August 21 of this year marked 75 years since the day Leon Trotsky was assassinated. The biography of this famous revolutionary is well known. But the following circumstance is striking: he became an enemy not only of those who are rightly classified as counter-revolutionaries - enemies of the October Revolution of 1917, but also of those who prepared and carried it out with him. However, he never became an anti-communist and did not revise revolutionary ideals (at least the initial ones). What is the reason for such a sharp break with his like-minded people, which ultimately led to his death? Let's try to find the answer to this question together. First, let's give a biographical information.
Leon Trotsky: short biography
It’s quite difficult to describe briefly, but let’s try anyway. Lev Bronstein (Trotsky) was born on November 7 (what an amazing coincidence of dates, how can you not believe in astrology?) 1879 in the family of a wealthy Jewish landowner (more precisely, a tenant) in Ukraine, in a small village, which is now located in the Kirovograd region .
He began his studies in Odessa at the age of 9 (note that our hero left his parents' home as a child and never returned to it for a long time), continued it in 1895-1897. in Nikolaev, first at a real school, then at Novorossiysk University, but soon stopped studying and plunged into revolutionary work.
So, at the age of eighteen - the first underground circle, at nineteen - the first arrest. Two years in different prisons under investigation, the first marriage with someone like himself, Alexandra Sokolovskaya, entered into directly in the Butyrka prison (appreciate the humanism of the Russian authorities!), then exile to the Irkutsk province together with his wife and brother-in-law (humanism is still in action). Here Trotsky Lev does not waste time - he and A. Sokolovskaya have two daughters, he is engaged in journalism, publishes in Irkutsk newspapers, and sends several articles abroad.
What follows is an escape and a dizzying journey with forged documents under the surname Trotsky (according to Lev Davidovich himself, that was the name of one of the guards in the Odessa prison, and his surname seemed so euphonious to the fugitive that he offered it for making a fake passport) all the way to London.
Our hero arrived there at the very beginning of the second congress of the RSDLP (1902), at which the famous split between the Bolsheviks and Mensheviks took place. It was here that he met Lenin, who appreciated Trotsky’s literary gift and tried to introduce him to the editorial board of the Iskra newspaper.
Before the first Russian revolution, Leon Trotsky occupied an unstable political position, wavering between the Bolsheviks and the Mensheviks. His second marriage to Natalya Sedova dates back to this period, which he entered into without divorcing his first wife. This marriage turned out to be very long, and N. Sedova was with him until his death.
1905 is the time of our hero’s unusually rapid political rise. Arriving in St. Petersburg, seething after Bloody Resurrection, Lev Davidovich organized the St. Petersburg Council and became first its deputy chairman, G. S. Nosar (pseudonym Khrustalev - lawyer, Ukrainian, originally from the Poltava region, shot in 1918 on Trotsky’s personal orders), and after his arrest and the chairman. Then, at the end of the year - arrest, in 1906 - trial and exile in the Arctic (the region of present-day Salekhard) forever.
But Lev Trotsky would not have been himself if he had allowed himself to be buried alive in the tundra. On the way to exile, he makes a daring escape and alone makes his way across half of Russia abroad.
This was followed by a long period of emigration until 1917. At this time, Lev Davidovich began and abandoned many political projects, published several newspapers, and tried in every possible way to gain a foothold in the revolutionary movement as one of its organizers. He does not take the side of either Lenin or the Mensheviks, he constantly vacillates between them, maneuvers, tries to reconcile the warring wings of Social Democracy. He is desperately trying to take a leadership position in the Russian revolutionary movement. But he fails, and by 1917 he finds himself on the sidelines of political life, which leads Trotsky to the idea of leaving Europe and trying his luck in America.
Here he made very interesting contacts in various circles, including financial ones, which allowed him to arrive in Russia after the February Revolution, in May 1917, clearly not with an empty pocket. His previous chairmanship of the Petrograd Soviet secured his place in the new reincarnation of this institution, and his financial capabilities propel him to the leadership of the new Council, which, under the leadership of Trotsky, enters into a struggle for power with the Provisional Government.
He eventually (in September 1917) joined the Bolsheviks and became the second man in Lenin's party. Lenin, Leon Trotsky, Stalin, Zinoviev, Kamenev, Sokolnikov and Bubnov were the seven members of the first Politburo, founded in 1917 to manage the Bolshevik revolution. Moreover, from September 20, 1917, he was also the chairman of the Petrograd Soviet. In fact, all practical work on organizing the October Revolution and its defense in the first weeks of Soviet power was the work of Leon Trotsky.
In 1917-1918 He served the revolution first as the People's Commissar for Foreign Affairs, and then as the founder and commander of the Red Army in the post of People's Commissar for Military and Naval Affairs. Leon Trotsky was a key figure in the Bolshevik victory in the Russian Civil War (1918-1923). He was also a permanent member (1919-1926) of the Politburo of the Bolshevik Party.
After the defeat of the Left Opposition, which waged an unequal struggle against the rise of Joseph Stalin and his policies in the 1920s aimed at increasing the role of the bureaucracy in the Soviet Union, Trotsky was removed from power (October 1927), expelled from the Communist Party (November 1927 g.) and expelled from the Soviet Union (February 1929).
As head of the Fourth International, Trotsky continued to oppose the Stalinist bureaucracy in the Soviet Union in exile. On Stalin's orders, he was killed in Mexico in August 1940 by a Soviet agent of Spanish origin.
Trotsky's ideas formed the basis of Trotskyism, a major movement of Marxist thought that opposed the theory of Stalinism. He was one of the few Soviet political figures who was not rehabilitated either under Nikita Khrushchev’s government in the 1960s or during Gorbachev’s perestroika. In the late 1980s, his books were released for publication in the Soviet Union.
Only in post-Soviet Russia was Leon Trotsky rehabilitated. His biography was researched and written by a number of famous historians, including, for example, Dmitry Volkogonov. We will not retell it in detail, but will analyze only a few selected pages.
The origins of character formation in childhood (1879-1895)
In order to understand the origins of the formation of our hero’s personality, you need to take a closer look at where Leon Trotsky was born. It was the Ukrainian hinterland, a steppe agricultural zone that remains the same to this day. And what did the Jewish Bronstein family do there: father David Leontyevich (1847-1922), who was from the Poltava region, mother Anna, an Odessa native (1850-1910), their children? The same as other bourgeois families in those places - they earned capital through the brutal exploitation of Ukrainian peasants. By the time our hero was born, his illiterate (note this fact!) father, who lived, in fact, surrounded by people alien to him by nationality and mentality, already owned an estate of several hundred acres of land and a steam mill. Dozens of farm laborers bent their backs on him.
Doesn't all this remind the reader of something from the life of Boer planters in South Africa, where instead of black Kaffirs there are dark Ukrainians? It was in such an atmosphere that the character of little Leva Bronstein was formed. No friends and peers, no reckless boyish games and pranks, just the boredom of a bourgeois home and a view from above on Ukrainian farm laborers. It is from childhood that the roots of that feeling of one’s own superiority over other people grow, which constituted the main trait of Trotsky’s character.
And he would have been a worthy assistant to his dad, but, fortunately, his mother, being a slightly educated woman (from Odessa, after all), felt in time that her son was capable of more than simple exploitation of peasant labor, and insisted that he be sent to study in Odessa (live in an apartment with relatives). Below you can see what Leon Trotsky was like as a child (photo presented).
The hero's personality begins to emerge (1888-1895)
In Odessa, our hero was enrolled in a real school according to the quota that was allocated for Jewish children. Odessa was then a bustling, cosmopolitan port city, very different from typical Russian and Ukrainian cities of the time. In the multi-part film by Sergei Kolosov “Raskol” (we recommend watching it to everyone who is interested in the history of the Russian revolution) there is a scene when Lenin in 1902 in London meets Trotsky, who had fled from his first exile, and is interested in the impression that the capital of Great Britain made on him. He replies that it is simply impossible to experience a greater impression than Odessa made on him after moving to it from a rural outback.
Lev is an excellent student, becoming the first student in his course all years in a row. In the memoirs of his peers, he appears as an unusually ambitious person; his desire for primacy in everything distinguishes him from his fellow students. By the time Leo comes of age, he turns into an attractive young man, to whom, if he has wealthy parents, all doors in life should be open. How did Leon Trotsky live further (a photo of him during his studies is presented below)?
