants You! poster Swedish Anti-Euro propaganda for the referendum of 2003. ... Asymmetric warfare is a military term to describe warfare in which the two belligerents are mismatched in their military capabilities or accustomed methods of engagement such that the militarily diasadvantaged power must press its special advantages or effectively exploit its enemys particular weaknesses if they are to have any... War reparations refer to the monetary compensation provided to a triumphant nation or coalition from a defeated nation or coalition. ... In 1917, Russia the Socialist-Revolutionary Party split between those who supported the Provisional Government, established after the February revolution, and those who supported the Bolsheviks who favoured a communist insurrection. ...

Lenin, who had earlier hoped for a speedy Soviet revolution in Germany and other parts of Europe, quickly decided that the imperial government of Germany was still firmly in control and that, absent a strong Russian military, an armed conflict with Germany would lead to a collapse of the Soviet government in Russia. He agreed with the Left Communists that ultimately a pan-European Soviet revolution would solve all problems, but until then the Bolsheviks needed to be able to survive and stay in power. Lenin didn't mind prolonging the negotiating process for maximum propaganda effect, but, from January 1918 on, he advocated signing a separate peace treaty if faced with a German ultimatum. Download high resolution version (619x712, 171 KB)Bolshevik propaganda poster of Trotsky slaying the dragon of counter-revolution, 1918. ... Download high resolution version (619x712, 171 KB)Bolshevik propaganda poster of Trotsky slaying the dragon of counter-revolution, 1918. ... 1915 passport photo of Trotsky Leon Davidovich Trotsky (Russian: Лев Давидович Троцкий; also transliterated Trotskii, Trotski, Trotzky) (October 26 (O.S.) = November 7 (N.S.), 1879 - August 21, 1940), born Lev Davidovich Bronstein (&#1051... For alternate uses, see Saint George (disambiguation) Saint George on horseback rides alongside a wounded dragon being led by a princess, late 19th century engraving. ... Modern emblem of Moscow The Coat of Arms of Moscow depicts a horseman with a spear in his hand slaying a dragon. ...

Trotsky's position during this period was in between these two Bolshevik factions. Like Lenin, he admitted that the old Russian military, inherited from the monarchy and the Provisional Government and in advanced stages of decomposition, was unable to fight:^[11]

On the other hand, he agreed with the Left Communists that signing a separate peace treaty with an imperialist power would be a terrible moral and material blow to the Soviet government, negating all of its military and political successes in late 1917-early 1918, resurrecting the notion that the Bolsheviks were secretly allied with the German government, and causing an upsurge of internal resistance. In case of a German ultimatum, Trotsky argued, the best policy was to refuse to accept it, which had a good chance of being the last drop that would lead to an uprising within Germany or, at the very least, inspire German soldiers to refuse to obey their officers since any German offensive would be a naked grab for territories. As Trotsky wrote in 1925:^[12] The term Red Guards may refer to one of the following. ...

Throughout January and February of 1918, Lenin's position was supported by 7 members of the Bolshevik Central Committee and Bukharin's by 4. Trotsky had 4 votes (his own, Felix Dzerzhinsky's, Nikolai Krestinsky's and Adolph Joffe's) and, since he held the balance of power, he was able to pursue his policy in Brest-Litovsk. When he could no longer delay the negotiations, he withdrew from the talks on February 10, 1918, refusing to sign on Germany's harsh terms. After a brief hiatus, the Central Powers notified the Soviet government that they would no longer observe the truce after February 17. At this point Lenin again argued that the Soviet government had done all it could to explain its position to Western workers and that it was time to accept the terms. Trotsky refused to support Lenin since he was waiting to see whether German workers would rebel or whether German soldiers would refuse to follow orders. Download high resolution version (600x828, 203 KB)Russian Civil War White Army propaganda poster depicting Trotsky as a Jewish devil. ... Download high resolution version (600x828, 203 KB)Russian Civil War White Army propaganda poster depicting Trotsky as a Jewish devil. ... White army may refer to: The military arm of the White movement, a loose coalition of anti-Bolshevik forces in the Russian Civil War The Saudi Arabian National Guard The National Guard of Kuwait This is a disambiguation page — a navigational aid which lists other pages that might otherwise... Sovdepia or Sovdepiya was a derogatory name for Soviet Russia and later Soviet Union by those who were against the Bolshevik rule. ... Felix Edmundovich Dzerzhinsky (Феликс Эдмундович Дзержинский; September 11, 1877 - July 20, 1926) was a Polish Communist revolutionary, famous as the founder of the Bolshevik secret police... Nikolai Nikolaevich Krestinsky (October 13, 1883 - March 15, 1938) was an original Bolshevik revolutionary, then one of five members of the Politburo, before finally being executed in the Great Purges. ... Adolph Joffe Adolph Abramovich Joffe (Russian: ÐÐ´Ð¾Ð»ÑŒÑ„ ÐÐ±Ñ€Ð°Ð¼Ð¾Ð²Ð¸Ñ‡ Ð˜Ð¾Ñ„Ñ„Ðµ, alternative transliterations Adolf Ioffe or, rarely, Yoffe) (October 10, 1883 (Simferopol) â€“ November 16, 1927, Moscow) was a Russian Communist revolutionary, a Bolshevik politician and a Soviet diplomat. ... February 10 is the 41st day of the year in the Gregorian Calendar. ... Year 1918 (MCMXVIII) was a common year starting on Tuesday of the Gregorian calendar (see link for calendar) or a common year starting on Wednesday of the Julian calendar. ... It has been suggested that this article or section be merged into Triple Alliance. ... February 17 is the 48th day of the year in the Gregorian calendar. ...

The German side resumed military operations on February 18. Within a day, it became clear that the German army was capable of conducting offensive operations and that Red Army detachments, which were relatively small, poorly organized and poorly led, were no match for it. At this point, in the evening of February 18, 1918, Trotsky and his supporters in the Bolshevik Central Committee abstained. Lenin's proposal was accepted 7-4 and the Soviet government sent a telegram to the German side accepting the final Brest-Litovsk peace terms. February 18 is the 49th day of the year in the Gregorian Calendar. ... February 18 is the 49th day of the year in the Gregorian Calendar. ...

The German side didn't respond for three days, continuing its offensive and encountering little resistance. When the response did arrive on February 21, the proposed terms were so harsh that even Lenin briefly thought that the Soviet government had no other choice but to fight. In the end, however, the Bolshevik Central Committee once again voted 7-4 on February 23, 1918, which paved the way to the signing of Treaty of Brest-Litovsk on March 3 and its ratification on March 15, 1918. Since he was so closely associated with the policy previously followed by the Soviet delegation at Brest-Litovsk, Trotsky submitted his resignation from his position as Commissar for Foreign Affairs in order to remove a potential obstacle to the new policy. February 21 is the 52nd day of the year in the Gregorian Calendar. ... February 23 is the 54th day of the year in the Gregorian Calendar. ... The Treaty of Brest-Litovsk was a peace treaty signed on March 3, 1918, at Brest, formerly Brest-Litovsk, between Russia and the Central Powers, marking Russias exit from World War I. While the treaty was practically obsolete before the end of the year, it gave some relief to... March 3 is the 62nd day of the year in the Gregorian Calendar (63rd in leap years). ... March 15 is the 74th day of the year in the Gregorian Calendar (75th in leap years). ...

At the head of the Red Army (Spring 1918)

The failure of the recently formed Red Army to resist the German offensive in February 1918 put its weaknesses on display: insufficient numbers, lack of knowledgeable officers, almost complete absence of coordination and subordination. Celebrated and feared Baltic Fleet sailors, one of the bastions of the new regime led by Pavel Dybenko, ignominiously fled from the German army at Narva. The notion that the Soviet state could have an effective voluntary or militia type military was seriously undermined. Image File history File links Beschreibung Description: Trotsky and Lenin with soldiers in Petrograd Source: originally uploaded to en. ... Image File history File links Beschreibung Description: Trotsky and Lenin with soldiers in Petrograd Source: originally uploaded to en. ... Saint Petersburg listen (Russian: Санкт-Петербу́рг, English transliteration: Sankt-Peterburg), colloquially known as Питер (transliterated Piter), formerly known as Leningrad (Ленингра́д, 1924–1991... Russian Baltic Fleet sleeve ensign The Baltic Fleet (Russian: Ð‘Ð°Ð»Ñ‚Ð¸Ð¹ÑÐºÐ¸Ð¹ Ñ„Ð»Ð¾Ñ‚, in the Soviet period - The Double Red Banner Baltic Fleet - Ð”Ð²Ð°Ð¶Ð´Ñ‹ ÐšÑ€Ð°ÑÐ½Ð¾Ð·Ð½Ð°Ð¼Ñ‘Ð½Ð½Ñ‹Ð¹ Ð‘Ð°Ð»Ñ‚Ð¸Ð¹ÑÐºÐ¸Ð¹ Ñ„Ð»Ð¾Ñ‚) is located at the Baltic Sea and headquartered in Kaliningrad, the other major base is at Kronstadt, located in the Gulf of Finland. ... Pavel Dybenko Pavel Yefimovich Dybenko (Russian: ÐŸÐ°Ð²ÐµÐ» Ð•Ñ„Ð¸Ð¼Ð¾Ð²Ð¸Ñ‡ Ð”Ñ‹Ð±ÐµÐ½ÐºÐ¾) (February 16, 1889 - July 29, 1938) was a Russian revolutionary and a leading Soviet officer. ... The reconstructed fortress of Narva (to the left) overlooking the Russian fortress of Ivangorod (to the right). ... Lexington Minuteman representing militia minuteman John Parker Militia is the activity of one or more citizens organized to provide defense or paramilitary service, or those engaged in such activity. ...

