Книга: Leon Trotsky «An Appeal to the Toiling, Oppressed and Exhausted Peoples of Europe»
Производитель: "Penguin Group" Whether calling for an end to the capitalist system, addressing the crowds after the Russian Revolution, or attacking Stalin during his years of exile, Trotsky`s speeches give an extraordinary insight into a man whose words and actions determined the fates of millions. Throughout history, some books have changed the world. They have transformed the way we see ourselves - and each other. They have inspired debate, dissent, war and revolution. They have enlightened, outraged, provoked and comforted. They have enriched lives - and destroyed them. Now Penguin brings you the works of the great thinkers, pioneers, radicals and visionaries whose ideas shook civilization and helped make us who we are. ISBN:978-0-14-103675-5 Издательство: "Penguin Group" (2009)
ISBN: 978-0-14-103675-5 |
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An Appeal to the Toiling, Oppressed and Exhausted Peoples of Europe | Whether calling for an end to the capitalist system, addressing the crowds after the Russian Revolution, or attacking Stalin during his years of exile, Trotsky's speeches give an extraordinary… — Penguin Group, - Подробнее... | бумажная книга |
Leon Trotsky
Infobox Officeholder
name = Leon Trotsky
nationality = Russian
small
caption =
order =People's Commissar for Army and Navy Affairs
term_start =
term_end =
vicepresident =
deputy =
predecessor =
successor =
order2 =People's Commissar for Foreign Affairs
term_start2 =
term_end2 =
vicepresident =
deputy2 =
predecessor2 =
successor2 =
birth_date =birth date|1879|11|7|mf=y
birth_place =
death_date =death date and age|1940|08|21|1879|11|07
death_place =
constituency =
party =RSDLP, SDPS,
spouse =
profession =
footnotes =
order3 =President of the
term_start3 =October 8, 1917
term_end3 =November 8, 1917
president =
successor3 =
predecessor3 =
Leon Trotsky (Russian: Audio|ru-Leon Trotsky.ogg|Лeв Давидович Трóцкий, "Lev Davidovich Trotsky", also transliterated "Leo", "Lyev", "Trotskii", "Trotski", "Trotskij", "Trockij" and "Trotzky") (OldStyleDate|November 7|1879|October 26 – August 21, 1940), born Lev Davidovich Bronstein ( _ru. Лeв Давидович Бронштéйн), was a Russian revolutionary and Marxist theorist. He was one of the leaders of the Russian
After leading the failed struggle of the
Before the 1917 Revolution
Family and childhood (1879–1896)
Leon Trotsky was born Lev Davidovich Bronstein (alternative English spelling: Bronshtein) on November 7, 1879, in Yanovka,
When Trotsky was nine, his father sent him to
Although it is stated in his autobiography "My Life" that he was never perfectly fluent in any language but Russian and Ukrainian,
Revolutionary activity and exile (1896–1902)
Trotsky became involved in revolutionary activities in 1896 after moving to Nikolayev (now
In January 1898, over 200 members of the union, including Trotsky, were arrested, and he spent the next two years in prison awaiting trial. Two months after his imprisonment, the first Congress of the newly formed
In Siberia Trotsky became aware of the differences within the party, which had been decimated by arrests in 1898 and 1899. Some
First emigration and second marriage (1902–1903)
Trotsky escaped from Siberia in the summer of 1902. It is said he adopted the name of a jailer of the Odessa prison in which he had earlier been held, [Cf., for instance, [http://www.bartleby.com/65/tr/Trotsky.html "The Columbia Encyclopedia"] ] and this became his primary revolutionary pseudonym. Once abroad, he moved to London to join
Unknown 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: [Quoted in chapter XII of [http://www.marxists.org/archive/trotsky/1930/mylife/ch12.htm "My Life"] ]
"I suggest to all the members of the editorial board that they co-opt 'Pero' as a member of the board on the same basis as other members. [...] We very much need a seventh member, both as a convenience in voting (six being an even number), and as an addition to our forces. 'Pero' has been contributing to every issue for several months now; he works in general most energetically for the Iskra; he gives lectures (in which he has been very successful). In the section of articles and notes on the events of the day, he will not only be very useful, but absolutely necessary. Unquestionably a man of rare abilities, he has conviction and energy, and he will go much farther."
Due to Plekhanov's opposition, Trotsky did not become a full member of the board, but from then on participated in its meetings in an advisory capacity, which earned him Plekhanov's enmity.
In late 1902, Trotsky met
"In order not to oblige my sons to change their name, I, for "citizenship" requirements, took on the name of my wife."