First love
Trotsky planned to study at Novorossiysk University. For this purpose, he transferred to Nikolaev, where he completed his last year of real school. He was 17 years old, and he did not at all think about any revolutionary activity. But, unfortunately, the sons of the owner of the apartment were socialists, they pulled the high school student into their circle, where various revolutionary literature was discussed - from populist to Marxist. Among the circle participants was A. Sokolovskaya, who had recently completed obstetric courses in Odessa. Being six years older than Trotsky, she made an indelible impression on him. Wanting to show off his knowledge in front of the subject of his passion, Lev intensively began studying revolutionary theories. This played a cruel joke on him: having started once, he never got rid of this activity again.
Revolutionary activities and imprisonment (1896-1900)
Apparently, it suddenly dawned on the young ambitious man - after all, this is the very thing to which he can devote his life, which can bring the desired glory. Together with Sokolovskaya, Trotsky immerses himself in revolutionary work, prints leaflets, conducts social democratic agitation among the workers of the Nikolaev shipyards, and organizes the “South Russian Workers' Union”.
In January 1898, more than 200 members of the union, including Trotsky, were arrested. He spent the next two years in prison awaiting trial - first in Nikolaev, then in Kherson, then in Odessa and Moscow. In he came into contact with other revolutionaries. There he first heard about Lenin and read his book “The Development of Capitalism in Russia,” gradually becoming a real Marxist. Two months after its conclusion (March 1-3, 1898), the first congress of the newly formed Russian Social Democratic Labor Party (RSDLP) took place. From then on, Trotsky defined himself as its member.
First marriage
Alexandra Sokolovskaya (1872-1938) was imprisoned for some time before being sent into exile in the same Butyrka prison in Moscow, where Trotsky was imprisoned at that time. He wrote romantic letters to her, begging her to agree to marry him. Tellingly, her parents and the prison administration supported the ardent lover, but the Bronstein couple was categorically against it - apparently, they had a presentiment that they would have to raise the children of such unreliable (in the everyday sense) parents. In defiance of his father and mother, Trotsky still marries Sokolovskaya. The wedding ceremony was performed by a Jewish priest.
First Siberian exile (1900-1902)
In 1900, he was sentenced to four years of exile in the Irkutsk region of Siberia. Because of their marriage, Trotsky and his wife are allowed to live in the same place. Accordingly, the couple was exiled to the village of Ust-Kut. Here they had two daughters: Zinaida (1901-1933) and Nina (1902-1928).
However, Sokolovskaya failed to keep such an active person as Lev Davidovich next to her. Having gained a certain fame due to articles written in exile and tormented by a thirst for activity, Trotsky lets his wife know that he is unable to remain away from the centers of political life. Sokolovskaya meekly agrees. In the summer of 1902, Lev fled from Siberia - first on a cart hidden under hay to Irkutsk, then with a false passport in the name of Leon Trotsky by rail to the borders of the Russian Empire. Alexandra subsequently fled Siberia with her daughters.
Leon Trotsky and Lenin
After escaping Siberia, he moved to London to join Plekhanov, Vladimir Lenin, Martov and other editors of Lenin's newspaper Iskra. Under the pseudonym "Per" Trotsky soon became one of its leading authors.
At the end of 1902, Trotsky met Natalya Ivanovna Sedova, who soon became his companion, and from 1903 until his death, his wife. They had 2 children: Lev Sedov (1906-1938) and (March 21, 1908 - October 29, 1937), both sons predeceased their parents.
At the same time, after a period of secret police repression and internal disorder that followed the first congress of the RSDLP in 1898, Iskra managed to convene the 2nd Party Congress in London in August 1903. Trotsky and other Iskrists took part in it.
The delegates to the congress were divided into two groups. Lenin and his Bolshevik supporters argued for a small but highly organized party, while Martov and his Menshevik supporters sought to create a larger and less disciplined organization. These approaches reflected their different goals. If Lenin wanted to create a party of professional revolutionaries for the underground struggle against the autocracy, then Martov dreamed of a party of the European type with an eye to parliamentary methods of fighting tsarism.
At the same time, Lenin’s closest associates gave Lenin a surprise. Trotsky and the majority of Iskra editors supported Martov and the Mensheviks, while Plekhanov supported Lenin and the Bolsheviks. For Lenin, Trotsky's betrayal was a strong and unexpected blow, for which he called the latter Judas and, apparently, never forgave him.
Throughout 1903-1904. many faction members switched sides. Thus, Plekhanov soon parted ways with the Bolsheviks. Trotsky also left the Mensheviks in September 1904 and until 1917 called himself a "non-factional Social Democrat", trying to reconcile various groups within the party, which resulted in him taking part in many clashes with Lenin and other prominent members of the RSDLP.
How did Leon Trotsky personally treat Lenin? Quotes from his correspondence with the Menshevik Chkheidze quite clearly characterize their relationship. Thus, in March 1913, he wrote: “Lenin... is a professional exploiter of all backwardness in the Russian labor movement... The entire edifice of Leninism is currently built on lies and falsification and carries within itself the poisonous beginning of its own decay...”
Later, during the struggle for power, he will be reminded of all his hesitations regarding the general course of the party set by Lenin. Below you can see what Lev Davidovich Trotsky was like (photo with Lenin).
Revolution (1905)
So, everything that we know about the personality of our hero so far does not characterize him very flatteringly. His undoubted literary and journalistic talent is offset by painful ambition, posturing, and selfishness (remember A. Sokolovskaya, left in Siberia with two small daughters). However, during the period of the first Russian revolution, Trotsky unexpectedly showed himself in a new way - as a very courageous man, an outstanding orator, capable of igniting the masses, as their brilliant organizer. Arriving in seething revolutionary St. Petersburg in May 1905, he immediately rushed into the thick of events, became an active member of the Petrograd Soviet, wrote dozens of articles, leaflets, and spoke to crowds electrified by revolutionary energy with fiery speeches. After some time, he was already deputy chairman of the Council and actively participated in the preparation of the October general political strike. After the appearance of the tsar's manifesto of October 17, which granted the people political rights, he sharply opposed it and called for the continuation of the revolution.
When the gendarmes arrested Khrustalev-Nosar, Lev Davidovich took his place, preparing combat workers’ squads, the striking force of the future armed uprising against the autocracy. But at the beginning of December 1905, the government decided to disperse the Council and arrest its deputies. An absolutely amazing story occurs during the arrest itself, when the gendarmes burst into the meeting room of the Petrograd Soviet, and the presiding officer, Trotsky, only by the power of his will and the gift of persuasion, sends them out the door for a while, which gives those present the opportunity to prepare: destroy some documents that are dangerous to them, get rid of weapons. But the arrest nevertheless took place, and Trotsky finds himself in a Russian prison for the second time, this time in the St. Petersburg “Crosses.”
Second escape from Siberia
The biography of Lev Davidovich Trotsky is replete with bright events. But it is not our task to present it in detail. We will limit ourselves to a few striking episodes in which the character of our hero is most clearly revealed. These include the story associated with Trotsky’s second exile to Siberia.
This time, after a year of imprisonment (however, in quite decent conditions, including access to any literature and the press), Lev Davidovich was sentenced to eternal exile in the Arctic, in the region of Obdorsk (now Salekhard). Before leaving, he handed over a farewell letter to the public with the words: “We are leaving with deep faith in the speedy victory of the people over their centuries-old enemies. Long live the proletariat! Long live international socialism!”
It goes without saying that he was not ready to sit for years in the polar tundra, in some wretched dwelling, and wait for a saving revolution. Besides, what kind of revolution could we talk about if he himself did not participate in it?
Therefore, his only option was immediate escape. When the caravan with prisoners reached Berezovo (a famous place of exile in Russia, where the former Serene Highness Prince A. Menshikov spent the rest of his life), from where there was a way to the north, Trotsky feigned an attack of acute radiculitis. He ensured that he was left with a couple of gendarmes in Berezovo until he recovered. Having deceived their vigilance, he flees the town and gets to the nearest Khanty settlement. There, in some incredible way, he hires reindeer and travels across the snow-covered tundra (this happens in January 1907) for almost a thousand kilometers to the Ural Mountains, accompanied by a Khanta guide. And having reached the European part of Russia, Trotsky easily crosses it (let’s not forget that the year is 1907, the authorities tie “Stolypin ties” around their necks to people like him) and ends up in Finland, from where he moves to Europe.