Trotsky was one of the first Bolshevik leaders to recognize the problem and he pushed for the formation of a military council of former Russian generals that would function as an advisory body. Lenin and the Bolshevik Central Committee agreed to create the Supreme Military Council, with former chief of the imperial General Staff Mikhail Bonch-Bruevich at its head, on March 4. However, the entire Bolshevik leadership of the Red Army, including People's Commissar (defense minister) Nikolai Podvoisky and commander-in-chief Nikolai Krylenko, protested vigorously and eventually resigned. They believed that the Red Army should consist only of dedicated revolutionaries, rely on propaganda as well as on force, and have elected officers. They viewed former imperial officers and generals as potential traitors who should be kept out of the new military, much less put in charge of it. Their views continued to be popular with many Bolsheviks throughout most of the Russian Civil War and their supporters, including Podvoisky, who became one of Trotsky's deputies, were a constant thorn in Trotsky's side. The discontent with Trotsky's policies of strict discipline, conscription and reliance on carefully supervised non-Communist military experts eventually led to the Military Opposition, which was active within the Communist Party in late 1918-1919. Revolutionary Military Council of the Republic or Revvoyensoviet (Ð ÐµÐ²Ð¾Ð»ÑŽÑ†Ð¸Ð¾Ð½Ð½Ñ‹Ð¹ Ð’Ð¾ÐµÐ½Ð½Ñ‹Ð¹ Ð¡Ð¾Ð²ÐµÑ‚, Ð ÐµÐ²Ð²Ð¾ÐµÐ½ÑÐ¾Ð²ÐµÑ‚) was the supreme military authority of Soviet Russia. ... A General Staff is a group of professional military officers who act in a staff or administrative role under the command of a general officer. ... Mikhail Dmitrievich Bonch-Bruevich (Михаил Дмитриевич Бонч-Бруевич 1870—1956) was an Imperial Russian and Soviet military commander, Lieutenant General (1944). ... March 4 is the 63rd day of the year in the Gregorian Calendar (64th in leap years). ... Nikolai Ilyich Podvoisky (Russian: ÐÐ¸ÐºÐ¾Ð»Ð°Ð¹ Ð˜Ð»ÑŒÐ¸Ñ‡ ÐŸÐ¾Ð´Ð²Ð¾Ð¹ÑÐºÐ¸Ð¹) (February 4 (16), 1880 - July 28, 1948) was a Soviet statesman. ... Commander-in-Chief (in NATO-lingo often C-in-C or CINC pronounced sink) is the commander of all the military forces within a particular region or of all the military forces of a state. ... Nikolai Krylenko Nikolai Vasilyevich Krylenko (Russian: ÐÐ¸ÐºÐ¾Ð»Ð°Ð¹ Ð’Ð°ÑÐ¸Ð»ÑŒÐµÐ²Ð¸Ñ‡ ÐšÑ€Ñ‹Ð»ÐµÐ½ÐºÐ¾) (May 2, 1885, Bekhteevo (Ð‘ÐµÑ…Ñ‚ÐµÐµÐ²Ð¾), Smolensk region, Russian Empire â€“ July 29, 1938, Moscow) was a Bolshevik revolutionary and a Soviet politician. ... Combatants Red Army (Bolsheviks) White Army (Monarchists, SRs, Anti-Communists) Green Army (Peasants and Nationalists) Black Army (Anarchists) Commanders Leon Trotsky Mikhail Tukhachevsky Semyon Budyonny Lavr Kornilov, Alexander Kolchak, Anton Denikin, Pyotr Wrangel Alexander Antonov, Nikifor Grigoriev Nestor Makhno Strength 5,427,273 (peak) +1,000,000 Casualties 939,755...

On March 13, 1918 Trotsky's resignation as Commissar for Foreign Affairs was officially accepted and he was appointed People's Commissar of Army and Navy Affairs (Нарком по военным и морским делам, Нарком армии и флота) in place of Podvoisky and chairman of the Supreme Military Council. The post of the commander-in-chief was abolished and from that point on, Trotsky was in full control of the Red Army, responsible only to the Communist Party leadership, their Left Socialist Revolutionary allies having left the government over Brest-Litovsk. With the help of his faithful deputy Ephraim Sklyansky, Trotsky spent the rest of the Civil War transforming the Red Army from a ragtag network of small and fiercely independent detachments into a large and disciplined military machine. March 13 is the 72nd day of the year in the Gregorian calendar (73rd in leap years). ... Ephraim Markovich Sklyansky (Russian: ÐÑ„Ñ€Ð°Ð¸Ð¼ ÐœÐ°Ñ€ÐºÐ¾Ð²Ð¸Ñ‡ Ð¡ÐºÐ»ÑÐ½ÑÐºÐ¸Ð¹) (August 12 (O.S. July 31), 1892 - August 27, 1925) was a Soviet statesman. ...

Civil War (1918-1920)

Combatants Red Army (Bolsheviks) White Army (Monarchists, SRs, Anti-Communists) Green Army (Peasants and Nationalists) Black Army (Anarchists) Commanders Leon Trotsky Mikhail Tukhachevsky Semyon Budyonny Lavr Kornilov, Alexander Kolchak, Anton Denikin, Pyotr Wrangel Alexander Antonov, Nikifor Grigoriev Nestor Makhno Strength 5,427,273 (peak) +1,000,000 Casualties 939,755...

1918

Trotsky's managerial skills and his approach to building the Soviet military were soon put to a test. When the Czechoslovak Legions, then en route from European Russia to Vladivostok, rose against the Soviet government in May-June 1918, the Bolsheviks were suddenly faced with the loss of most of the country's territory, an increasingly well organized resistance by Russian anti-Communist forces (usually referred to as the White Army after their best known component) and widespread defection by the military experts that Trotsky relied on. This article or section does not cite its references or sources. ... Vladivostok (Russian: ) is the administrative center of Primorsky Krai, Russia, situated close to the Russo-Sino border and North Korea. ... White Army redirects here. ...

Trotsky and the Soviet government responded with a full-fledged mobilization, which increased the size of the Red Army from less than 300,000 in May 1918 to one million in October 1918, and an introduction of political commissars into the Red Army. The latter were responsible for ensuring the loyalty of military experts (who were mostly former officers in the imperial army) and co-signing their orders. A political commissar is an officer appointed by a communist party to oversee a unit of the military. ...

Facing military defeats in mid-1918, Trotsky introduced increasingly severe penalties for desertion, insubordination, and retreat. As he later wrote in his autobiography:^[13]

These reprisals included the death penalty for deserters and traitors, as well as using former officers' families as hostages against possible defections:^{[citation needed]}

Trotsky also threatened to execute unit commanders and commissars whose units either deserted or retreated without permission.^{[citation needed]} (Trotsky later argued that these threats were either taken out of context or were used to scare his subordinates into action and were not necessarily meant to be carried out.) Since Red Army commissars were often prominent Bolsheviks, it sometimes led to clashes between them and Trotsky.^{[citation needed]}

Trotsky continued to insist that former officers should be used as military experts within the Red Army and, in the summer of 1918, was able to convince Lenin and the Bolshevik leadership not only to continue the policy in the face of mass defections, but also to give these experts more direct operational control of the military. In this he differed sharply from Stalin who was, from May through October 1918, the top commissar in the South of Russia. Stalin and his future defense minister, Kliment Voroshilov, went so far as to refuse to accept former general Andrei Snesarev who had been sent to them by Trotsky. Stalin's stubborn opposition to Trotsky's military policies foreshadowed a continuing acute conflict between the two Bolsheviks over the policies and direction of the Soviet Union, culminating 10 years later in Trotsky's expulsion from the Soviet Union (and then in his assassination). Marshal of the Soviet Union Kliment Voroshilov Kliment Yefremovich Voroshilov () (January 23, 1881 - December 2, 1969) was a Soviet military commander and politician. ...

In September 1918, the Soviet government, facing continuous military difficulties, declared what amounted to martial law and reorganized the Red Army. The Supreme Military Council was abolished and the position of the commander-in-chief was restored, filled by the commander of the Red Latvian Rifleman Ioakim Vatsetis (aka Jukums Vācietis), who had formerly led the Eastern Front against the Czechoslovak Legions. Vatsetis was put in charge of day to day operations of the Red Army while Trotsky was appointed Chairman of the newly formed Revolutionary Military Council of the Republic and retained overall control of the military. Trotsky and Vatsetis had clashed earlier in 1918 while Vatsetis and Trotsky's adviser Mikhail Bonch-Bruevich were also on unfriendly terms. Nevertheless, Trotsky eventually established a working relationship with the often prickly Vatsetis. Monument to the Red Latvian Riflemen in Riga, Latvia Latvian riflemen (Latvian: LatvieÅ¡u strÄ“lnieki, Russian: Ð›Ð°Ñ‚Ñ‹ÑˆÑÐºÐ¸Ðµ ÑÑ‚Ñ€ÐµÐ»ÐºÐ¸) were military formations assembled starting 1915 in Latvia in order to defend Baltic territories against Germans in World War I. Initially the batallions were formed by volunteers, from 1916 by conscription among Latvian... Jukums VÄcietis (November 11, 1873â€”July 28, 1938) (Russian (language): Ð˜Ð¾Ð°ÐºÐ¸Ð¼ Ð˜Ð¾Ð°ÐºÐ¸Ð¼Ð¾Ð²Ð¸Ñ‡ Ð’Ð°Ñ†ÐµÑ‚Ð¸Ñ (Ioakim Ioakimovich Vatsetis)) was a Soviet military commander of Latvian descent. ... Revolutionary Military Council of the Republic or Revvoyensoviet (Революционный Военный Совет, Реввоенсовет) was the supreme military authority...

The reorganization caused yet another conflict between Trotsky and Stalin in late September - early October 1918 when the latter refused to accept former imperial general Pavel Sytin, who had been appointed by Trotsky to command the Southern Front. As a result, Stalin was recalled from the South Front. Lenin and Yakov Sverdlov tried to get Trotsky and Stalin to mend fences, but their meeting was unsuccessful. Yakov Sverdlov Snow-covered statue of Sverdlov in Yekaterinburg Yakov Mikhaylovich Sverdlov (Russian: Ð¯ÌÐºÐ¾Ð² ÐœÐ¸Ñ…Ð°ÌÐ¹Ð»Ð¾Ð²Ð¸Ñ‡ Ð¡Ð²ÐµÑ€Ð´Ð»Ð¾ÌÐ²), born Yankel Movshevich Eiman (Russian: Ð¯ÌÐ½ÐºÐµÐ»ÑŒ ÐœÐ¾Ð²ÑˆÐµÐ²Ð¸Ñ‡ ÐÐ¹Ð¼Ð°Ð½); known under pseudonyms Andrey, Mikhalych, Max, Smirnov, Permyakov (June 3 [O.S. May 22] 1885 â€“ March 16, 1919) was a Bolshevik party leader and an official of pre-Soviet Union Soviet Russia. ...