But 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 she disappeared in 1935 during the
plit 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, Trotsky and other "Iskra" editors attended. The first congress went as planned, with "Iskra" supporters handily defeating the few "economist" delegates. Then the congress discussed the position of the
"while working in the Russian party, regarded and still do regard themselves also as representatives of the Jewish proletariat."
As Trotsky explained two months later, his statement was just a tactical maneuver made on Lenin's request. [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]
Shortly thereafter, pro-"Iskra" delegates unexpectedly split into two factions. Lenin and his supporters (known as "
During 1903 and 1904, many members changed sides in the factions. 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 then until 1917 he described himself as a "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
1905 revolution and trial (1905–1906)
After the events of
After returning to the capital, Trotsky and
Just before Trotsky's return, 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
"The autocracy never enjoyed the confidence of the people and was never granted any authority by the people. We have therefore decided not to allow the repayment of such loans as have been made by the Czarist government when openly engaged in a war with the entire people."
The following day, December 3, the Soviet was surrounded by troops loyal to the government and the deputies were arrested.
Trotsky and other Soviet leaders were tried 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
econd emigration (1907–1914)
En route to deportation to Siberia in January 1907, Trotsky escaped and once again made his way to
In Vienna, Trotsky became close to
The Bolsheviks started a new workers-oriented newspaper in Saint Petersburg on April 22, 1912, and also called it "Pravda". Trotsky was so upset by what he saw as a usurpation of his newspaper's name that in April 1913 he wrote a letter to
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", [See Chapter XVI of [http://www.marxists.org/archive/trotsky/1930/mylife/ch16.htm "My Life"] ] 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.
In January 1912, the majority of the Bolshevik faction led by Lenin and a few Mensheviks held a conference in
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
On August 3, 1914, at the outbreak of
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.
In Switzerland, Trotsky briefly worked within the
Trotsky attended the
In September 1916, Trotsky was deported from France to
Trotsky was living in
Upon his return, Trotsky was in substantive agreement with the
After an unsuccessful pro-Bolshevik uprising in Petrograd, Trotsky was arrested on August 7, 1917, 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
The following summary of Trotsky's role in 1917 was written 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.)
"All practical work in connection with the organization of the uprising was done under the immediate direction of Comrade Trotsky, the President of the Petrograd Soviet. It can be stated with certainty that the Party is indebted primarily and principally to Comrade Trotsky for the rapid going over of the garrison to the side of the Soviet and the efficient manner in which the work of theMilitary Revolutionary Committee was organized."
After the success of the uprising on 7–8 November, Trotsky led the efforts to repel a counter-attack by
After the Russian Revolution
Commissar for Foreign Affairs and Brest-Litovsk (1917–1918)
After the Bolsheviks came to power, Trotsky became the
Trotsky led the Soviet delegation during the peace negotiations in
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, without 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 had to stay in power. Lenin did not mind prolonging the negotiating process for maximum propaganda effect, but, from January 1918 on, advocated signing a separate peace treaty if faced with a German ultimatum.
Trotsky's position was 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: [See the "Brest-Litovsk" chapter in Trotsky's 1925 book [http://www.marxists.org/archive/trotsky/1925/lenin/04.htm "Lenin"] ]
"That we could no longer fight was perfectly clear to me and that the newly formedRed Guard and Red Army detachments were too small and poorly trained to resist the Germans."
But he agreed with the Left Communists that a separate peace treaty with an imperialist power would be a terrible moral and material blow to the Soviet government, negate all its military and political successes of 1917 and 1918, resurrect the notion that the Bolsheviks secretly allied with the German government, and cause an upsurge of internal resistance. He argued that any German ultimatum should be refused, and that this may well lead to an uprising in Germany, or at least inspire German soldiers to disobey their officers since any German offensive would be a naked grab for territories. He wrote in 1925: [See [http://www.marxists.org/archive/trotsky/1925/lenin/04.htm "Lenin"] ]
"We began peace negotiations in the hope of arousing the workmen's party of Germany and Austria-Hungary as well as of the Entente countries. For this reason we were obliged to delay the negotiations as long as possible to give the European workman time to understand the main fact of the Soviet revolution itself and particularly its peace policy.""But there was the other question: Can the Germans still fight? Are they in a position to begin an attack on the revolution that will explain the cessation of the war? How can we find out the state of mind of the German soldiers, how to fathom it?"
