The Eternal Revolutionary

Earlier this week, the 66th anniversary of the assassination of Leon Trotsky occurred. While the modern capitalist world can't help but ignore such a seemingly unimportant date, it is necessary to examine the impact that Trotsky and his compatriots had on the world in which they lived, and on the world we live today.

Trotsky was born Lev Brohnstein in the Russian Empire in what is today modern Ukraine. Early in his childhood he showed a precondition toward genius and arrogance. Both of these traits would continue to reveal themselves during his political career as he became more and more enamored with the prospects and promises inherent in Marxism. Trotsky would channel his genius into writing, and was referred as the "pen" among his peers. While his writing was almost universally applauded, his demeanor and inability to appreciate those with a lesser understanding of Marxist philosophy created many enemies, notably the father of Russian Marxism, Georgi Plekhanov.

The 1905 Revolution in Russia would provide a stage for Trotsky's energies, and he was elected head of the St. Petersburg Soviet (worker's congress). The dream of improving the lives of millions of people in a country that many socialists (including non-Marxist) considered the most backward and corrupt government in Europe in need of change, (which says a lot, look at Hohenzollern Germany and its Anti-socialist laws, as well as the Third Republic in France and among other things, the infamous Dreyfus Affair) was destroyed by concessions from bourgeois politicians. This surrender allowed the Tsar to consolidate his power, and keep his strict autocracy intact.

Trotsky would reappear in the national spotlight following the first world war. Russia had fared predictably poorly in its war efforts, and as a consequence the February Revolution of 1917 occurred. Trotsky returned in May, and immediately began his efforts to usher in a Communist Revolution in Russia. In July he joined Lenin's Bolshevik party, and became its most able and convincing orator (another one of his famous talents). When the Bolshevik leadership voted for insurrection, (in a frequent use of democracy inherent in the Bolshevik party since conception and forgotten since by blindly anti-communist historians) Trotsky, not Lenin was given the responsibility of leading the most important revolution in history. Trotsky's success gave him the No. 2 position in the party despite his relative short length of membership. As a result of this success, he was given the post of Commissar (Soviet Russian Minister) of Foreign Affairs. His role in foreign affairs would give him one of his worst defeats. His characteristic arrogance, and faith in the European working class caused him to underestimate German military might, and he refused to sign any peace treaty calling it Bourgeois! While the events of the Brest-Litovsk peace treaty deliberations make fascinating reading, Trotsky's ignorance afforded Germany the opportunity to continue their invasion, and Russia accepted a future peace treaty that incurred enormous loss to the country. (the Brest-Litovsk Treaty was rendered null by the 1919 Treaty of Versailles)

Following this defeat, Trotsky was made Commissar of War. It was in this post that Trotsky, with no prior military training, created the Red Army. He was famous for racing by train over the whole of Russia, encouraging the soldiers again and again in their battle against the counter-revolutionaries and interventionist forces (comprised of the French, British and Americans). Trotsky even personally defended Petrograd (St. Petersburg) on horseback, leading his troops forward against the enemy. Trotsky's surprising and brilliant success in the war made him seem to be the easy choice for Lenin's successor, after the latter's stroke. Despite this, an ambitious party member with intense animosity towards Trotsky intended to take the position.

Joseph Stalin and Trotsky had always shared a mutual dislike, in no part due to Trotsky calling him things like a "yellow blur". Despite this, Trotsky foolishly respected party discipline, and allowed Stalin to gain the reigns of state following Lenin's death. Following a long and vicious power struggle, Trotsky was exiled first to Kazakhstan, and later to Turkey, France, Norway, and finally Mexico. Stalin continued to attack other members of the Bolshevik (now Communist) party following Trotsky's exile. Many of the leaders of the revolution were executed, while Trotsky railed against the excess in the international press. Stalin finally caught up with his nemesis, and on August 20, 1940 Trotsky was attacked by an assassin wielding an ice pick. He died on August 21, 1940.

The impact of Trotsky and the Bolsheviks can not be underestimated. Many of the reforms promoted by Socialist and Communist leaders would be enacted by Bourgeoisie governments in order to avoid the same problems that had occurred in Russia. More importantly, the U.S.S.R., the state that Lenin and Trotsky had created, became one of two superpowers after the Second World War. Many of the technological advances in the late Twentieth Century are the result of a very capitalist competition between the Soviet Union and the United States. I was not able to do justice the the highs and lows of Trotsky's life in this blog. His skill and intelligence helped him become the leader of one of the most feared movements in world history. I only hope the above has whetted your appetites for more in depth information concerning the Soviet Union. I also recommend the exhaustive three-volume biography of Trotsky by Isaac Deutscher, to anyone feeling ambitious. For those of you with a more normal interest in Trotsky, Lenin, and others. I suggest going to Marxists.org. They have tons of free material as well as better written biographies of Trotsky. I encourage everyone to visit!

-Todd