1919

Throughout late 1918 and early 1919, Trotsky had to fend off a number of attacks on his leadership of the Red Army, including veiled accusations in newspaper articles inspired by Stalin and a direct attack by the Military Opposition at the VIIIth Party Congress in March 1919. On the surface, he weathered all of them successfully and was elected one of only five full members of the first Politburo after the Congress. However, as he later wrote:^[14] Politburo is short for Political Bureau. ...

It was not until the summer of 1919 that the dissatisfied had an opportunity to mount a serious challenge to Trotsky's leadership of the Red Army.

By mid-1919, the Red Army had successfully defeated the White Army's spring offensive in the East and was about to cross the Urals mountains and enter Siberia in pursuit of Admiral Alexander Kolchak's forces. However, at the same time the situation in the South, where General Anton Denikin's White Russian forces were advancing, was deteriorating rapidly. On June 6 commander-in-chief Vatsetis ordered the Eastern Front to stop the offensive so that he could use its forces in the South. The leadership of the Eastern Front, including its commander Sergei Kamenev (a colonel in the imperial army, not to be confused with the Politburo member Lev Kamenev), and Eastern Front Revolutionary Military Council members Ivar Smilga, Mikhail Lashevich and Sergei Gusev vigorously protested and wanted to keep emphasis on the Eastern Front. They insisted that it was vital to capture Siberia before the onset of winter and that, once Kolchak's forces were broken, it would be possible to free up many more divisions for the Southern Front. Trotsky, who had had conflicts with the leadership of the Eastern Front earlier, including a temporary removal of Kamenev in May 1919, supported Vatsetis. Aleksandr Vasiliyevich Kolchak (Александр Васильевич Колчак in Russian) (November 4 (November 16 NS), 1874 - February 7, 1920) was a Russian naval commander and later head of part of... Anton Denikin on the day of his resignation in 1920 Anton Ivanovich Denikin (Анто́н Ива́нович Дени́кин) (December 16, 1872 - August 8, 1947) was a Russian army officer before and during... Ivar Smilga (Ivar Tenisovich Smilga) (1892-1937/38?) was a Bolshevik revolutionary leader in Russia, and member of the Left Opposition. ... Sergei Gusev (born July 31, 1975 in Nizhniy Tagil, Russia is a professional ice hockey player who played in the National Hockey League for the Dallas Stars and the Tampa Bay Lightning. ...

The conflict came to a head at the July 3-4 Central Committee meeting. After a heated exchange the majority supported Kamenev and Smilga against Vatsetis and Trotsky. Not only was Trotsky's plan rejected, but he was subjected to a barrage of criticism for various alleged shortcomings in his leadership style, much of it of a personal nature. Stalin used this opportunity to try to pressure Lenin^[15] to dismiss Trotsky from his post. However, when, on July 5, Trotsky offered his resignation, the Politburo and the Orgburo of the Central Committee unanimously rejected it. // Existence of Orgburo The Orgburo existed from 1919 to 1952, until the 19th Congress, when the Orgburo was abolished and its functions were transferred to the enlarged Secretariat. ...

Nevertheless, a number of significant changes to the leadership of the Red Army were made after July 4. Trotsky was temporarily sent to the Southern Front, while the work in Moscow was informally coordinated by Smilga. Most members of the bloated Revolutionary Military Council who were not involved in its day to day operations, were relieved of their duties on July 8 while new members including Smilga were added. The same day, while Trotsky was already in the South, Vatsetis was suddenly arrested by the Cheka on suspicion of involvement in an anti-Soviet plot and replaced by Sergei Kamenev. This article or section does not cite its references or sources. ...

After a few weeks in the South, Trotsky returned to Moscow and resumed control of the Red Army. A year later, after Smilga's (and Tukhachevsky's) famous defeat during the Miracle at the Vistula, Trotsky refused to use this opportunity to pay Smilga back, which earned him Smilga's friendship and subsequent support during the intra-Party battles of the 1920s.^[16] Marshal of the Soviet Union Mikhail Tukhachevsky Mikhail Nikolayevich Tukhachevsky (also spelled Tukhachevski, Tukhachevskii, Russian: Михаил Николаевич Тухачевский) (February 16, 1893 - June 12, 1937), Soviet military... Battle of Warsaw Conflict Polish-Bolshevik War Date 13 to August 25, 1920 Place near Warsaw, Poland Result Decisive Polish victory The Battle of Warsaw (sometimes referred to as the Miracle at the Vistula, Polish Cud nad Wisłą) was the decisive battle of the Polish-Bolshevik War (also...

In the meantime, by October 1919 the Soviet government found itself in the worst crisis of the Civil War, with Denikin's troops approaching Tula and Moscow from the South and General Nikolay Yudenich's troops approaching Petrograd from the West. Lenin decided that, since it was more important to defend Moscow than Petrograd, the latter would have to be abandoned. Trotsky argued^[17] that Petrograd needed to be defended, at least in part to prevent Estonia and Finland from intervening. In a rare reversal, Trotsky was supported by Stalin and Zinoviev and prevailed against Lenin in the Central Committee. He immediately went to Petrograd, whose leadership headed by Zinoviev he found demoralized, and organized its defense, sometimes personally stopping fleeing soldiers. By October 22 the Red Army was on the offensive and in early November Yudenich's troops were driven back to Estonia, where they were disarmed and interned. Trotsky was awarded the Order of the Red Banner for his actions in Petrograd. Tula (Russian: ) is an industrial city in the European part of Russia, located 165 km to the south of Moscow, on the river Upa, at . ... Nikolai Nikolayevich Yudenich (Николай Николаевич Юденич) (1862–1933), Infantry General (1915), leader of the counterrevolution in Northwestern Russia during the Russian Civil War of 1918-1920. ... The Soviet government of Russia established the Order of the Battle Red Banner, better-known as the Order of the Red Banner (in Russian: ÐžÑ€Ð´ÐµÐ½ ÐšÑ€aÑÐ½Ð¾Ð³Ð¾ Ð—Ð½Ð°Ð¼ÐµÐ½Ð¸ Orden Krasnogo Znameni) on September 16, 1918 during the Russian Civil War. ...

1920

With the defeat of Denikin and Yudenich in late 1919, the Soviet government's emphasis shifted to economic work and Trotsky spent the winter of 1919-1920 in the Urals region trying to get its economy going again. Based on his experiences there, he proposed abandoning the policies of War Communism,^[18] which included confiscating grain from peasants, and partially restoring the grain market. Lenin, however, was still committed to the system of War Communism at the time and the proposal was rejected. Instead, Trotsky was put in charge of the country's railroads (while retaining overall control of the Red Army), which he tried to militarize in the spirit of War Communism. It wasn't until the spring of 1921 that economic collapse and uprisings would force Lenin and the rest of the Bolshevik leadership to abandon War Communism in favor of the New Economic Policy. War communism or wartime communism (1917-1921) was the harsh economic policy adopted by the Bolsheviks during the Russian Civil War with an aim to keep towns and the Red Army supplied with weapons and food in the conditions when all normal economical mechanisms and relations were being destroyed by... Silver Ruble 1924 Gold Chervonetz (1979) The New Economic Policy (NEP) (Russian: ÐÐ¾Ð²Ð°Ñ ÑÐºÐ¾Ð½Ð¾Ð¼Ð¸Ñ‡ÐµÑÐºÐ°Ñ Ð¿Ð¾Ð»Ð¸Ñ‚Ð¸ÐºÐ° - Novaya Ekonomicheskaya Politika or ÐÐÐŸ) was officially decided in the course of the 10th Congress of the All-Russian Communist Party. ...

In the meantime, in early 1920 Soviet-Polish tensions escalated to the point where they eventually led to the Polish-Soviet War. In the run-up to the war and during the hostilities, Trotsky argued^[19] that the Red Army was exhausted and that the Soviet government should sign a peace treaty with Poland as soon as possible. He also didn't believe that the Red Army would find much support in Poland proper. Lenin and other Bolshevik leaders, however, thought that the Red Army's successes in the Russian Civil War and against the Poles meant that, as Lenin said later:^[20] Combatants Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic Ukrainian Soviet Socialist Republic Republic of Poland Ukrainian Peoples Republic Commanders Mikhail Tukhachevsky Semyon Budyonny JÃ³zef PiÅ‚sudski Edward Rydz-ÅšmigÅ‚y Strength 950,000 combatants 5,000,000 reserves 360,000 combatants 738,000 reserves Casualties Dead estimated at 100,000...

However, the Red Army offensive was stopped and turned back during the Battle of Warsaw in August 1920, in part because of Stalin's failure to obey Trotsky's orders in the run-up to the decisive engagements. Back in Moscow, Trotsky again argued in favor of signing a peace treaty and this time was able to prevail. The Battle of Warsaw (sometimes referred to as the Miracle at the Vistula, Polish Cud nad WisÅ‚Ä…) was the decisive battle of the Polish-Soviet War, the war that began soon after the end of World War I in 1918 and lasted until the Treaty of Riga in 1921. ...

Trade union debate (1920-1921)

In late 1920, after the Bolshevik victory in the Civil War and in the period leading up to the Eighth and Ninth Congress of Soviets, the Communist Party found itself engaged in a heated and increasingly acrimonious discussion over the role of trade unions in the Soviet state. The discussion split the Party into numerous factions, with Lenin, Trotsky and Bukharin each having their "platforms" (factions), Bukharin eventually merging his faction with Trotsky's. Smaller, more radical factions like the Workers' Opposition (headed by Alexander Shlyapnikov) and the Group of Democratic Centralism were particularly active. Image File history File links Serratitrotzki. ... Image File history File links Serratitrotzki. ... Serrati and Trotsky. ... The Workers Opposition was a faction of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union that emerged in 1920 as a response to the perceived over-bureaucratisation that was occurring in the Soviet Union. ... Alexander Gavrilovich Shlyapnikov (in Russian, Александр Гаврилович Шляпников) (1885-1937) was a Russian communist. ... The Group of Democratic Centralism was a dissenting faction within the Soviet Communist Party in the early 1920s. ...