This, so to speak, adventure ended quite happily for him, although the risk to which he exposed himself was incredibly high. He could easily have been stabbed with a knife or stunned and thrown into the snow to freeze, having coveted the rest of the money he had on him. And the murder of Leon Trotsky would have happened not in 1940, but three decades earlier. Neither the enchanting rise during the years of the revolution nor all that followed would have happened then. However, the history and fate of Lev Davidovich himself decreed otherwise - to the happiness of himself, but to the grief of long-suffering Russia, and to his homeland no less.
The last act of life's drama
In August 1940, the news spread around the world that Leon Trotsky had been killed in Mexico, where he lived in the last years of his life. Was this a global event? Doubtful. It has been almost a year since Poland was defeated, and two months have already passed since the surrender of France. The wars between China and Indochina were blazing. The USSR was feverishly preparing for war.
So, except for a few supporters from among the members of the Fourth International created by Trotsky and numerous enemies, ranging from the authorities of the Soviet Union to the majority of world politicians, few people commented on this death. The Pravda newspaper published a murderous obituary written by Stalin himself and filled with hatred for the murdered enemy.
It should be mentioned that they tried to kill Trotsky more than once. Among the potential killers, there was even a great Mexican who participated in the raid on Trotsky’s villa in Mexico as part of a group of orthodox communists and who personally fired a machine-gun round at Lev Davidovich’s empty bed, not suspecting that he was hiding under it. Then the bullets passed by.
But what was used to kill Leon Trotsky? The most surprising thing is that the weapon of this murder was not a weapon - cold steel or firearms, but an ordinary ice ax, a small pickaxe used by climbers during their ascents. And she was held in the hands of NKVD agent Ramon Mercador, a young man whose mother was an active participant. Being an orthodox communist, she blamed Trotsky’s supporters for the defeat of the Spanish Republic, who, although they participated in the civil war on the side of the republican forces, refused to act in line with politics, asked from Moscow. She passed this belief on to her son, who became the true instrument of this murder.
Lev Davidovich
Battles and victories
A major figure in the communist movement, Soviet military-political figure, People's Commissar for Military Affairs.
Trotsky, not being a military specialist, managed to practically organize the Red Army from scratch, turning it into an effective and powerful armed force and becoming one of the organizers of the victory of the Red Army in the Civil War. "Red Bonaparte"
Trotsky (Bronstein) Lev Davidovich was born in the Kherson province into a family of wealthy Jewish colonists. Graduated from St. Paul's College in Odessa. He had a broad outlook and developed intellect. From his youth he participated in revolutionary activities, collaborated with the Social Democrats (although he repeatedly came into conflict with V.I. Lenin). He was repeatedly arrested, exiled and escaped. He spent many years in exile in France, Austria-Hungary, and visited the North American United States.
As a war correspondent, Trotsky participated in the First and Second Balkan Wars, gaining his first ideas about war and the army. Even during that period, he proved himself to be a serious organizer and specialist. Although he demanded payment for himself as a correspondent that exceeded the monthly salary of the Serbian minister, with this money he paid for a secretary who performed technical work and compiled certificates, and he himself supplied customers with extremely accurate and verified information. It included not only a presentation of events, but also attempts to analyze and synthesize material, a deep understanding of the life of the Balkan region and fairly accurate forecasting, which is fully confirmed by the research of modern domestic and foreign Balkan researchers. There is no reason to believe that, while at the head of the Soviet military department, Trotsky showed less thoroughness in his work.
During the First World War, again as a war correspondent, Trotsky became acquainted with the French army. He independently studied issues of militarism.
In 1917, Trotsky came to Russia and actively participated in revolutionary propaganda among the troops of the Petrograd garrison. In September 1917, he took over the post of chairman of the Petrograd Council of Workers' and Soldiers' Deputies, and in October he created the Military Revolutionary Committee, which headed the work to prepare an armed seizure of power in the capital. Through the efforts of Trotsky, the Petrograd garrison did not support the Provisional Government, and the Bolsheviks seized power. Trotsky organized the defense of Petrograd from the offensive of the troops of General P.N. Krasnov, personally checked the weapons and was on the front line.
At the end of 1917 - beginning of 1918. Trotsky served as People's Commissar for Foreign Affairs. He supported the unsuccessful policy of “neither peace nor war,” as a result of which he left the post of People’s Commissar.
In mid-March 1918 L.D. Trotsky, by decision of the Party Central Committee, became People's Commissar for Military Affairs (he held this post until 1925) and Chairman of the Supreme Military Council. Trotsky was the military leader of the Red Army during the Civil War, concentrating immense power in his hands. In the fall of 1918, he headed the Revolutionary Military Council of the Republic.
Not being a military specialist, he showed outstanding organizational skills and managed to organize the Red Army virtually from scratch on a regular basis, turning it into a massive, effective and powerful armed force based on the principles of universal conscription and strict discipline. At the highest military posts in Soviet Russia, Trotsky demonstrated his character - iron will and determination, colossal energy, fanatical commitment to achieving the intended result with undoubted ambition.
Under the leadership of Trotsky, the military-administrative apparatus of Soviet Russia took shape, military districts, armies and fronts were created, and mass mobilizations were carried out in a country decomposed by revolutionary ferment. The Red Army achieved its victories over the internal counter-revolution.
Trotsky became the main ideologist and proponent of the policy of recruiting former officers of the old army, who were called military specialists, into the Red Army. This policy encountered fierce resistance both in the party and among the mass of soldiers who ended up in the Red Army. One of Trotsky’s ardent opponents on this issue was Central Committee member I.V. Stalin, who sabotaged this course. IN AND. Lenin also doubted the correctness of Trotsky's course. However, the correctness of this policy was confirmed by successes at the fronts, and in 1919 it was declared the official party course.
During the Civil War, Trotsky showed himself to be a talented organizer who understood the nature of war and methods of management in its conditions, as well as a person who knew how to find a common language with military experts. Trotsky's strength as the leader of the Red Army was his clear understanding of the strategy of the Civil War. In this matter, he was significantly superior even to old military specialists with an academic education, who poorly understood the social nature of the Civil War.
This was especially clearly manifested during the discussion about Soviet strategy on the Southern Front in the summer - autumn of 1919. Commander-in-Chief S.S. Kamenev planned the main attack of the offensive through the Cossack areas, where the Reds faced fierce resistance from the local population. Trotsky sharply criticized the direction of the main attack proposed by Kamenev. He was against the offensive through the Don region, since he reasonably believed that the Reds would meet the greatest resistance in the Cossack territories. Meanwhile, the Whites achieved significant successes in their main Kursk direction, which threatened the very existence of Soviet Russia. Trotsky’s idea was to separate the Cossacks from the volunteers by delivering the main blow precisely in the Kursk-Voronezh direction. In the end, the Red Army moved to implement Trotsky's plan, but this happened only after several months of fruitless attempts to implement Kamenev's plan.
Trotsky spent the hottest time of the Civil War traveling around the fronts in his famous train (“flying control apparatus,” as Trotsky called it), organizing troops on the ground. He repeatedly traveled to the most threatened fronts and established work there. He made an outstanding contribution to strengthening the front near Kazan in August 1918, when the Red Army was demoralized. Trotsky was able to strengthen the morale of the troops with punitive measures, propaganda and strengthening the grouping of Soviet troops in the Kazan region.
He later recalled his trips to the fronts:Looking back at the three years of the civil war and looking through the log of my continuous trips along the front, I see that I almost did not have to accompany the victorious army, participate in the offensive, or directly share its successes with the army. My trips were not of a festive nature. I only went to unfavorable areas when the enemy broke through the front and drove our regiments in front of them. I retreated with troops, but never advanced with them. As soon as the defeated divisions were put in order and the command gave the signal for the offensive, I said goodbye to the army for another troubled sector or returned to Moscow for a few days to resolve the accumulated issues in the center.
“Of course, this method cannot be called correct,” Trotsky noted in another of his works. - A pedant will say that in supply, as in all military affairs in general, the most important thing is the system. This is right. I myself am inclined to sin rather towards pedantry. But the fact is that we did not want to die before we managed to create a coherent system. That is why we were forced, especially in the first period, to replace the system with improvisations, so that the system could be based on them in the future.”