Throughout January and February 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,
Germany 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. In the evening of February 18, 1918, Trotsky and his supporters in the committee abstained and Lenin's proposal was accepted 7–4. The Soviet government sent a
Germany did not respond for three days, and continued its offensive encountering little resistance. The response arrived on February 21, but the proposed terms were so harsh that even Lenin briefly thought that the Soviet government had no choice but to fight. But in the end, the committee again voted 7–4 on February 23, 1918; the
Head of the Red Army (spring 1918)
The failure of the recently formed Red Army to resist the German offensive in February 1918 revealed its weaknesses: insufficient numbers, lack of knowledgeable officers, and near absence of coordination and subordination. Celebrated and feared
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 on March 4 to create the
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—in place of
Civil War (1918–1920)
1918
Trotsky's managerial and organization-building skills with the Soviet military were soon tested in many ways. In May–June 1918, the
Trotsky and the government responded with a full-fledged
Facing military defeats in mid-1918, Trotsky introduced increasingly severe penalties for desertion, insubordination, and retreat. As he later wrote in his autobiography: [See Chapter XXXIV of [http://www.marxists.org/archive/trotsky/1930/mylife/ch34.htm "My Life"] ]
"An army cannot be built without reprisals. Masses of men cannot be led to death unless the army command has the death-penalty in its arsenal. So long as those malicious tailless apes that are so proud of their technical achievements—the animals that we call men—will build armies and wage wars, the command will always be obliged to place the soldiers between the possible death in the front and the inevitable one in the rear. And yet armies are not built on fear. The Czar’s army fell to pieces not because of any lack of reprisals. In his attempt to save it by restoring the death-penalty, Kerensky only finished it. Upon the ashes of the great war, the Bolsheviks created a new army. These facts demand no explanation for any one who has even the slightest knowledge of the language of history. The strongest cement in the new army was the ideas of the October revolution, and the train supplied the front with this cement."
Reprisals included the
" [...] I ordered you to establish the family status of former officers among command personnel and to inform each of them by signed receipt that treachery or treason will cause the arrest of their families and that, therefore, they are each taking upon themselves responsibility for their families. That order is still in force. Since then there have been a number of cases of treason by former officers, yet not in a single case, as far as I know, has the family of the traitor been arrested, as the registration of former officers has evidently not been carried out at all. Such a negligent approach to so important a matter is totally impermissible." [An excerpt from Trotsky's war cable, quoted from Volkogonov, "Trotsky, the Eternal Revolutionary", p. 178.]
Trotsky also threatened to execute unit commanders and commissars whose units either deserted or retreated without permission.Fact|date=March 2007 (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.Fact|date=March 2007
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 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,
In September 1918, the 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 reorganization caused yet another conflict between Trotsky and Stalin in late September. Trotsky appointed former imperial general
1919
Throughout late 1918 and early 1919, there were a number of attacks on Trotsky's 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 them successfully and was elected one of only five full members of the first
"It is no wonder that my military work created so many enemies for me. I did not look to the side, I elbowed away those who interfered with military success, or in the haste of the work trod on the toes of the unheeding and was too busy even to apologize. Some people remember such things. The dissatisfied and those whose feelings had been hurt found their way to Stalin or Zinoviev, for these two also nourished hurts."
In mid-1919 the dissatisfied had an opportunity to mount a serious challenge to Trotsky's leadership. The Red Army had defeated the White Army's spring offensive in the east and was about to cross the
At the 3–4 July Central Committee meeting, after a heated exchange the majority supported Kamenev and Smilga against Vatsetis and Trotsky. Trotsky's plan was rejected and he was much criticized for various alleged shortcomings in his leadership style, much of it of a personal nature. Stalin used this opportunity to pressure Lenin [See Chapter XXXVII of [http://www.marxists.org/archive/trotsky/1930/mylife/ch37.htm "My Life"] ] to dismiss Trotsky from his post. But when, on July 5, Trotsky offered his resignation, the Politburo and the
Yet, a number of significant changes to the leadership of the Red Army were made. 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
After a few weeks in the south, Trotsky returned to Moscow and resumed control of the Red Army. A year later, Smilga and
By October 1919 the government was in the worst crisis of the 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
Meanwhile, in early 1920 Soviet-Polish tensions eventually led to the
"The defensive period of the war with worldwide imperialism was over, and we could, and had the obligation to, exploit the military situation to launch an offensive war."
But the Red Army offensive was 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 for a peace treaty and this time prevailed.