Trotsky's position in this crucial debate was formed while he was heading a special commission on the Soviet transportation system, Tsektran. His appointment as head of this committee was made in order to rebuild a railroad system that lay in ruins after the Civil War. Being the Commisar of War and a revolutionary military leader, he felt there was a need to create a militarized "production atmosphere" by incorporating the trade unions directly into the State apparatus. His unyielding stance that in a worker's state the workers should have nothing to fear from the state, and that the State should have full control over the trade unions lead him to argue in the Ninth Party Congress for, "such a regime under which each worker feels himself to be a soldier of labor who cannot freely dispose of himself; if he is ordered transferred, he must execute that order; if he does not do so, he will be a deserter who should be punished. Who will execute this? The trade union. It will create a new regime. That is the militarization of the working class."^{[citation needed]}

Lenin sharply critiqued Trotsky and accused him of "bureaucratically nagging the trade unions" and of staging "factional attacks." His view did not focus on State control as much as the concern that a new relationship was needed between the State and the rank-and-file workers. He said, "Introduction of genuine labor discipline is conceived only if the whole mass of participants in productions take a conscious part in the fulfillment of these tasks. This cannot be achieved by bureaucratic methods and orders from above." This was a debate that Lenin thought the Party could ill afford. His frustration with Trotsky was capitalized on by Stalin and Zinoviev, who used their support for Lenin's position to improve their standing within the Bolshevik leadership at Trotsky's expense.

Disagreements were threatening to get out of hand and many Bolsheviks, including Lenin, feared that the Party would splinter. The Central Committee was split almost evenly between Lenin's and Trotsky's supporters, with all three Secretaries of the Central Committee (Krestinky, Yevgeny Preobrazhensky and Leonid Serebryakov) supporting Trotsky. Yevgeni Alekseyevich Preobrazhensky (1886-1937) was an Old Bolshevik, an economist and a member of the Central Committee of the Bolshevik faction and, its successor, the Communist Party of the Soviet Union. ...

At a meeting of his faction at the Tenth Party Congress in March 1921, Lenin's faction won a decisive victory and a number of Trotsky's supporters (including all three secretaries of the Central Committee) lost their leadership positions. Zinoviev, who had supported Lenin, became a full member of the Politburo while Krestinsky lost his Politburo seat. Krestinsky's place in the secretariat was taken by Vyacheslav Molotov. The Congress also adopted a secret resolution on "Party unity", which banned factions within the Party except during pre-Congress discussions. The resolution was later published and used by Stalin against Trotsky and other opponents. For other uses, see Molotov (disambiguation). ...

At the end of the Tenth Party Congress, Trotsky had to rush to Petrograd to organize and direct the suppression of the Kronstadt Rebellion, the last major revolt against Bolshevik rule. Anarchist Emma Goldman has criticized Trotsky for his actions as Commissar for War and his role in the suppression of the Kronstadt Rebellion, and also arguing that he ordered unjustified incarcerations and executions of political opponents such as anarchists, which, in Goldman's view, makes Trotsky's allegiance to socialism and communism highly questionable.[1] Trotsky, however, frequently argued for revolutionary defensism, which states that revolutionists have a right to protect a revolution from counterrevolutionary violence. [2] Combatants Soviet Sailors Red Army Commanders Stepan Petrichenko Marshal Mikhail Tukhachevsky Strength c. ... It has been suggested that Origins of anarchism and History of anarchism be merged into this article or section. ... Wikiquote has a collection of quotations related to: Emma Goldman Emma Goldman (June 27, 1869 â€“ May 14, 1940) aka Red Emma, was a Kaunas, Lithuania-born anarchist known for her writings and speeches. ... It has been suggested that Origins of anarchism and History of anarchism be merged into this article or section. ...

Fall from power (1922-1928)

Lenin's illness (1922-1923)

In late 1921 Lenin's health deteriorated and his periods of absence from Moscow became longer and longer, eventually leading to three strokes between May 26, 1922 and March 10, 1923, which resulted in paralysis, loss of speech and finally death on January 21, 1924. With Lenin increasingly sidelined throughout 1922, Stalin (elevated to the newly created position of the Central Committee General Secretary^[21] earlier in the year), Zinoviev and Lev Kamenev ^[22] formed a troika (triumvirate) to ensure that Trotsky, publicly the number two man in the country at the time and Lenin's heir presumptive, would not succeed Lenin. May 26 is the 146th day of the year in the Gregorian calendar (147th in leap years). ... Year 1922 (MCMXXII) was a common year starting on Sunday (link will display full calendar). ... March 10 is the 69th day of the year in the Gregorian Calendar (70th in leap years). ... {{year nav|1939 1923 (MCMXXIII) was a common year starting on Monday (link will display the full calendar). ... January 21 is the 21st day of the year in the Gregorian calendar. ... 1924 (MCMXXIV) was a leap year starting on Tuesday (link will display the full calendar). ... The General Secretary of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union (First Secretary in 1953-1966) was the title synonymous with leader of the Soviet Union after Vladimir Lenins death in 1924. ... An Heir Presumptive (capitalised) is the person provisionally scheduled to inherit a throne, peerage, or other hereditary honor, but whose position can be displaced by the birth of an Heir Apparent or of a new Heir Presumptive with a better claim to the throne. ...

The rest of the recently expanded Politburo (Rykov, Mikhail Tomsky, Bukharin) was at first uncommitted, but eventually joined the troika. Stalin's power of patronage^[23] in his capacity as General Secretary clearly played a role, but Trotsky and his supporters later concluded that a deeper, more fundamental reason was the process of slow bureaucratization of the Soviet regime once the extreme trials and tribulations of the Civil War were over: much of the Bolshevik elite wanted 'normalcy' while Trotsky was, personally and politically, a personification of a more turbulent revolutionary period that they would much rather leave behind. Mikhail Tomsky (1880-1936) was a factory worker, trade unionist and Bolshevik leader. ...

Although the exact sequence of events is unclear, evidence suggests that at first the troika nominated Trotsky to head second rate government departments (e.g. Gokhran, the State Depository for Valuables^[24]) and then, when Trotsky predictably refused, they tried to use it as an excuse to oust him.

When, in mid-July 1922, Kamenev wrote a letter to the recovering Lenin to the effect that "(the Central Committee) is throwing or is ready to throw a good cannon overboard", Lenin was shocked and responded:^[25]

From that moment until his final stroke, Lenin spent much of his time trying to devise a way to prevent a split within the Communist Party leadership, which was reflected in Lenin's Testament. As part of this effort, on September 11, 1922 Lenin proposed that Trotsky become his deputy at the Sovnarkom. The Politburo approved the proposal, but Trotsky "categorically refused".^[26] Lenins Testament is the name given to a document written by Vladimir Lenin in the last weeks of 1922 and the first week of 1923. ... This article is about the date September 11 in general. ... This article needs to be cleaned up to conform to a higher standard of quality. ...

In the fall of 1922, Lenin's relationship with Stalin deteriorated over Stalin's heavy-handed and chauvinistic handling of the issue of merging Soviet republics into one federal state, the USSR. At that point, according to Trotsky's autobiography,^[27] Lenin offered Trotsky an alliance against Soviet bureaucracy in general and Stalin in particular. The alliance proved effective on the issue of foreign trade ^[28], but it was complicated by Lenin's progressing illness. In January 1923 the strained relationship between Lenin and Stalin completely broke down when Stalin rudely insulted Lenin's wife, Nadezhda Krupskaya. At that point Lenin amended his Testament suggesting that Stalin should be replaced as the party's General Secretary, although the thrust of his argument was somewhat weakened by the fact that he also mildly criticized other Bolshevik leaders, including Trotsky. In March 1923, days before the third stroke that put an end to his political career, Lenin prepared a frontal assault on Stalin's "Great-Russian nationalistic campaign" against the Georgian Communist Party and asked Trotsky to deliver the blow at the XIIth Party Congress. With Lenin no longer active, Trotsky did not raise the issue at the Congress.^[29] Chauvinism is extreme and unreasoning partisanship on behalf of a group to which one belongs, especially when the partisanship includes malice and hatred towards a rival group. ... Nadezhda Krupskaya Nadezhda K. Krupskaya ( February 26, 1869 - February 27, 1939) was a Russian Marxist revolutionary. ...

At the XIIth Party Congress in April 1923, immediately after Lenin's final stroke, the key Central Committee reports on organizational and nationalities questions were delivered by Stalin and not by Trotsky, while Zinoviev delivered the political report of the Central Committee, traditionally Lenin's prerogative.^[30] Stalin's power of appointment had allowed him to gradually replace local Party secretaries with loyal functionaries and thus control most regional delegations at the Congress, which enabled him to pack the Central Committee with his supporters, mostly at the expense of Zinoviev and Kamenev's backers.^[31]

At the Congress, Trotsky made a speech about intra-party democracy, among other things, but avoided a direct confrontation with the troika. The delegates, most of whom were unaware of the divisions within the Politburo, gave Trotsky a standing ovation, which couldn't help but upset the troika. The troika was further infuriated by Karl Radek's article Leon Trotsky — Organizer of Victory ^[32] published in Pravda on March 14, 1923, which seemed to anoint Trotsky as Lenin's successor. This article is being considered for deletion in accordance with Wikipedias deletion policy. ... Karl Bernhardovich Radek (October 31, 1885 - May 19, 1939) was a Bolshevik and an international Communist leader. ... The front page of an issue of Pravda. ... For the Lebanese political coalition, see March 14 Alliance. ...

The resolutions adopted by the XIIth Congress called, in general terms, for greater democracy within the Party, but they were vague and remained unimplemented. In an important test of strength in mid-1923, the troika was able to neutralize Trotsky's friend and supporter Christian Rakovsky by removing him from his post as head of the Ukrainian government (Sovnarkom) and sending him to London as Soviet ambassador. When regional Party secretaries in Ukraine protested against Rakovsky's reassignment, they too were reassigned to various posts all over the Soviet Union. Dr. Christian Georgievich Rakovsky (ÐšÑ€Ð¸ÑÑ‚Ð¸ÑÐ½ Ð“ÐµÐ¾Ñ€Ð³Ð¸ÐµÐ²Ð¸Ñ‡ Ð Ð°ÐºÐ¾Ð²ÑÐºÐ¸; ÐšÑ€ÑŠÑÑ‚ÑŒÐ¾ Ð Ð°ÐºÐ¾Ð²ÑÐºÐ¸ - Krastyo Rakovski in Bulgarian or, in Romanian spelling, Cristian Racovschi; August 13 (August 1, Old Style), 1873 - September 11, 1941) was a socialist revolutionary, a Bolshevik politician and a Soviet diplomat. ...