For example, what did Trotsky do during the defense of Petrograd in the fall of 1919? Documents indicate that with his authority he ensured the supply of everything necessary for the 7th Army defending the “Cradle of the Revolution”. He dealt with army supply problems and resolved personnel issues. He carried out strategic planning: he put forward very practical proposals for turning Petrograd into an impregnable fortress, and raised in advance the question of the prospects for relations with the Estonians in the event of the defeat of Yudenich’s army and its withdrawal to Estonia. He exercised general supreme control, and also instructed the military and political leadership and, as Trotsky himself noted, gave “an impetus to the initiative of the front and the immediate rear.” In addition, with his characteristic ebullient energy, he held rallies, made speeches, and wrote articles. The benefits of his presence in Petrograd were undoubted.
Trotsky wrote about the achievements of the first days near Petrograd: “The command staff, embroiled in failures, had to be shaken up, refreshed, renewed. Even greater changes were made in the commissar composition. All units were strengthened from within by the communists. Individual fresh units also arrived. Military schools were brought to the forefront. In two or three days we managed to bring up the completely depleted supply apparatus. The Red Army soldier ate more, changed his underwear, changed his shoes, listened to the speech, shook himself, pulled himself up and became different.”
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Already at this time, Trotsky developed a universal formula for victories in the Civil War. On October 16, 1919, he wrote to former General Dmitry Nikolayevich Nadezhny, who was entrusted with command of the 7th Army: “As always in such cases, this time we will achieve the necessary turning point with the help of organizational, agitational and punitive measures.”
According to Trotsky, “it is impossible to create a strong army on the fly. Plugging and mending holes at the front will not help matters. The transfer of individual communists and communist detachments to the most dangerous places can only temporarily improve the situation. There is only one salvation: to transform, reorganize, educate the army through hard, persistent work, starting with the main cell, with the company, and rising higher through the battalion, regiment, division; establish proper supply, proper distribution of communist forces, proper relationships between command staff and commissars, ensure strict diligence and unconditional integrity in reports (highlighted in the document. - A.G.)". Thus, the secret of Trotsky’s success lay not only in the number of bayonets.
Trotsky outlined the reasons for the Whites’ defeats as follows:While they, Dutov, Kolchak, Denikin, had partisan detachments from the most qualified officer and cadet elements, until then they developed a large striking force in relation to their number, because, I repeat, this is an element of great experience, high military qualifications. But when the heavy mass of our regiments, brigades, divisions, and armies, built on mobilization, forced them to move on to mobilizing the peasants in order to oppose the masses to the masses, the laws of class struggle began to work. And mobilization turned into internal disorganization for them, causing the forces of internal destruction to work. To manifest this, to reveal it in practice, all it took was blows from our side.
The Chairman of the Revolutionary Military Council of the Republic tried to find a common language with elements disloyal to the Bolsheviks. Thus, in the spring of 1919, Trotsky proposed integrating Nestor Makhno’s anarchists into the Red Army by sending detachments of party workers, security officers, sailors and workers to the “anarchist gangs” of the Makhnovists.
Trotsky was an excellent speaker, his speeches at the fronts played a role in raising the morale of the Red Army soldiers. He showed concern for ordinary Red Army soldiers. In the fall of 1919, he wrote to the Central Committee about the need for warm clothing for the army, because... “You cannot demand more from the human body than it can bear.”
Trotsky contributed in every possible way to the dissemination of military knowledge in the Red Army and the development of military science. Thus, under his patronage, a serious military-scientific magazine “Military Affairs” was published in Moscow by a group of former officers.
While taking care of the training of commanders, the leaders of the Red Army did not forget about ordinary soldiers. Since 1918, their training has been carried out through Vsevobuch (General Military Training). In a short time, training and formation departments appeared in all work centers. According to Trotsky's plan, Vsevobuch was to create large military units up to and including armies. As part of Vsevobuch, pre-conscription training was carried out in labor schools, which 60,000 people, or 10% of all those registered, completed.
Trotsky attached great disciplinary importance to the factor of repression in the army. The secret “Instructions to responsible employees of the 14th Army,” signed by Trotsky on August 9, 1919, spoke about the principles of punitive policy: “All leading institutions of the army - the Revolutionary Military Council, the Political Department, the Special Department, the Revolutionary Tribunal must firmly establish and implement the rule that not a single crime in the army goes unpunished. Of course, the punishment must be strictly consistent with the actual nature of the crime or offense. The sentences must be such that every Red Army soldier, reading about them in his newspaper, clearly understands their fairness and necessity for maintaining the combat effectiveness of the army. Punishments should follow the crime as quickly as possible.”
Not only the rank and file, but also command staff and even commissars needed to strengthen discipline. The leader of the Red Army, Trotsky, in this regard was ready to go to the end, even to the point of shooting party workers. It was on his orders that a tribunal was appointed, which sentenced to death the commander of the 2nd Petrograd Regiment Gneushev, the regimental commissar Panteleev and every tenth Red Army soldier who, with part of the regiment, abandoned their positions and fled by ship from near Kazan in the summer of 1918. This incident sparked a discussion in the party about the admissibility of executions of party workers and a wave of criticism against Trotsky. The high-profile case gives reason to believe that the executions of party members were still an exceptional and isolated phenomenon.
Another means of intimidation, which actually did not find any real application in the Red Army, was orders to take hostage the families of defectors from among military experts.
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A few years after the Civil War, Trotsky commented on the meaning of such harsh orders (primarily orders to shoot commissars): “It was not an order to shoot, it was the usual pressure that was then practiced. I have here dozens of telegrams of the same kind from Vladimir Ilyich... This was a common form of military pressure at that time.” Thus, it was primarily about threats. Trotsky is often accused of some kind of excessive cruelty, which is not true.
Of course, Trotsky also made mistakes that corresponded to the scale of his activities. Thus, with his actions to disarm the Czechoslovaks, he provoked an armed uprising of the Czechoslovak Corps. His hopes for a world revolution, as well as the specific plans and calculations associated with these hopes, did not come true.
Having lost in the internal party political struggle, Trotsky went into exile, and in 1929 he was expelled from the USSR and subsequently deprived of Soviet citizenship. In exile he became the founder of the Fourth International, created a number of historical works and memoirs. Mortally wounded by an NKVD agent in 1940 in Mexico.
During the Soviet period, researchers and memoirists sought to downplay the role of L.D. Trotsky in the creation of the Red Army, since his figure was virtually excluded from the historical process in the Stalinist interpretation of the history of the Civil War and was mentioned only in extremely negative terms. However, in the post-Soviet period it became possible to speak with an open mind about Trotsky’s outstanding role in the creation of the Soviet armed forces. Of course, Trotsky was not a commander, but he was an outstanding military administrator and organizer.
GANIN A.V., Ph.D., Institute of Slavic Studies RAS
Literature
My life. M., 2001
Stalin. T. 2. M., 1990
Kirshin Yu.Ya. Trotsky is a military theorist. Klintsy, 2003
Krasnov V., Daines V. Unknown Trotsky. Red Bonaparte. M., 2000
Felshtinsky Yu., Chernyavsky G. Leon Trotsky is a Bolshevik. Book 2. 1917-1924. M., 2012
Shemyakin A.L. L.D. Trotsky about Serbia and the Serbs (military impressions of 1912-1913). V.A. Tesemnikov. Research and materials dedicated to the 75th anniversary of the birth of V.A. Tesemnikova. M., 2013. pp. 51-76
Internet
Dubynin Viktor Petrovich
From April 30, 1986 to June 1, 1987 - commander of the 40th combined arms army of the Turkestan Military District. The troops of this army made up the bulk of the Limited contingent of Soviet troops in Afghanistan. During the year of his command of the army, the number of irretrievable losses decreased by 2 times compared to 1984-1985.
On June 10, 1992, Colonel General V.P. Dubynin was appointed Chief of the General Staff of the Armed Forces - First Deputy Minister of Defense of the Russian Federation
His merits include keeping the President of the Russian Federation B.N. Yeltsin from a number of ill-conceived decisions in the military sphere, primarily in the field of nuclear forces.
Kosich Andrey Ivanovich
1. During his long life (1833 - 1917), A.I. Kosich went from a non-commissioned officer to a general, commander of one of the largest military districts of the Russian Empire. He took an active part in almost all military campaigns from the Crimean to the Russian-Japanese. He was distinguished by his personal courage and bravery.