Trade union debate (1920–1921)
In late 1920, after the Bolsheviks won the Civil War and before the Eighth and Ninth Congress of Soviets, the Communist Party had a heated and increasingly acrimonious debate over the role of
Trotsky's position formed while he led a special commission on the Soviet transportation system, Tsektran. He was appointed there to rebuild the rail system ruined by the Civil War. Being the Commissar of War and a revolutionary military leader, he saw a need to create a militarized "production atmosphere" by incorporating
Lenin sharply criticised 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 not afford. His frustration with Trotsky was used by Stalin and Zinoviev with their support for Lenin's position, to improve their standing within the Bolshevik leadership at Trotsky's expense.
Disagreements threatened 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,
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. Krestinsky was replaced as a member of the Politburo by Zinoviev, who had supported Lenin. Krestinsky's place in the secretariat was taken by
At the end of the Tenth Congress, after peace negotiations had failed, Trotsky gave the order for the suppression of the
Fall from power (1922–1928)
Lenin's illness (1922–1923)
In late 1921 Lenin's health deteriorated. He was absent from Moscow for even longer periods, and eventually had three strokes between May 26, 1922 and March 10, 1923, which caused 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 [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 Our relations with Kamenev, which were very good in the first period after the insurrection, began to become more distant from that day. (Trotsky, [http://www.marxists.org/archive/trotsky/1939/xx/kremlin.htm "Behind the Kremlin Walls"] , "
] formed a political alliance known as the "
The rest of the recently expanded Politburo (Rykov,
Stalin's power of patronage in his capacity as General Secretary clearly played a role, but Trotsky and his supporters later concluded that a more fundamental reason was the process of slow bureaucratization of the Soviet regime once the extreme conditions of the Civil War were over; much of the Bolshevik elite wanted 'normalcy' while Trotsky was personally and politically personified as representing a turbulent revolutionary period that they would much rather leave behind.
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 [See Document 103 (May 22, 1922) in "The Unknown Lenin"] ) 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: [See Document 106 in "The Unknown Lenin"]
"Throwing Trotsky overboard—surely you are hinting at that, it is impossible to interpret it otherwise—is the height of stupidity. If you do not consider me already hopelessly foolish, how can you think of that????"
From then 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
In late 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 I am sure Trotsky will uphold my views as well as I.
Faced with a united opposition by Lenin and Trotsky, the Central Committee reversed its previous decision and adopted the Lenin-Trotsky proposal.] but it was complicated by Lenin's progressing illness. In January 1923 the relationship between Lenin and Stalin completely broke down when Stalin rudely insulted Lenin's wife,
At the XIIth Party Congress in April 1923, just 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. [Trotsky explained in Chapter 12 of his unfinished book [http://maximumred.blogspot.com/2005_08_01_maximumred_archive.html "Stalin"] that he refused to deliver the report 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".] 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. [See Chapter 12 of Trotsky's [http://maximumred.blogspot.com/2005_08_01_maximumred_archive.html "Stalin"] ]
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 We needed a man who was the embodiment of the war-cry, a man who became the tocsin sounding the alarm, the will demanding from one and all an unqualified subordination to the great bloody necessity. It was only a man who works like Trotsky, a man who spares himself as little as Trotsky, who can speak to the soldiers as only Trotsky can – it was only such a man who could be the standard bearer of the armed working people. He has been everything in one person.
] published in "
Left opposition (1923–1924)
Starting in mid-1923, the Soviet economy ran into significant difficulties, which led to numerous strikes countrywide. Two secret groups within the Communist Party, "
On October 8, 1923 Trotsky sent a letter to the Central Committee and the
"In the fiercest moment of War Communism, the system of appointment within the party did not have one tenth of the extent that it has now. Appointment of the secretaries of provincial committees is now the rule. That creates for the secretary a position essentially independent of the local organization. [...] The bureaucratization of the party apparatus has developed to unheard-of proportions by means of the method of secretarial selection. There has been created a very broad stratum of party workers, entering into the apparatus of the government of the party, who completely renounce their own party opinion, at least the open expression of it, as though assuming that the secretarial hierarchy is the apparatus which creates party opinion and party decisions. Beneath this stratum, abstaining from their own opinions, there lays the broad mass of the party, before whom every decision stands in the form of a summons or a command."
Other senior communists who had similar concerns sent "
" [...] we observe an ever progressing, barely disguised division of the party into a secretarial hierarchy and into "laymen", into professional party functionaries, chosen from above, and the other party masses, who take no part in social life. [...] free discussion within the party has virtually disappeared, party public opinion has been stifled. [...] it is the secretarial hierarchy, the party hierarchy which to an ever greater degree chooses the delegates to the conferences and congresses, which to an ever greater degree are becoming the executive conferences of this hierarchy."