Left opposition (1923-1924)

Starting in mid-summer 1923, the Soviet economy ran into significant difficulties, which led to numerous strikes countrywide. Two secret groups within the Communist Party, Workers' Truth and Workers' Group, were uncovered and suppressed by the Soviet secret police. Then, in September-October 1923, the much anticipated Communist revolution in Germany ended in defeat.

On October 8, 1923 Trotsky sent a letter to the Central Committee and the Central Control Commission which attributed these difficulties to lack of intra-Party democracy. Trotsky wrote: October 8 is the 281st day of the year in the Gregorian Calendar (282nd in leap years). ... Central Auditing Commission (CAC), (Russian: Ð¦ÐµÐ½Ñ‚Ñ€Ð°Ð»ÑŒÐ½Ð°Ñ ÐšÐ¾Ð½Ñ‚Ñ€Ð¾Ð»ÑŒÐ½Ð°Ñ ÐšÐ¾Ð¼Ð¸ÑÑÐ¸Ñ (Ð¦ÐšÐš), Centralnaya Kontrolnaya Komissiya) was a supervisory organ within the Communist Party of the Soviet Union. ...

Other senior Communists who had similar concerns sent The Declaration of 46 to the Central Committee on October 15, in which they wrote: The Declaration of 46 was a secret letter sent by a group of 46 leading Soviet Communists to the Politburo of the Central Committee of the Soviet Communist Party on October 15, 1923. ... October 15 is the 288th day of the year (289th in leap years). ...

Although the text of these letters remained secret at the time, the two documents had a significant effect on the Party leadership and prompted a partial retreat by the troika and its supporters on the issue of intra-Party democracy, notably in Zinoviev's Pravda article published on November 7. November 7 is the 311th day of the year (312th in leap years) in the Gregorian Calendar, with 54 days remaining. ...

Throughout November, the troika tried to come up with a compromise formula that would placate, or at least temporarily neutralize, Trotsky and those who supported him. (Their task was made easier by the fact that Trotsky was sick in November and December 1923.) The first draft of the resolution was rejected by Trotsky, which led to the formation of a special group consisting of Stalin, Trotsky and Kamenev, which was charged with drafting a mutually acceptable compromise. On December 5, 1923, the Politburo and the Central Control Commission unanimously adopted the group's final draft as its resolution. December 5 is the 339th day (340th in leap years) of the year in the Gregorian calendar. ...

On December 8, Trotsky published an open letter, in which he expounded on the recently adopted resolution's ideas. The troika used his letter as an excuse to launch a campaign against Trotsky, accusing him of factionalism, setting "the youth against the fundamental generation of old revolutionary Bolsheviks"^[33] and other sins. Trotsky defended his position in a series of seven letters which were collected as The New Course in January 1924. The illusion of a "monolithic Bolshevik leadership" was thus shattered and a lively intra-Party discussion ensued, both in local Party organizations and in the pages of Pravda. The discussion lasted most of December and January until the XIIIth Party Conference which was held between January 16 and 18, 1924. Those who were opposed to the line of the Central Committee during the debate were thereafter referred to as members of the Left Opposition. December 8 is the 342nd day (343rd in leap years) of the year in the Gregorian calendar. ... The Left Opposition was a faction within the Communist Party of the Soviet Union during 1923-1927. ...

Since the troika controlled the Party apparatus through Stalin's Secretariat as well as Pravda through its editor Bukharin, it was able to direct the course of the discussion and the process of delegate selection. Although Trotsky's position prevailed within the Red Army and Moscow universities and received about half the votes in the Moscow Party organization, it was defeated elsewhere and the Conference was packed with pro-troika delegates. In the end, only three delegates voted for Trotsky's position and the Conference denounced "Trotskyism"^[34] as a "petty bourgeois deviation". After the Conference, a number of Trotsky's supporters, especially in the Red Army's Political Directorate, were removed from leading positions or reassigned. Nonetheless, Trotsky kept all of his posts and the troika was careful to emphasize that the debate was limited to Trotsky's "mistakes" and that removing Trotsky from the leadership was out of the question. In reality, of course, Trotsky had already been cut off from the decision making process.

Immediately after the end of the Conference, Trotsky left for a Caucasusian resort to recover from his prolonged illness. He was still en route there when he received the news of Lenin's death on January 21, 1924. He was about to come back when a follow up telegram from Stalin arrived, giving an incorrect date of the scheduled funeral, which would have made it impossible for Trotsky to return in time. Many commentators speculated after the fact that Trotsky's absence from Moscow in the days following Lenin's death contributed to his eventual loss to Stalin, although Trotsky generally discounted the significance of his absence. The Ethnolinguistic patchwork of the modern Caucasus - CIA map This article concerns the geographic region. ...

After Lenin's death (1924)

There was little overt political disagreement within the Soviet leadership throughout most of 1924. On the surface, Trotsky remained the most prominent and popular Bolshevik leader, although his "mistakes" were often alluded to by troika partisans. Behind the scenes, he was completely cut off from the decision making process. Politburo meetings were pure formalities since all key decisions were made ahead of time by the troika and its supporters. Trotsky's control over the military was undermined by reassigning his deputy, Ephraim Sklyansky, and appointing Mikhail Frunze, who was being obviously groomed to take Trotsky's place, in his stead. Mikhail Vasilyevich Frunze (Russian ÐœÐ¸Ñ…Ð°Ð¸Ð» Ð’Ð°ÑÐ¸Ð»ÑŒÐµÐ²Ð¸Ñ‡ Ð¤Ñ€ÑƒÐ½Ð·Ðµ) (1885 â€“ 31 October 1925) was a Bolshevik leader during and just prior to the Russian Revolution of 1917. ...

At the XIIIth Party Congress in May, Trotsky delivered a conciliatory speech:^[35]

The attempt at reconciliation, however, didn't stop troika supporters from taking potshots at him.

In the meantime, the Left Opposition, which had coagulated somewhat unexpectedly in late 1923 and lacked a definite platform aside from general dissatisfaction with the intra-Party "regime", began to crystallize. It lost some less dedicated members to the harassment by the troika, but it also began formulating a program. Economically, the Left Opposition and its theoretician Yevgeny Preobrazhensky came out against further development of capitalist elements in the Soviet economy and in favor of faster industrialization of the economy. That put them on a collision course with Bukharin and Rykov, the "Right" group within the Party, who supported troika at the time. On the question of world revolution, Trotsky and Karl Radek saw a period of stability in Europe while Stalin and Zinoviev confidently predicted an "acceleration" of revolution in Western Europe in 1924. On the theoretical plane, Trotsky remained committed to the Bolshevik idea that the Soviet Union could not create a true socialist society in the absence of the world revolution, while Stalin gradually came up with a policy of building 'Socialism in One Country'. These ideological divisions provided much of the intellectual basis for the political divide between Trotsky and the Left Opposition on the one hand and Stalin and his allies on the other. Socialism in One Country was a thesis put forward by Joseph Stalin in 1924 and further supported by Nikolai Bukharin that given the catastrophic failures of all communist revolutions in Europe from 1917-1921 except their own, rather than relying on the idea that an underdeveloped and agrarian country like...

Immediately after the XIIIth Congress (where Kamenev and Zinoviev helped Stalin defuse Lenin's Testament, which belatedly came to the surface), the troika, always an alliance of convenience, started showing signs of cracking up. Stalin began making poorly veiled accusations in Zinoviev's and Kamenev's address. However, in October 1924, Trotsky published The Lessons of October, an extensive summary of the events of the 1917 revolution. In the article, he described Zinoviev's and Kamenev's opposition to the Bolshevik seizure of power in 1917, something that the two would have preferred left unmentioned. This started a new round of intra-party struggle, which became known as the Literary Discussion, with Zinoviev and Kamenev once again allied with Stalin against Trotsky. Their criticism of Trotsky was concentrated in three areas:

Trotsky was again sick and unable to respond while his opponents mobilized all of their resources to denounce him. They succeeded in damaging his military reputation so much that he was forced to resign as People's Commissar of Army and Fleet Affairs and Chairman of the Revolutionary Military Council on January 6, 1925. Zinoviev demanded Trotsky's expulsion from the Communist Party, but Stalin refused to go along and skillfully played the role of a moderate. Trotsky kept his Politburo seat, but was effectively put on probation. January 6 is the 6th day of the year in the Gregorian calendar, with 359 days (360 in leap years) remaining. ...

A year in the wilderness (1925)

1925 was a difficult year for Trotsky. After the bruising Literary Discussion and losing his Red Army posts, he was effectively unemployed throughout the winter and spring. In May 1925, he was given three posts: chairman of the Concessions Committee, head of the electro-technical board, and chairman of the scientific-technical board of industry. Trotsky wrote in My Life^[36] that he "was taking a rest from politics" and "naturally plunged into his new line of work up to my ears", but some contemporary accounts paint a picture of a remote and distracted man.^[37] Later in the year, Trotsky resigned his two technical positions (claiming Stalin-instigated interference and sabotage) and concentrated on his work in the Concessions Committee.

In one of the few political developments that affected Trotsky in 1925, the circumstances surrounding the controversy around Lenin's Testament were described by American Marxist Max Eastman in his book Since Lenin Died (1925). The Soviet leadership denounced Eastman's account and used party discipline to force Trotsky to write an article denying Eastman's version of the events.^{[citation needed]} Max Forrester Eastman (January 4, 1883–March 25, 1969) was a leftist American writer. ... Party discipline is the ability of a political party to get its members to support the policies of the party leadership. ...

In the meantime, the troika finally broke up. Bukharin and Rykov sided with Stalin while Krupskaya and Soviet Commissar of Finance Grigory Sokolnikov aligned with Zinoviev and Kamenev. The struggle became open at the September 1925 meeting of the Central Committee and came to a head at the XIVth Party Congress in December 1925. With only the Leningrad Party organization behind them, Zinoviev and Kamenev, dubbed The New Opposition, were thoroughly defeated while Trotsky refused to get involved in the fight and didn't speak at the Congress. Grigory Sokolnikov (1888 - 1939) was a Bolshevik, and a friend of Leon Trotsky. ...

United opposition (1926-1927)

During a lull in the intra-party fighting in the spring of 1926, Zinoviev, Kamenev and their supporters in the New Opposition gravitated closer to Trotsky's supporters and the two groups soon formed an alliance, which also incorporated some smaller opposition groups within the Communist Party. The alliance became known as the United Opposition.

