Leon Trotsky: Revolutionary Leader, Red Army Organizer, Exile and Assassination

Leon Trotsky rose from anti-tsarist exile to lead the Petrograd Soviet and the Red Army, played a central role in the 1917 revolutions, lost a power struggle with Stalin in the 1920s, and was murdered in Mexico in 1940. His writings and the movement inspired by him (Trotskyism) remain influential in left-wing politics.

Early life and rise

Lev Davidovich Bronstein (better known as Leon Trotsky) was born in 1879 in Yanovka, then part of the Russian Empire. He trained and politicized in Odessa and joined the Russian Social Democratic movement in the 1890s. Arrested and exiled to Siberia for his activities, he escaped and worked with Iskra and other Marxist circles abroad.

When the party split in 1903 Trotsky initially associated with the Mensheviks and criticized Vladimir Lenin's tight organizational model as prone to centralized control. He rose to national prominence during the 1905 revolution as chairman of the St. Petersburg Soviet, was arrested again, and spent long periods abroad trying to reunite factions of Russian socialism.

1917, the Bolsheviks, and the Civil War

During World War I Trotsky opposed the war and spent time in Western Europe and the United States. After the February Revolution of 1917 he returned to Russia (he was briefly detained by British authorities in Halifax, Nova Scotia) and soon joined the Bolsheviks. Trotsky became a central organiser of the October insurrection and, as chairman of the Petrograd Soviet and head of its Military Revolutionary Committee, played a leading role in the seizure of power.

Trotsky served briefly as people's commissar for foreign affairs and took a prominent role at the Brest-Litovsk negotiations. He then became People's Commissar for Military and Naval Affairs and founder and organizer of the Red Army, leading it through the civil war that followed the revolution.

Fall from power, exile, and assassination

After a period on the Soviet leadership (he was a member of the Politburo in the 1920s), Trotsky lost an internal struggle with Joseph Stalin and his allies. He led the Left and then the United (or Combined) Opposition against Stalin's policies, was expelled from the Communist Party, exiled internally, and finally deported from the Soviet Union in 1929. He lived in Turkey, France, Norway and, from 1937, Mexico.

In Mexico City on August 20, 1940, Trotsky was attacked with an ice axe and died the following day. The assailant, Ramón Mercader (also known by aliases), was arrested and later convicted. Declassified archives and historical research attribute the assassination to Soviet security orders carried out by an agent of the NKVD.

Writings and legacy

Trotsky wrote extensively on revolution, party organization, and Soviet developments. His major works include The History of the Russian Revolution, My Life, The Revolution Betrayed and a range of political essays and diaries produced in exile. Trotskyism - a current of Marxist thought critical of Stalinism and advocating permanent revolution - continues in various political organizations worldwide.

Trotsky's life illustrates the turbulent politics of revolutionary Russia: insurgency, civil war, ideological conflict, exile and political murder. Scholars continue to reassess his role and the archival record, which has expanded since the late Soviet period.

1. Confirm the current administrative location/name of Trotsky's birthplace Yanovka (modern Ukrainian administrative unit). [[CHECK]]
2. Verify publication years and first-edition dates for major works cited (The History of the Russian Revolution, The Revolution Betrayed, My Life, Stalin, Diary in Exile). [[CHECK]]
3. Confirm the date(s) and phrasing for the declassification or archival revelations linking the NKVD to Trotsky's assassination (commonly associated with late Soviet openness under Gorbachev in the late 1980s). [[CHECK]]