2. According to many, “one of the most educated generals of the Russian army.” He left behind many literary and scientific works and memories. Patron of sciences and education. He has established himself as a talented administrator.
3. His example served the formation of many Russian military leaders, in particular, General. A. I. Denikina.
4. He was a resolute opponent of the use of the army against his people, in which he disagreed with P. A. Stolypin. "An army should shoot at the enemy, not at its own people."
Rurikovich (Grozny) Ivan Vasilievich
In the diversity of perceptions of Ivan the Terrible, one often forgets about his unconditional talent and achievements as a commander. He personally led the capture of Kazan and organized military reform, leading a country that was simultaneously fighting 2-3 wars on different fronts.
Yuri Vsevolodovich
Suvorov Alexander Vasilievich
The greatest Russian commander! He has more than 60 victories and not a single defeat. Thanks to his talent for victory, the whole world learned the power of Russian weapons
Karyagin Pavel Mikhailovich
Colonel, chief of the 17th Jaeger Regiment. He showed himself most clearly in the Persian Company of 1805; when, with a detachment of 500 people, surrounded by a 20,000-strong Persian army, he resisted it for three weeks, not only repelling the attacks of the Persians with honor, but taking fortresses himself, and finally, with a detachment of 100 people, he made his way to Tsitsianov, who was coming to his aid.
Svyatoslav Igorevich
I would like to propose the “candidacies” of Svyatoslav and his father, Igor, as the greatest commanders and political leaders of their time, I think that there is no point in listing to historians their services to the fatherland, I was unpleasantly surprised not to see their names on this list. Sincerely.
Saltykov Pyotr Semyonovich
The largest successes of the Russian army in the Seven Years' War of 1756-1763 are associated with his name. Winner in the battles of Palzig,
In the Battle of Kunersdorf, defeating the Prussian king Frederick II the Great, Berlin was taken by the troops of Totleben and Chernyshev.
Denikin Anton Ivanovich
Russian military leader, political and public figure, writer, memoirist, publicist and military documentarian.
Participant in the Russo-Japanese War. One of the most effective generals of the Russian Imperial Army during the First World War. Commander of the 4th Infantry "Iron" Brigade (1914-1916, from 1915 - deployed under his command to a division), 8th Army Corps (1916-1917). Lieutenant General of the General Staff (1916), commander of the Western and Southwestern Fronts (1917). An active participant in the military congresses of 1917, an opponent of the democratization of the army. He expressed support for the Kornilov speech, for which he was arrested by the Provisional Government, a participant in the Berdichev and Bykhov sittings of generals (1917).
One of the main leaders of the White movement during the Civil War, its leader in the South of Russia (1918-1920). He achieved the greatest military and political results among all the leaders of the White movement. Pioneer, one of the main organizers, and then commander of the Volunteer Army (1918-1919). Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces of the South of Russia (1919-1920), Deputy Supreme Ruler and Supreme Commander-in-Chief of the Russian Army Admiral Kolchak (1919-1920).
Since April 1920 - an emigrant, one of the main political figures of the Russian emigration. Author of the memoirs “Essays on the Russian Time of Troubles” (1921-1926) - a fundamental historical and biographical work about the Civil War in Russia, the memoirs “The Old Army” (1929-1931), the autobiographical story “The Path of the Russian Officer” (published in 1953) and a number of other works.
Nakhimov Pavel Stepanovich
Miloradovich
Bagration, Miloradovich, Davydov are some very special breed of people. They don't do things like that now. The heroes of 1812 were distinguished by complete recklessness and complete contempt for death. And it was General Miloradovich, who went through all the wars for Russia without a single scratch, who became the first victim of individual terror. After Kakhovsky’s shot on Senate Square, the Russian revolution continued along this path - right up to the basement of the Ipatiev House. Taking away the best.
Bennigsen Leonty
An unjustly forgotten commander. Having won several battles against Napoleon and his marshals, he drew two battles with Napoleon and lost one battle. Participated in the Battle of Borodino. One of the contenders for the post of Commander-in-Chief of the Russian Army during the Patriotic War of 1812!
Stalin Joseph Vissarionovich
Victory in the Great Patriotic War, saving the entire planet from absolute evil, and our country from extinction.
From the first hours of the war, Stalin controlled the country, front and rear. On land, at sea and in the air.
His merit is not one or even ten battles or campaigns, his merit is Victory, made up of hundreds of battles of the Great Patriotic War: the battle of Moscow, battles in the North Caucasus, the Battle of Stalingrad, the battle of Kursk, the battle of Leningrad and many others before the capture Berlin, success in which was achieved thanks to the monotonous inhuman work of the genius of the Supreme Commander-in-Chief.
Golenishchev-Kutuzov Mikhail Illarionovich
(1745-1813).
1. A GREAT Russian commander, he was an example for his soldiers. Appreciated every soldier. “M.I. Golenishchev-Kutuzov is not only the liberator of the Fatherland, he is the only one who outplayed the hitherto invincible French emperor, turning the “great army” into a crowd of ragamuffins, saving, thanks to his military genius, the lives of many Russian soldiers.”
2. Mikhail Illarionovich, being a highly educated man who knew several foreign languages, dexterous, sophisticated, who knew how to animate society with the gift of words and an entertaining story, also served Russia as an excellent diplomat - ambassador to Turkey.
3. M.I. Kutuzov is the first to become a full holder of the highest military order of St. St. George the Victorious four degrees.
The life of Mikhail Illarionovich is an example of service to the fatherland, attitude towards soldiers, spiritual strength for Russian military leaders of our time and, of course, for the younger generation - future military men.
Dokhturov Dmitry Sergeevich
Defense of Smolensk.
Command of the left flank on the Borodino field after Bagration was wounded.
Battle of Tarutino.
Yudenich Nikolai Nikolaevich
One of the most successful generals in Russia during the First World War. The Erzurum and Sarakamysh operations carried out by him on the Caucasian front, carried out in extremely unfavorable conditions for Russian troops, and ending in victories, I believe, deserve to be included among the brightest victories of Russian weapons. In addition, Nikolai Nikolaevich stood out for his modesty and decency, lived and died as an honest Russian officer, and remained faithful to the oath to the end.
Oktyabrsky Philip Sergeevich
Admiral, Hero of the Soviet Union. During the Great Patriotic War, commander of the Black Sea Fleet. One of the leaders of the Defense of Sevastopol in 1941 - 1942, as well as the Crimean operation of 1944. During the Great Patriotic War, Vice Admiral F. S. Oktyabrsky was one of the leaders of the heroic defense of Odessa and Sevastopol. Being the commander of the Black Sea Fleet, at the same time in 1941-1942 he was the commander of the Sevastopol Defense Region.
Three Orders of Lenin
three Orders of the Red Banner
two Orders of Ushakov, 1st degree
Order of Nakhimov, 1st degree
Order of Suvorov, 2nd degree
Order of the Red Star
medals
Yaroslav the Wise
Dzhugashvili Joseph Vissarionovich
Assembled and coordinated the actions of a team of talented military leaders
Stalin Joseph Vissarionovich
The Soviet people, as the most talented, have a large number of outstanding military leaders, but the main one is Stalin. Without him, many of them might not have existed as military men.
Katukov Mikhail Efimovich
Perhaps the only bright spot against the background of Soviet armored force commanders. A tank driver who went through the entire war, starting from the border. A commander whose tanks always showed their superiority to the enemy. His tank brigades were the only ones(!) in the first period of the war that were not defeated by the Germans and even caused them significant damage.
His First Guards Tank Army remained combat-ready, although it defended itself from the very first days of the fighting on the southern front of the Kursk Bulge, while exactly the same 5th Guards Tank Army of Rotmistrov was practically destroyed on the very first day it entered the battle (June 12)
This is one of the few of our commanders who took care of his troops and fought not with numbers, but with skill.
Bagration, Denis Davydov...
The War of 1812, the glorious names of Bagration, Barclay, Davydov, Platov. A model of honor and courage.
Linevich Nikolai Petrovich
Nikolai Petrovich Linevich (December 24, 1838 - April 10, 1908) - a prominent Russian military figure, infantry general (1903), adjutant general (1905); general who took Beijing by storm.
Antonov Alexey Innokentievich
He became famous as a talented staff officer. He participated in the development of almost all significant operations of the Soviet troops in the Great Patriotic War since December 1942.