The United Opposition was repeatedly threatened with sanctions by the Stalinist leadership of the Communist Party and Trotsky had to agree to tactical retreats, mostly to preserve his alliance with Zinoviev and Kamenev. The opposition remained united against Stalin throughout 1926 and 1927, especially on the issue of the Chinese Revolution. The methods used by the Stalinists against the Opposition were becoming more and more extreme. At the XVth Party Conference in October 1926 Trotsky could barely speak due to interruptions and catcalls and at the end of the Conference he lost his Politburo seat. In 1927 Stalin started using the GPU (Soviet secret police) to infiltrate and discredit the opposition. Rank and file oppositionists were increasingly harassed, sometimes expelled from the Party and even arrested. The Chinese Revolution may refer to: The Xinhai Revolution of 1911-1912, which led to the founding of the Republic of China, also known as the Republican Revolution. ... Soviet poster of the 1920s: The GPU strikes on the head the counter-revolutionary saboteur State Political Administration was the secret police of the RSFSR and USSR until 1934. ...

Defeat and exile (1927-1928)

In October 1927, Trotsky and Zinoviev were expelled from the Central Committee. When the United Opposition tried to organize independent demonstrations commemorating the 10th anniversary of the Bolshevik seizure of power in November 1927, the demonstrators were dispersed by force and Trotsky and Zinoviev were expelled from the Communist Party on November 12. Their leading supporters, from Kamenev down, were expelled in December 1927 by the XVth Party Congress, which paved the way for mass expulsions of rank and file oppositionists as well as internal exile of opposition leaders in early 1928. November 12 is the 316th day of the year (317th in leap years) in the Gregorian Calendar, with 49 days remaining. ...

When the XVth Party Congress made Opposition views incompatible with membership in the Communist Party, Zinoviev, Kamenev and their supporters capitulated and renounced their alliance with the Left Opposition. Trotsky and most of his followers, on the other hand, refused to surrender and stayed the course.

Trotsky was exiled to Alma Ata (now in Kazakhstan) on January 31, 1928. He was expelled from the Soviet Union in February 1929, accompanied by his wife Natalia Sedova and his son Leon Sedov. Alma-Ata Pioneers palace Russian Orthodox Cathedral Night city. ... January 31 is the 31st day of the year in the Gregorian calendar. ... Year 1928 (MCMXXVIII) was a leap year starting on Sunday (link will display full calendar). ... Natalia Sedova Natalia Sedova (1882-1962) is best known as the second wife of Leon Trotsky, the Russian revolutionary. ... Leon Lvovich Sedov (Russian: Ð›ÐµÐ² Ð›ÑŒÐ²Ð¾Ð²Ð¸Ñ‡ Ð¡ÐµÐ´Ð¾Ð²; February 1906 - February 16, 1938) was the son of the Russian Communist leader Leon Trotsky and his second wife Natalia Sedova. ...

After Trotsky's expulsion from the country, exiled Trotskyists began to waver and, between 1929 and 1934, most of the leading members of the Opposition surrendered to Stalin, "admitted their mistakes" and were reinstated in the Communist Party. Christian Rakovsky, who served as an inspiration for Trotsky between 1929 and 1934 while he was in Siberian exile, was the last prominent Trotskyist to capitulate. Almost all of them perished in the Great Purges just a few years later. The Great Purge is the name given to campaigns of repression in the Soviet Union during the late 1930s which included a purge of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union. ...

Last exile (1929-1940)

Trotsky was deported from the Soviet Union in February 1929. His first station in exile was at Büyükada off the coast of Istanbul, where he stayed four years. There were many former White Army officers in Istanbul, which put Trotsky's life in danger, but a number of Trotsky's European supporters volunteered to serve as bodyguards and assured his safety. Image File history File links Trotsky_militant. ... Image File history File links Trotsky_militant. ... The Militant is an international socialist newsweekly connected to the Socialist Workers Party (SWP). ... BÃ¼yÃ¼d Ada (Big Island - Pringipos, Î ÏÎ¯Î³ÎºÎ¹Ï€Î¿Ï‚ in Greek) is the largest of the nine islands consisting the Princes Islands in the Marmara Sea, close to Istanbul. ... Istanbul (Turkish: Ä°stanbul, Greek: , historically known in English as Constantinople; see other names) is Turkeys most populous city, and its cultural and financial center. ...

In 1933 Trotsky was offered asylum in France by Daladier. He stayed first at Royan, then at Barbizon. He was not allowed to visit Paris. In 1935 it was implied to him that he was no longer welcome in France. After weighing alternatives, he moved to Norway, where he got permission from then Justice minister Trygve Lie to enter the country, Trotsky was a guest of Konrad Knudsen near Oslo. After two years, allegedly under influence from the Soviet Union, he was put under house arrest. After consultations with Norwegian officials, his transfer to Mexico on a freighter was arranged. Mexican President Lázaro Cárdenas welcomed him warmly, even arranging a special train to bring him to Mexico City from the port of Tampico. French politician Ã‰douard Daladier Ã‰douard Daladier (June 18, 1884 - October 10, 1970) was a French politician, and Prime Minister of France at the start of the Second World War. ... Royan is a small town and commune of the Charente-Maritime dÃ©partement, in western France. ... Barbizon is a village near Fontainebleau Forest, France for which the Barbizon school of painters is named. ... City flag City coat of arms Motto: Fluctuat nec mergitur (Latin: Tossed by the waves, she does not sink) Paris Eiffel tower as seen from the esplanade du TrocadÃ©ro. ... Trygve Halvdan Lie (July 16, 1896 â€“ December 30, 1968) was a Norwegian politician. ... Konrad Gustav Knudsen (19 August 1890 - 16 June 1959) was a Norwegian painter, journalist, and parliamentarian. ... County Oslo NO-03 District Viken Municipality NO-0301 Administrative centre Oslo Mayor (2004) Per Ditlev-Simonsen (H) Official language form Neutral Area - Total - Land - Percentage Ranked 224 454 kmÂ² 426 kmÂ² 0. ... This article is about Gen. ... Nickname: Ciudad de los Palacios Location of Mexico City in central Mexico Coordinates: Country Mexico Federal entity Federal District Boroughs The 16 delegaciones Founded (as Tenochtitlan) c. ... Tampico bridge (finished in October 1988) links the states of Tamaulipas and Veracruz and is a major element in the Gulf of Mexico highway system. ...

In Mexico, he lived at one point at the home of the painter Diego Rivera, and at another at that of Rivera's wife & fellow painter, Frida Kahlo. He remained a prolific writer in exile, penning several key works, including his History of the Russian Revolution (1930) and The Revolution Betrayed (1936), a critique of the Soviet Union under Stalinism. Trotsky argued that the Soviet state had become a degenerated workers' state controlled by an undemocratic bureaucracy, which would eventually either be overthrown via a political revolution establishing workers' democracy or degenerate to the point where the bureaucracy converts itself into a capitalist class. Diego Rivera (December 8, 1886 â€“ November 24, 1957), (full name Diego MarÃa de la ConcepciÃ³n Juan Nepomuceno Estanislao de la Rivera y Barrientos Acosta y RodrÃguez) was a Mexican painter and muralist born in Guanajuato City, Guanajuato. ... Frida Kahlo (July 6, 1907 â€“ July 13, 1954) was a Mexican painter who depicted the indigenous culture of her country in a style combining Realism, Symbolism and Surrealism. ... The Revolution Betrayed is a book by the Russian Bolshevik leader Leon Trotsky, published in 1937, analyzing and critizising Stalinism and the post-Lenin development in the Soviet Union. ... Joseph Stalin Stalinism is the political and economic system named after Joseph Stalin, who implemented it in the Soviet Union. ... In Trotskyist political theory the term degenerated workers state has been used since the 1930s to describe the state of the Soviet Union after Stalins consolidation of power in or about 1924. ... In the Trotskyist movement, the term political revolution refers to an unpheaval in which the government is replaced, or the form of government altered, but in which property relations are predominantly left intact. ...

While in Mexico, Trotsky also worked closely with James P. Cannon, Joseph Hansen, and Farrell Dobbs of the Socialist Workers Party of the United States, as well as other supporters. Cannon, a long-time leading member of the American communist movement, had supported Trotsky in the struggle against Stalinism since he first read Trotsky's criticisms of the Soviet Union in 1928. Trotsky's critique of the Stalinist regime, though banned, was distributed to leaders of the Comintern. Among his other supporters was Chen Duxiu, founder of the Chinese Communist party. Image File history File links Beschreibung Description: Leo Trotzki with Harry De Boer and James H. Bartlett and their spouses in Mexiko in 1940 Source: http://www. ... Image File history File links Beschreibung Description: Leo Trotzki with Harry De Boer and James H. Bartlett and their spouses in Mexiko in 1940 Source: http://www. ... James Cannon in Moscow (1922) James Patrick Cannon (1890-1974) was an American Communist and Trotskyist leader. ... Joseph Hansen (1910-1979), was an American Communist and leading figure in the Socialist Workers Party. ... Farrell Dobbs (July 25, 1907 â€“ October 31, 1983) was an American Trotskyist politician and trade unionist. ... The Socialist Workers Party is a small communist political party in the United States. ... Joseph Stalin Stalinism is the political and economic system named after Joseph Stalin, who implemented it in the Soviet Union. ... Chen Duxiu (October 8, 1879 â€“ May 27, 1942) played many different roles in Chinese history. ...

Moscow show trials

In August 1936, the first Moscow show trial of the so-called "Trotskyite-Zinovievite Terrorist Center" was staged in front of an international audience. During the trial, Zinoviev, Kamenev and 14 other accused, most of them prominent Old Bolsheviks, confessed to having plotted with Trotsky to kill Stalin and other members of the Soviet leadership. The court found everybody guilty and sentenced the defendants to death, Trotsky in absentia. The second show trial of Karl Radek, Grigory Sokolnikov, Yuri Pyatakov and 14 others took place in January 1937, with even more alleged conspiracies and crimes linked to Trotsky. In April 1937, an independent "Commission of Inquiry" into the charges made against Trotsky and others at the "Moscow Trials" was held in Coyoacan, with John Dewey as chairman[3]. The findings were published in the book Not Guilty.^[38] The Moscow Trials were a series of trials of political opponents of Joseph Stalin during the Great Purge. ... For in absentia medical care, see Health care delivery. ... Karl Bernhardovich Radek (October 31, 1885 - May 19, 1939) was a Bolshevik and an international Communist leader. ... Grigory Sokolnikov (1888 - 1939) was a Bolshevik, and a friend of Leon Trotsky. ... John Dewey (October 20, 1859 â€“ June 1, 1952) was an American philosopher, psychologist, and educational reformer, whose thoughts and ideas have been greatly influential in the United States and around the world. ...