The only one of all Soviet military leaders awarded the Order of Victory with the rank of army general, and the only Soviet holder of the order who was not awarded the title of Hero of the Soviet Union.
Kovpak Sidor Artemyevich
Participant of the First World War (served in the 186th Aslanduz Infantry Regiment) and the Civil War. During the First World War, he fought on the Southwestern Front and took part in the Brusilov breakthrough. In April 1915, as part of the guard of honor, he was personally awarded the St. George Cross by Nicholas II. In total, he was awarded the St. George Crosses of III and IV degrees and medals “For Bravery” (“St. George” medals) of III and IV degrees.
During the Civil War, he led a local partisan detachment that fought in Ukraine against the German occupiers together with the detachments of A. Ya. Parkhomenko, then he was a fighter in the 25th Chapaev Division on the Eastern Front, where he was engaged in the disarmament of the Cossacks, and participated in battles with the armies of generals A. I. Denikin and Wrangel on the Southern Front.
In 1941-1942, Kovpak's unit carried out raids behind enemy lines in the Sumy, Kursk, Oryol and Bryansk regions, in 1942-1943 - a raid from the Bryansk forests to Right Bank Ukraine in the Gomel, Pinsk, Volyn, Rivne, Zhitomir and Kiev regions; in 1943 - Carpathian raid. The Sumy partisan unit under the command of Kovpak fought through the rear of the Nazi troops for more than 10 thousand kilometers, defeating enemy garrisons in 39 settlements. Kovpak's raids played a big role in the development of the partisan movement against the German occupiers.
Twice Hero of the Soviet Union:
By a decree of the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR dated May 18, 1942, for the exemplary performance of combat missions behind enemy lines, the courage and heroism shown during their implementation, Kovpak Sidor Artemyevich was awarded the title of Hero of the Soviet Union with the Order of Lenin and the Gold Star medal (No. 708)
The second Gold Star medal (No.) was awarded to Major General Sidor Artemyevich Kovpak by the Decree of the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR dated January 4, 1944 for the successful conduct of the Carpathian raid
four Orders of Lenin (18.5.1942, 4.1.1944, 23.1.1948, 25.5.1967)
Order of the Red Banner (12/24/1942)
Order of Bohdan Khmelnitsky, 1st degree. (7.8.1944)
Order of Suvorov, 1st degree (2.5.1945)
medals
foreign orders and medals (Poland, Hungary, Czechoslovakia)
Platov Matvey Ivanovich
Military Ataman of the Don Cossack Army. He began active military service at the age of 13. A participant in several military campaigns, he is best known as the commander of Cossack troops during the Patriotic War of 1812 and during the subsequent Foreign Campaign of the Russian Army. Thanks to the successful actions of the Cossacks under his command, Napoleon’s saying went down in history:
- Happy is the commander who has Cossacks. If I had an army of only Cossacks, I would conquer all of Europe.
Shein Mikhail Borisovich
He headed the Smolensk defense against Polish-Lithuanian troops, which lasted 20 months. Under the command of Shein, multiple attacks were repelled, despite the explosion and a hole in the wall. He held back and bled the main forces of the Poles at the decisive moment of the Time of Troubles, preventing them from moving to Moscow to support their garrison, creating the opportunity to gather an all-Russian militia to liberate the capital. Only with the help of a defector, the troops of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth managed to take Smolensk on June 3, 1611. The wounded Shein was captured and taken with his family to Poland for 8 years. After returning to Russia, he commanded the army that tried to recapture Smolensk in 1632-1634. Executed due to boyar slander. Undeservedly forgotten.
Rurikovich Svyatoslav Igorevich
He defeated the Khazar Khaganate, expanded the borders of Russian lands, and successfully fought with the Byzantine Empire.
Ermolov Alexey Petrovich
Hero of the Napoleonic Wars and the Patriotic War of 1812. Conqueror of the Caucasus. A smart strategist and tactician, a strong-willed and brave warrior.
Barclay de Tolly Mikhail Bogdanovich
Full Knight of the Order of St. George. In the history of military art, according to Western authors (for example: J. Witter), he entered as the architect of the “scorched earth” strategy and tactics - cutting off the main enemy troops from the rear, depriving them of supplies and organizing guerrilla warfare in their rear. M.V. Kutuzov, after taking command of the Russian army, essentially continued the tactics developed by Barclay de Tolly and defeated Napoleon’s army.
Also G.K. Zhukov demonstrated remarkable knowledge of the properties of the military equipment in service with the Red Army - knowledge that was very necessary for the commander of industrial wars.
Generals of Ancient Rus'
Since ancient times. Vladimir Monomakh (fought the Polovtsians), his sons Mstislav the Great (campaigns against Chud and Lithuania) and Yaropolk (campaigns against the Don), Vsevood the Big Nest (campaigns against Volga Bulgaria), Mstislav Udatny (battle of Lipitsa), Yaroslav Vsevolodovich (defeated Knights of the Order of the Sword), Alexander Nevsky, Dmitry Donskoy, Vladimir the Brave (the second hero of the Mamaev Massacre)…
Lev Davidovich Trotsky (Leiba Bronstein)- Soviet party and statesman Lev Davidovich Trotsky (real name Leiba Bronstein) was born on November 7 (October 26, old style) 1879 in the village of Yanovka, Elisavetgrad district, Kherson province (Ukraine) into a wealthy family. From seven... ... Encyclopedia of Newsmakers
Lev Davidovich Trotsky Lev Davidovich Bronstein ... Wikipedia
Trotsky, Lev Davidovich- Lev Davidovich Trotsky. TROTSKY (real name Bronstein) Lev Davidovich (1879 1940), political figure. In the social democratic movement since 1896, since 1904 he advocated the unification of the Bolshevik and Menshevik factions. In 1905 he mainly developed... Illustrated Encyclopedic Dictionary
Perhaps this article or section needs to be shortened. Reduce the volume of text in accordance with the recommendations of the rules on the balance of presentation and the size of articles. More information may be on the talk page... Wikipedia
LEV DAVIDOVICH BRONSTEIN (TROTSKY) (1879 1940), Russian professional revolutionary, publicist, socialist theorist, military leader. Lev Davidovich Bronstein was born on October 26, 1879 in Yanovka in Ukraine. For the first time I became acquainted with socialist... ... Collier's Encyclopedia
Trotsky L. D. (1879 1940) b. October 26, 1879 in the village. Yanovka, Elizavetgrad district, Kherson province. and until the age of 9 he lived on the small estate of his father, a Kherson colonist. At the age of 9, T. was sent to the Odessa real school, studied there until he was 7... ... Large biographical encyclopedia
Trotsky Lev Davidovich- (real name Bronstein) (18791940), revolutionary, party and statesman. Graduated from a real school. In the revolutionary movement since 1896. In 1898 he was arrested and exiled to Eastern Siberia; fled in August 1902, and soon emigrated... ... Encyclopedic reference book "St. Petersburg"
TROTSKY (real name Bronstein) Lev Davidovich (1879 1940) Russian political figure. In the social democratic movement since 1896. Since 1904 he advocated the unification of the Bolshevik and Menshevik factions. In 1905 he mainly developed the theory of permanent... Big Encyclopedic Dictionary
- (real name Bronstein) (1879 1940), revolutionary, party and statesman. Graduated from a real school. In the revolutionary movement since 1896. In 1898 he was arrested and exiled to Eastern Siberia; fled in August 1902, soon emigrated... St. Petersburg (encyclopedia)
Books
- Stalin. Volume I, Lev Davidovich Trotsky. This book will be produced in accordance with your order using Print-on-Demand technology. No matter how many more books about Joseph Vissarionich are published, they will all cause controversy and accusations of...
- Europe and America, Lev Davidovich Trotsky. This book will be produced in accordance with your order using Print-on-Demand technology. This book was published by Gosizdat in 1926, and never again in the Soviet Union...