Fourth International

At first Trotsky was opposed to the idea of establishing parallel Communist Parties or a parallel international Communist organization that would compete with the Third International for fear of splitting the Communist movement. However, Trotsky changed his mind in mid-1933 after the Nazi takeover in Germany and the Comintern's response to it, when he proclaimed that: For other uses, see Fourth International (disambiguation). ... Image File history File linksMetadata Trotskycannon. ... Image File history File linksMetadata Trotskycannon. ... James Cannon in Moscow (1922) James Patrick Cannon (1890-1974) was an American Communist and Trotskyist leader. ... Felix Morrow (1906 - 1988) US politician, Communist. ... The term Third International has two well-established meanings: For the unabridged dictionary, see Websters Third New International Dictionary. ... National Socialism redirects here. ...

In 1938, Trotsky and his supporters founded the Fourth International, which was intended to be a revolutionary and internationalist alternative to the Stalinist Comintern. For other uses, see Fourth International (disambiguation). ...

Dies Committee

Towards the end of 1939 Trotsky agreed to go to the United States to appear as a witness before the Dies Committee of the House of Representatives, a forerunner of the House Un-American Activities Committee. Representative Dies, chairman of the committee, demanded the suppression of the American Communist Party. Trotsky intended to use the forum to expose the NKVD's activities against him and his followers. He made it clear that he also intended to argue against the suppression of the American Communist Party, and to use the committee as a platform for a call to transform the world war into a world revolution. Many of his supporters argued against his appearance, but it came to nothing anyway, as, when made aware of the deposition Trotsky intended to make, the committee refused to hear him, and he was denied a visa to enter the USA. On hearing about it, the Stalinists immediately accused Trotsky of being in the pay of the oil magnates and the FBI.^[40] Martin Dies, Jr. ... HUAC hearings House Committee on Un-American Activities (HUAC or HCUA) (1938â€“1975) was an investigative committee of the United States House of Representatives. ... The Communist Party of the United States of America (CPUSA) is a Marxist-Leninist political party in the United States. ... This does not adequately cite its references or sources. ... The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) is a federal criminal investigative, intelligence agency, and the primary investigative arm of the United States Department of Justice (DOJ). ...

Assassination

Trotsky eventually quarreled with Rivera and in 1939 moved into his own residence in Coyoacán, a neighborhood in Mexico City. On May 24, 1940, he survived a raid on his home by Stalinist assassins under the leadership of GPU agent Iosif Romualdovich Grigulevich, Mexican Stalinist painter David Alfaro Siqueiros, and Vittorio Vidale. Later, on August 20, 1940, Trotsky was successfully attacked in his home by a Stalinist agent, Ramón Mercader, who drove the pick of an ice axe into Trotsky's skull. Image File history File links Leon Trotskys last study where the fatal attack took place. ... Image File history File links Leon Trotskys last study where the fatal attack took place. ... Location of CoyoacÃ¡n within the Mexican Federal District JardÃn Centenario Plaza Hidalgo CoyoacÃ¡n (Place of the coyotes in Nahuatl) is one of the 16 delegaciones (boroughs) into which Mexicos Federal District is divided. ... Nickname: Ciudad de los Palacios Location of Mexico City in central Mexico Coordinates: Country Mexico Federal entity Federal District Boroughs The 16 delegaciones Founded (as Tenochtitlan) c. ... May 24 is the 144th day of the year in the Gregorian calendar (145th in leap years). ... 1940 (MCMXL) was a leap year starting on Monday (the link is to a full 1940 calendar). ... Soviet poster of the 1920s: The GPU strikes on the head the counter-revolutionary saboteur State Political Directorate was the secret police of the RSFSR and USSR until 1934. ... Iosif Romualdovich Grigulevich (1913-1988), worked for the NKVD with codenames MAKS and FELIPE. He was one of the most remarkable Soviet illegal operatives (an agent without diplomatic cover) during the 1930s and 1940s. ... David Alfaro Siquerios (December 29, 1896 in Camargo, Chihuahua, Mexico - January 6, 1974 in Cuernavaca, Morelos, Mexico) was a painter and muralist known for his social realism work. ... Vittorio Vidale (aka Enea Sormenti, Jacobo Hurwitz Zender, Carlos Contreras, Comandante Carlos) was a stalinist assassin and what is commonly called a communist agent. ... August 20 is the 232nd day of the year (233rd in leap years) in the Gregorian Calendar. ... Jaume Ramon Mercader del Rio HernÃ¡ndez (February 7, 1914 â€“ October 18, 1978) was a Catalan Communist who served as a foreign agent of the NKVD during Joseph Stalins time as ruler of the Soviet Union. ... Ice axe 1 â€“ pick 2 â€“ head 3 â€“ adze 4 â€“ leash 5 â€“ leash stop 6 â€“ shaft with rubber grip 7 â€“ spike An ice axe is a multi-purpose mountaineering tool carried by practically every mountaineer. ...

The blow was poorly delivered, however, and failed to kill Trotsky instantly, as Mercader had intended. Witnesses stated that Trotsky spat on Mercader and began struggling fiercely with him. Hearing the commotion, Trotsky's bodyguards burst into the room and nearly killed Mercader, but Trotsky stopped them, shouting, "Do not kill him! This man has a story to tell."^[41] Trotsky died the next day at a local hospital.

According to James P. Cannon, the secretary of the Socialist Workers Party (USA), Trotsky's last words were "I will not survive this attack. Stalin has finally accomplished the task he attempted unsuccessfully before."^{[citation needed]} Image File history File links Leon Trotskys grave at his Coyoacan home-museum. ... Image File history File links Leon Trotskys grave at his Coyoacan home-museum. ... Location of CoyoacÃ¡n within the Mexican Federal District JardÃn Centenario Plaza Hidalgo CoyoacÃ¡n (Place of the coyotes in Nahuatl) is one of the 16 delegaciones (boroughs) into which Mexicos Federal District is divided. ... James Cannon in Moscow (1922) James Patrick Cannon (1890-1974) was an American Communist and Trotskyist leader. ... The Socialist Workers Party is a communist political party in the United States. ...

Trotsky's house in Coyoacán was preserved in much the same condition as it was on the day of the assassination and is now a museum run by a board which includes his grandson Esteban Volkov. The current director of the museum is Dr. Carlos Ramirez Sandoval under whose supervision the museum has improved considerably after years of neglect. Trotsky's grave is located on its grounds. This article or section does not adequately cite its references or sources. ...

Trotsky was never formally rehabilitated by the Soviet government, despite the Glasnost-era rehabilitation of most other Old Bolsheviks killed during the Great Purges. But under President Gorbatschow Trotsky was called in 1987 "a hero and martyr", his son Sergej Sedow, killed in 1937, was rehabilitated in 1988, Bucharin was rehabilitated in 1988 as well. Trotsky's books, forbidden till 1987, were published since 1989. Nonetheless, Trotsky was as well featured on a commemorative postage stamp in 1987.[4] This article or section does not cite its references or sources. ... An Old Bolshevik (Russian: ) is an unofficial designation of a member of the Bolshevik party before the Russian Revolution of 1917. ... A commemorative stamp is a postage stamp issued to honor or commemorate a place, event or person. ... 1987 (MCMLXXXVII) was a common year starting on Thursday of the Gregorian calendar. ...

Contributions to theory

Main article: Trotskyism. Trotskyism is the theory of Marxism as advocated by Leon Trotsky. ...

Trotsky considered himself a "Bolshevik-Leninist", arguing for the establishment of a vanguard party. He considered himself an advocate of orthodox Marxism. His politics differed in many respects from those of Stalin or Mao, most importantly in his rejection of the theory of Socialism in One Country and his declaring the need for an international "permanent revolution". Numerous Fourth Internationalist groups around the world continue to describe themselves as Trotskyist and see themselves as standing in this tradition, although they have different interpretations of the conclusions to be drawn from this. Supporters of the Fourth International echo Trotsky's opposition to Stalinist totalitarianism, advocating political revolution, arguing that socialism cannot sustain itself without democracy. Socialism in One Country was a thesis put forward by Joseph Stalin in 1924 and further supported by Nikolai Bukharin that given the catastrophic failures of all communist revolutions in Europe from 1917-1921 except their own, rather than relying on the idea that an underdeveloped and agrarian country like... Permanent Revolution is a Marxist theory most closely associated with Leon Trotsky, devised as an explanation of how socialist revolutions could occur in societies that had not achieved advanced capitalism. ... For other uses, see Fourth International (disambiguation). ... Totalitarianism is a term employed by political scientists, especially those in the field of comparative politics, to describe modern regimes in which the state regulates nearly every aspect of public and private behavior. ... In the Trotskyist movement, the term political revolution refers to an unpheaval in which the government is replaced, or the form of government altered, but in which property relations are predominantly left intact. ... Socialism refers to a broad array of doctrines or political movements that envisage a socio-economic system in which property and the distribution of wealth are subject to social control. ...

Permanent Revolution

Main article: Permanent Revolution. Permanent Revolution is a Marxist theory most closely associated with Leon Trotsky, devised as an explanation of how socialist revolutions could occur in societies that had not achieved advanced capitalism. ...

Permanent Revolution is the theory that the bourgeois democratic tasks in countries with delayed bourgeois democratic development can only be accomplished through the establishment of a workers' state, and that the creation of a workers' state would inevitably involve inroads against capitalist property. Thus, the accomplishment of bourgeois democratic tasks passes over into proletarian tasks. Bourgeois at the end of the thirteenth century. ... Democracy (literally rule by the people, from the Greek demos, people, and kratos, rule[1]) is a form of government. ... In economics, a capitalist is someone who owns capital, presumably within the economic system of capitalism. ... The proletariat (from Latin proles, offspring) is a term used to identify a lower social class; a member of such a class is called a proletarian. ...