TROTSKY, wow, m. Liar, talker, talker, idle talker. Whistle like Trotsky to lie. L. D. Trotsky (Bronstein) famous political figure... Dictionary of Russian argot
TROTSKY- (real name Bronstein) Lev Davydovich (1879 1940), political figure. Since 1896 in the social democratic movement, since 1904 he advocated the unification of the Bolshevik and Menshevik factions. In 1905 he put forward the theory of permanent (continuous) revolution... Russian history
TROTSKY- “TROTSKY”, Russia Switzerland USA Mexico Turkey Austria, VIRGIN FILM, 1993, color, 98 min. Historical and political drama. About the last months of the life of the famous revolutionary, politician, chairman of the Revolutionary Military Council of the Soviet Republic. “Our film is... ... Encyclopedia of Cinema
Trotsky- idle talker, talker, liar, liar, nonsense, talker, liar Dictionary of Russian synonyms. Trotsky noun, number of synonyms: 9 talker (132) ... Synonym dictionary
Trotsky- (Bronstein) L. D. (1879 1940) politician and statesman. In the revolutionary movement since the late 90s, during the split of the RSDLP, he joined the Mensheviks, participant in the revolution of 1905-1907, chairman of the St. Petersburg Council, after the revolution... ... 1000 biographies
TROTSKY- (Bronstein) Lev (Leiba) Davidovich (1879 1940) professional revolutionary, one of the leaders of the October (1917) revolution in Russia. Ideologist, theorist, propagandist and practitioner of the Russian and international communist movement. T. repeatedly... The latest philosophical dictionary
TROTSKY L.D.- Russian politician and statesman; founder of the radical left movement in the international communist movement, bearing his name Trotskyism. Real name Bronstein. The pseudonym Trotsky was taken in 1902 for the purpose of conspiracy. A lion… … Linguistic and regional dictionary
Trotsky, L. D.- born in 1879, worked in workers' circles in Nikolaev (South Russian Workers' Union, which published the newspaper Nashe Delo), was exiled in 1898 to Siberia, from where he fled abroad and took part in Iskra. After the party split into Bolsheviks and... Popular Political Dictionary
Trotsky- Noah Abramovich, Soviet architect. He studied in Petrograd at the Academy of Arts (from 1913) and at the Free Workshops (graduated in 1920), with I. A. Fomin and at the 2nd Polytechnic Institute (1921). Taught at... ... Great Soviet Encyclopedia
TROTSKY- (real name Bronstein). Lev (Leiba) Davidovich (1879 1940), Soviet statesman, party and military leader, publicist. His figure attracted the attention of Bulgakov, who repeatedly mentioned T. in his diary and others... ... Bulgakov Encyclopedia
Books
- L. Trotsky. My life (set of 2 books), L. Trotsky. Leon Trotsky’s book “My Life” is an extraordinary literary work that sums up the activities of this truly outstanding person and politician in the country that he left in 1929.… Buy for 880 rubles
- Trotsky, Emelyanov Yu.V.. The figure of Trotsky still arouses great interest. His portraits appear at political rallies and demonstrations. Many speak of him as the sinister demon of the revolution. Who was Trotsky?...
On October 26, 1879, in the Kherson province, a fifth child was born to a family of landowners - a boy named Lev. His father, David Leontyevich Bronstein, came from peasants and learned to read and write at a fairly advanced age, moreover, only in order to read books written by his son. Lev's mother, Anna Lvovna, nee Zhivotovskaya, was an Odessa native from a middle-class family. David and Anna were Jewish colonists on an agricultural farm near the village of Yanovka in Elisavetgrad district. Their affairs were going uphill, and by the time Lev was born, the Bronsteins’ prosperity was beyond doubt.
At the age of seven, Lev began studying at a private Jewish school, but his studies were not easy for him, since the teaching was conducted in Hebrew, which Lev knew poorly. As he himself later wrote, the first school only gave him the opportunity to learn to write and read in Russian.
In 1888, Lev became a student in the preparatory class of the St. Paul Real School in Odessa. Throughout his studies, he lived with the family of his mother’s nephew, Moses Shpenzer, who was the owner of the printing house and publishing house “Matesis”. The Odessa Real School was founded by the Germans, and its main pride was its highly qualified teachers. Real schools differed from the gymnasium of that time by a greater bias in favor of mathematical and natural sciences. However, it was during his studies at the school that Lev read Pushkin and Tolstoy, Shakespeare and Dickens, Veresaev and Nekrasov. Innate abilities and hard work helped the boy become the best student at the school in all subjects. True, in the second grade he was expelled from school because he quarreled with the French teacher - a big tyrant. Only the petition of influential relatives helped Lev to be reinstated in the school. It is possible that this was a revolutionary impulse of the future leader...
The boyish desire to stand out from the general gray crowd and somehow draw the attention of others to his own person is completely understandable. When the doctor discovered Lev was nearsighted and prescribed glasses, the boy was not upset, but, on the contrary, decided that the glasses gave him special significance. At the same time, young Bronstein began to show another trait - arrogance towards others. However, he, of course, had reasons for this: the best student, Leo treated his comrades with superiority and often emphasized his own primacy.
In his youth, Lev fell in love with the theater. He was fascinated not only by the action on stage itself, but also by the ability of artists to rise above the audience through their play. In general, he considered the world of creative people to be special, access to which was open only to a select few.
In 1896, Lev moved to Nikolaev to finish his studies and entered the seventh grade of a real school. This year generally became a turning point for his psyche. The knowledge acquired at the school gave Lev the opportunity to stay in the place of the first student, but at that time he became interested in public life. Lev met Franz Shvigovsky, a gardener, but a very educated man who closely followed politics and read a huge number of books. His parents demanded that he abandon this acquaintance, but in response Lev broke up with them, abandoned school and became a member of the Shvigovsky commune along with his older brother Alexander. It was here that he met Alexandra Sokolovskaya, who became his first wife. Members of the commune dressed in identical straw hats and blue blouses, and carried black sticks with them - perhaps that is why they were considered in the city as members of some mysterious sect. The Communards read a lot, but very randomly, distributed books, argued a lot, and even tried to create a “university based on mutual education.”
Lev Bronstein nevertheless graduated from a real school and, at the request of his parents, returned to Odessa. Here he began attending lectures at the university’s mathematics department, but revolutionary sentiments demanded something else, and he quit his classes again. In fact, Lev switched to working in semi-legal circles of radical youth and very soon became the informal leader of one of these groups. Lev's worldview was then quite far from Marxism - for the reason that he had not yet tried to acquire strong political convictions.
In 1897, a surge of revolutionary sentiment began in Russia, and a group of young people under the leadership of Lev began intensively looking for contacts in the working-class neighborhoods of Nikolaev. It was thanks to the efforts of Lev that the South of Russia acquired another revolutionary organization, called the “South Russian Workers' Union”. The Charter of the Union was written by Leo. Workers literally poured into the organization, but this contingent was not interested in strikes, since the earnings of factory workers were quite high. Much more workers wanted to understand social relations. Meetings and political studies with workers gradually developed into serious and painstaking work. Having obtained a hectograph, members of the Union began to print proclamations, and later the newspaper “Our Business”, which was published in a circulation of a couple of hundred copies. Basically, Lev Bronstein himself was responsible for the articles for the newspaper and the texts of the proclamations, and in addition, at May meetings he tested himself as a speaker.
Gradually, members of the Union established relations with other revolutionary cells in the circles of Social Democrats in Odessa. At this time, Lev Bronstein begins to argue that revolutionary work is needed not only among factory workers, but also in the ranks of artisans and the petty bourgeoisie. It cannot be said that the tsarist secret police were dozing all this time, and in January-February 1898 more than two hundred people were arrested in revolutionary circles. The first court in Lev Bronstein's life sentenced him to exile in Siberia for a period of four years. Already in the Moscow transit prison, Lev’s personal life improved - he married Alexandra Sokolovskaya. In the fall of 1900, their daughter Zina was born. At this time, the young family lived in the small village of Ust-Kut in the Irkutsk province. Here Lev Bronstein met Uritsky and Dzerzhinsky.
There was a fairly clear connection between the exiles, and Bronstein wrote leaflets and appeals for Social Democratic organizations. In the summer of 1902, he received previously ordered books, in the bindings of which tissue paper with the latest foreign publications was hidden. With this mail, one of the first issues of the Iskra newspaper and articles by Lenin arrived to the exiles. By this time, Lev had a second daughter, Nina, and the family moved to Verkholensk. Here Bronstein begins to prepare to escape. They gave him a fake passport, in which a new name was written - Trotsky. This pseudonym remained with Lev Davidovich for the rest of his life. Despite the fact that the wife was left with two small daughters, she fully supported Lev in organizing the escape.