Although most closely associated with Leon Trotsky, the call for Permanent Revolution is first found in the writings of Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels in March 1850, in the aftermath of the 1848 Revolution, in their Address of the Central Committee to the Communist League: Karl Heinrich Marx (May 5, 1818, Trier, Germany â€“ March 14, 1883, London) was a German philosopher, political economist, and revolutionary. ... Friedrich Engels (November 28, 1820, Wuppertal â€“ August 5, 1895, London), a 19th-century German political philosopher, developed communist theory alongside his better-known collaborator, Karl Marx, co-authoring The Communist Manifesto (1848). ... (Redirected from 1848 Revolution) —Alexis de Tocqueville, Recollections The European Revolutions of 1848, in some countries known as the Spring of Nations, were the bloody consequences of a variety of changes that had been taking place in Europe in the first half of the 19th century. ... See Communist League (disambiguation) for other groups of the same name. ...

Trotsky's conception of Permanent Revolution is based on his understanding, drawing on the work of the founder of Russian Marxism Georgy Plekhanov, that in 'backward' countries the tasks of the Bourgeois Democratic Revolution could not be achieved by the bourgeoisie itself. This conception was first developed by Trotsky in collaboration with Alexander Parvus in late 1904 - 1905. The relevant articles were later collected in Trotsky's books 1905 and in Permanent Revolution, which also contains his essay "Results and Prospects". Trotsky was also a member of the backstreet boys and an avid water polo player. G. V. Plekhanov Georgi Valentinovich Plekhanov (December 11, 1856 â€“ May 30, 1918; Old Style: November 29, 1856 â€“ May 17, 1918) was a Russian revolutionary and a Marxist theoretician. ... Dr. Helphand (Parvus) Dr. Israel Lazarevich Helphand (last name also spelt as Gelfant), in Russian: Ð˜Ð·Ñ€Ð°Ð¸Ð»ÑŒ Ð›Ð°Ð·Ð°Ñ€ÐµÐ²Ð¸Ñ‡ Ð“ÐµÐ»ÑŒÑ„Ð°Ð½Ð´, is known also by his frequently used pseudonym Alexander Parvus. ...

Notes

^ The murder weapon was a hidden cut-down ice axe, not an ice pick, a different tool — see their respective articles for details. Many history and reference books confuse the two when discussing the circumstances surrounding Trotsky's death. See Robert Conquest, The Great Terror: A Reassessment, Oxford University Press, 1991, ISBN 0-19-507132-8, p.418 for a detailed account
^ See chapter III of his autobiography, 'My Life'
^ cf, for instance, The Columbia Encyclopedia
^ Quoted in chapter XII of 'My Life'
^ See Trotsky's 'Thermidor and anti-Semitism' (1937)
^ See Israel Getzler. Martov: A Political Biography of a Russian Social Democrat, Cambridge University Press, 2003 (first edition 1967), ISBN 0-521-52602-7 p.76
^ Quoted in Chapter XIV of My Life'(zhizen)'
^ See Chapter XVII of 'My Life'
^ See Chapter XVI of 'My Life'
^ See Christian Rakovsky's biography by Gus Fagan for details
^ See the "Brest-Litovsk" chapter in Trotsky's 1925 book Lenin
^ See Lenin
^ See Chapter XXXIV of My Life
^ See Chapter XXXVI of My Life
^ See Chapter XXXVII of My Life
^ See Isai Abramovich's memoirs re: the Smilga episode. Abramovich (1900-1985), a friend of Smilga's, was one of the few Trotskyists who survived the Great Purges and returned from Stalin's camps in the late 1950s.
^ See Chapter XXXV of My Life
^ See Chapter XXXVIII of My Life
^ See Chapter XXXVII of My Life
^ See Political Report of the Central Committee of the RKP(b) to the Ninth All-Russian Conference of the Communist Party delivered by Lenin on September 20, 1920, Document 59 in The Unknown Lenin, ed. Richard Pipes, Yale University Press, 1996, ISBN 0-300-06919-7
^ Yakov Sverdlov was the Central Committee's senior secretary responsible for personnel affairs from 1917 and until his death in March 1919. He was replaced by Elena Stasova and then, in November 1919, by Nikolai Krestinsky. After Krestinsky's ouster in March 1921, Vyacheslav Molotov became the senior secretary, but he lacked Krestinsky's authority since he was not a full Politburo member. The position was taken over by Stalin and formalized at the XIth Party Congress in April 1922, with Molotov becoming second secretary.
^ It's not quite clear why Kamenev, a mild mannered man with few leadership ambitions as well as Trotsky's brother-in-law, sided with Zinoviev and Stalin against Trotsky in 1922. Trotsky later speculated that it may have been due to Kamenev's love of comfort, which Trotsky found "repell[ing]" and let Kamenev know in late 1920 or early 1921:

Our relations with Kamenev, which were very good in the first period after the insurrection, began to become more distant from that day. Ice axe 1 â€“ pick 2 â€“ head 3 â€“ adze 4 â€“ leash 5 â€“ leash stop 6 â€“ shaft with rubber grip 7 â€“ spike An ice axe is a multi-purpose mountaineering tool carried by practically every mountaineer. ... Icepick. ... September 20 is the 263rd day of the year (264th in leap years). ... Richard Pipes, Warsaw (Poland), October 20, 2004 Richard Edgar Pipes (b. ... Yale University Press is a book publisher founded in 1908. ...
^ The Central Committee's Secretariat became increasingly important during the Civil War and especially in its aftermath as the Party switched from elected officials to appointed ones. The change was prompted by the need to allocate manpower quickly during the Civil War as well as by the transformation of the Party from a small group of revolutionaries into the country's ruling party with a corresponding increase in membership. New members included career seekers and former members of banned socialist parties who were viewed with apprehension by Old Bolsheviks. To prevent a possible degeneration of the Party, various membership requirements were instituted for Party officials and the ultimate power of appointment of local officials was reserved for the Secretariat of the Central Committee. This put enormous power in the General Secretary's hands.
^ See Document 103 (May 22, 1922) in The Unknown Lenin
^ See Document 106 in The Unknown Lenin
^ See Document 109 in The Unknown Lenin
^ See Chapter XXXIX of My Life
^ See Lenin's letter to Stalin dictated on December 15, 1922:

I am sure Trotsky will uphold my views as well as I. May 22 is the 142nd day of the year in the Gregorian calendar (143rd in leap years). ...

Faced with a united opposition by Lenin and Trotsky, the Central Committee reversed its previous decision and adopted the Lenin-Trotsky proposal.
^ See Chapter 11 of Trotsky's unfinished book Stalin
^ Trotsky explained in Chapter 12 of his unfinished book Stalin that he refused to deliver the Central Committee's political report at the XIIth Congress because "it seemed to me equivalent to announcing my candidacy for the role of Lenin's successor at a time when Lenin was fighting a grave illness".
^ See Chapter 12 of Trotsky's Stalin
^ Radek wrote:

The need of the hour was for a man who would incarnate the call to struggle, a man who, subordinating himself completely to the requirements of the struggle, would become the ringing summons to arms, the will which exacts from all unconditional submission to a great, sacrificial necessity. Only a man with Trotsky's capacity for work, only a man so unsparing of himself as Trotsky, only a man who knew how to speak to the soldiers as Trotsky did—only such a man could have become the standard bearer of the armed toilers. He was all things rolled into one.
^ Quoted in Max Shachtman. The Struggle for the New Course, New York, New International Publishing Co., 1943. See chapter The Campaign Against “Trotskyism”
^ The term "Trotskyism" was first coined by the Russian liberal politician Pavel Milyukov, the first foreign minister in the Provisional Government who, in April 1917, was forced to demand that the British government release Trotsky -- see above.
^ See Chapter VIII of Boris Souvarine's Stalin: A Critical Survey of Bolshevism
^ See Chapter 42 of My Life
^ See Nikolai Valentinov-Volsky's account of his work with Trotsky in 1925 in Novaia Ekonomicheskaia Politika i Krizis Partii Posle Smerti Lenina: Gody Raboty v VSNKh vo Vremia NEP, Moscow, Sovremennik, 1991. No English translation currently available.
^ See Not guilty; report of the Commission of Inquiry into the Charges Made Against Leon Trotsky in the Moscow Trials, John Dewey, chairman, New York, London, Harper & brothers, 1938, xv, 422 pp. 2nd edition New York, Monad Press, distributed by Pathfinder Press 1973, c1972 xxiii, 422 pp.
^ Leon Trotsky. To Build Communist Parties and an International Anew, July 15, 1933.
^ See Isaac Deutscher. The Prophet Outcast: Trotsky, 1929-1940, London, New York, Oxford University Press, 1963, p.482.
^ http://www.rotten.com/library/history/assassination/

Contents

Before the 1917 Revolution

Childhood and family (1879-1896)

Revolutionary activity and exile (1896-1902)

First emigration and second marriage (1902-1903)

Split with Lenin (1903-1904)

1905 revolution and trial (1905-1906)

Second emigration (1907-1914)

World War I (1914-1917)

After the Russian Revolution

Commissar for Foreign Affairs and Brest-Litovsk (1917-1918)

At the head of the Red Army (Spring 1918)

Civil War (1918-1920)

1918

1919

1920

Trade union debate (1920-1921)

Fall from power (1922-1928)

Lenin's illness (1922-1923)

Left opposition (1923-1924)

After Lenin's death (1924)

A year in the wilderness (1925)

United opposition (1926-1927)

Defeat and exile (1927-1928)

Last exile (1929-1940)

Moscow show trials

Fourth International

Dies Committee

Assassination

Contributions to theory

Permanent Revolution

Notes

See also

Selected works

References

External links

Contents

Before the 1917 Revolution GA_googleFillSlot("encyclopedia_square");

Childhood and family (1879-1896)

Revolutionary activity and exile (1896-1902)

First emigration and second marriage (1902-1903)

Split with Lenin (1903-1904)

1905 revolution and trial (1905-1906)

Second emigration (1907-1914)

World War I (1914-1917)

After the Russian Revolution

Commissar for Foreign Affairs and Brest-Litovsk (1917-1918)

At the head of the Red Army (Spring 1918)

Civil War (1918-1920)

1918

1919

1920

Trade union debate (1920-1921)

Fall from power (1922-1928)

Lenin's illness (1922-1923)

Left opposition (1923-1924)

After Lenin's death (1924)

A year in the wilderness (1925)

United opposition (1926-1927)

Defeat and exile (1927-1928)

Last exile (1929-1940)

Moscow show trials

Fourth International

Dies Committee

Assassination

Contributions to theory

Permanent Revolution

Notes

See also

Selected works

References

External links

Before the 1917 Revolution