Leon Trotsky went to Samara, where the main headquarters of the Iskra newspaper, headed by Krzhizhanovsky, was then located. Having received the order, Trotsky traveled to Kharkov, Kyiv and Poltava to establish connections with local revolutionary organizations. Soon Trotsky received an invitation from Lenin from London. Provided with money for the trip, Lev illegally crossed the Russian-Austrian border and went to London through Switzerland and France. This trip finally made Trotsky a professional revolutionary.
In the fall of 1902, in Europe, Trotsky met Natalya Sedova, who later became his second wife. True, he did not divorce Sokolovskaya, and therefore the marriage with Sedova was not registered. Nevertheless, they lived together until Trotsky’s death, and two boys were born into their family - Lev and Sergei.
During this period, conflicts began in the editorial office of the Iskra newspaper between its old members Axelrod, Plekhanov and Zasulich and the new ones - Lenin, Potresov and Martov. Lenin proposed introducing Trotsky to the editorial board, but Plekhanov blocked this decision in the form of an ultimatum. In the summer of 1903, the Second Congress of the RSDLP took place, at which Trotsky so ardently supported Lenin’s ideas that the sarcastic Ryazanov called Lev Davidovich “Lenin’s club.” However, the result of the congress and the exclusion of Zasulich and Axelrod from the Iskra editorial board prompted Trotsky to take the side of the offended and speak very critically about Lenin’s organizational plans. From this moment the countdown of the confrontation between the Bolsheviks and Mensheviks begins.
Trotsky returned to Russia through illegal routes in 1905. Here he is elected chairman of the Council of Workers' Deputies of St. Petersburg. As a result of revolutionary events, Lev Davidovich was arrested and in 1907, by a court verdict, he was deprived of all civil rights and sent to Siberia for eternal settlement. Already at the beginning of next year, Leon Trotsky arrives with a convoy in the city of Obdorsk, in the Arctic. Thirty-five days later, the convoy of exiles reached Berezov, from where Trotsky decided to flee. This time he took a very big risk - the escape of a convict sentenced to eternal settlement without options doomed him to hard labor. Through a local peasant, Trotsky met a reindeer herder and, with the help of bribery with alcohol and chervonets of royal coinage on reindeer, he covered the seven hundred kilometers road to the Ural Mountains. From here he traveled by train to St. Petersburg and was sent abroad by the party leadership.
Since 1908, Trotsky has published the newspaper Pravda in Vienna. He did this until 1912, when the Bolsheviks “took over” the name of the newspaper. Trotsky went to Paris in 1914 and started publishing the daily newspaper Nashe Slovo. In the fall of 1915, Trotsky participated in the Zimmerwald Conference, where he passionately objected to the attacks of Lenin and Martov. In 1916, at the request of the Russian tsarist government, the French police expelled Lev Davidovich to Spain, and in turn, the Spanish authorities demanded the revolutionary’s departure to the United States.
Having learned about the February revolution, Leon Trotsky tried to leave for Russia by ship, but in Halifax, a Canadian port, the British authorities removed him and his family from the ship and placed him in a camp intended for internment of sailors of the German merchant fleet. The British put forward Trotsky’s lack of Russian documents as the reason for his detention, and they were not at all worried about the fact that he had an American passport, personally issued to Trotsky by US President Wilson. Soon the provisional government sent a written request for the release of Trotsky as an honored fighter against the regime of tsarism.
On May 4, 1917, Trotsky and his family arrived in Petrograd and immediately took the place of the informal leader of the group of so-called “Mezhrayontsy” who criticized the Provisional Government. After the July riots, Lev Davidovich was arrested and accused of spying for Germany. During the VI Congress of the RSDLP(b) in July, Lev Davidovich was in “Kresty” and was unable to read his report “On the Current Situation”. Nevertheless, he was elected to the Central Committee. Immediately after the suppression of the Kornilov rebellion, Trotsky was released from prison, and on September 20 he took the post of chairman of the Council of Workers' and Soldiers' Deputies of Petrograd. While in this position, Trotsky was directly involved in the preparation and conduct of the October Revolution. Stalin points out in his memoirs that the revolution owes its success to Leon Trotsky. It was Trotsky who introduced the concept of “red terror” into politics and clearly described its principles in an address to the cadets on December 17, 1917.
In the spring of 1918, Lev Davidovich took the posts of Chairman of the Revolutionary Military Council of the RSFSR and People's Commissar of Military and Naval Affairs. While in these posts, he did a lot to create a strong and combat-ready army. Trotsky's activities were highly appreciated by the government. Several cities were named in his honor, but with the beginning of the repressions against the Trotskyists, they were renamed. None other than Trotsky, back in 1920, proposed supplying peasants on the principle of “grain and manufactured goods” and replacing the predatory surplus appropriation with a percentage tax in kind. However, in the Central Committee he received only four votes out of fifteen, and Lenin, not yet ready to change the policy of war communism, accused Trotsky of “free trade.”
After the conflict in the Central Committee, which split the committee into two parts and gave rise to “discussions about trade unions,” relations between Lenin and Trotsky deteriorated greatly, and Lev Davidovich’s supporters were removed from the Central Committee. In 1922, an alliance emerged between Lenin and Trotsky, but Lenin’s illness and his withdrawal from political life did not allow Trotsky to carry out the necessary reforms. Problems between Stalin and Trotsky began during the defense of Tsaritsyn during the civil war, and the death of Lenin actually turned most of the party leadership against Lev Davidovich. This situation was skillfully fueled by Stalin, and Trotsky was accused of dictatorial plans, and also of the fact that he joined the Bolshevik Party only in 1917.
In 1923, Trotsky, in his articles, sharply opposed the “troika” of Stalin, Kamenev and Zinoviev, accusing these leaders of bureaucratizing the party apparatus. These accusations were rejected by the XIII Party Conference, and Trotsky's actions were sharply condemned. By the fall of 1924, Trotsky had lost the posts of chairman of the Revolutionary Military Council and People's Commissar of the Military Marine. The pressure on Trotsky increases, and, despite his attempts at resistance in the press, in 1926 he was removed from the Central Committee of the Politburo. After organizing an anti-government demonstration in early November 1927, Lev Davidovich was expelled from the CPSU (b) and exiled to Alma-Ata. The rest of his comrades and followers, which by that time included Zinoviev and Kamenev, either admitted they were wrong or were repressed - and both were shot a decade later.
In 1929, by decision of the Central Committee, Leon Trotsky was exiled to the Turkish island of Prinkipo, and in 1932 he lost his USSR citizenship. A year later he moved to France, in 1934 he was already in Denmark, in 1935 in Norway. The Norwegian government, in order not to worsen its relations with the Land of the Soviets, confiscated all of Trotsky’s works and actually placed him under house arrest. The oppression led to Lev Davidovich emigrating to Mexico in 1936. In exile, he closely followed developments in the USSR and reacted sensitively to any political events. In August 1936, Trotsky’s book “The Betrayed Revolution” was completed, in which he directly called what was happening in the USSR “Stalin’s Thermidor” - that is, a counter-revolutionary coup. Actually, Leon Trotsky was the first to understand what the “successful assimilation” of yesterday’s class enemies by Soviet society would lead to - later they were all exiled or destroyed. In 1938, Trotsky proclaimed the emergence of the Fourth International - in opposition to the Third. Supporters of this political organization still exist today.
In May 1940, the NKVD organized an attempt on the life of Leon Trotsky, as an irreconcilable enemy of Soviet power. Under the leadership of NKVD agent Grigulevich, a group of raiders, led by the Mexican raider and convinced Stalinist Siqueiros, burst into the room and shot all the cartridges from their revolvers, after which the attackers hastily fled. Siqueiros would later attribute the failure of this attack to his group's inexperience and nervousness. Trotsky was not injured then. However, the next attempt by the NKVD to settle scores with Lev Davidovich was crowned with success.
On August 20, early in the morning, Ramon Mercader, who was considered a staunch supporter of Lev Davidovich, came to see Trotsky. This NKVD agent brought the manuscript with him, and while Trotsky was reading it at his desk, Mercader took a gift ice pick from the wall and struck a fatal blow from behind. As a result of his wound, Trotsky died a day later - on August 21, 1940. He was buried next to the house in which he lived.
Ramon Mercader was convicted of murder in a Mexican court and received twenty years in prison. After his release, he arrived in Moscow in 1961, where he received the high title of Hero of the Soviet Union, as well as many great privileges...