Although the text of these letters remained secret at the time, they 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. Throughout November, the "troika" tried to come up with a compromise to placate, or at least temporarily neutralize, Trotsky and his supporters. (Their task was made easier by the fact that Trotsky was sick in November and December.) 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, the Politburo and the Central Control Commission unanimously adopted the group's final draft as its resolution.
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" [Quoted in Max Shachtman. "The Struggle for the New Course", New York, New International Publishing Co., 1943. See chapter 4, [http://www.marxists.org/archive/shachtma/1943/fnc/nc04.htm "The Campaign Against 'Trotskyism'"] ] 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 of January 16, 17 and 18, 1924. Those who opposed the Central Committee's position in the debate were thereafter referred to as members of the
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 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" [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.] 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, Trotsky had already been cut off from the decision making process.
Immediately after the Conference, Trotsky left for a Caucasian resort to recover from his prolonged illness. On his way, he learned about Lenin's death on January 21, 1924. He was about to return 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.
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
At the XIIIth Party Congress in May, Trotsky delivered a conciliatory speech: [See Chapter VIII of Boris Souvarine's [http://www.marxists.org/history/etol/writers/souvar/works/stalin/ch08.htm "Stalin: A Critical Survey of Bolshevism"] ]
"None of us desires or is able to dispute the will of the Party. Clearly, the Party is always right.... We can only be right with and by the Party, for history has provided no other way of being in the right. The English have a saying, "My country, right or wrong," whether it is in the right or in the wrong, it is my country. We have much better historical justification in saying whether it is right or wrong in certain individual concrete cases, it is my party.... And if the Party adopts a decision which one or other of us thinks unjust, he will say, just or unjust, it is my party, and I shall support the consequences of the decision to the end."
The attempt at reconciliation, however, did not 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. That put them at odds 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 '
At the XIIIth Congress Kamenev and Zinoviev helped Stalin defuse Lenin's Testament, which belatedly came to the surface. But just after the congress, the "troika", always an alliance of convenience, showed signs of weakness. Stalin began making poorly veiled accusations about Zinoviev and Kamenev. Yet in October 1924, Trotsky published "The Lessons of October", an extensive summary of the events of the 1917 revolution. In it, 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 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.
* Trotsky's disagreements and conflicts with Lenin and the Bolsheviks prior to 1917
* Trotsky's alleged distortion of the events of 1917 in order to emphasize his role and diminish the roles played by other Bolsheviks
* Trotsky's harsh treatment of his subordinates and other alleged mistakes during the Russian Civil War
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" [See Chapter 42 of [http://www.marxists.org/archive/trotsky/1930/mylife/ch42.htm "My Life"] ] 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. [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.] 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
In the meantime, the "troika" finally broke up. Bukharin and Rykov sided with Stalin while Krupskaya and Soviet Commissar of Finance
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
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.
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
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
Last exile (1929–1940)
Trotsky was deported from the Soviet Union in February 1929. His first station in exile was at
In 1933 Trotsky was offered asylum in
In Mexico, he lived at one point at the home of the painter
While in Mexico, Trotsky also worked closely with
Cannon, a long-time leading member of the American communist movement, had supported Trotsky in the struggle against
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
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
"An organization which was not roused by the thunder of fascism and which submits docilely to such outrageous acts of the bureaucracy demonstrates thereby that it is dead and that nothing can ever revive it. ... In all our subsequent work it is necessary to take as our point of departure the historical collapse of the official Communist International." [Leon Trotsky. [http://www.marxists.org/archive/trotsky/germany/1933/330715.htm "To Build Communist Parties and an International Anew"] , July 15, 1933.]
In 1938, Trotsky and his supporters founded the
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
Final months
After quarreling with Diego Rivera, in 1939 Trotsky moved into his own residence in On 27 February 1940, Trotsky wrote a document known as "Trotsky's Testament", in which he expressed his final thoughts and feelings for posterity. After forcefully denying Stalin's accusations that he had betrayed the For forty-three years of my conscious life I have remained a revolutionist; for forty-two of them I have fought under the banner of Marxism. If I had to begin all over again I would of course try to avoid this or that mistake, but the main course of my life would remain unchanged. I shall die a proletarian revolutionist, a Marxist, a dialectical materialist, and, consequently, an irreconcilable atheist. My faith in the communist future of mankind is not less ardent, indeed it is firmer today, than it was in the days of my youth. Natasha has just come up to the window from the courtyard and opened it wider so that the air may enter more freely into my room. I can see the bright green strip of grass beneath the wall, and the clear blue sky above the wall, and sunlight everywhere. Life is beautiful. Let the future generations cleanse it of all evil, oppression and violence, and enjoy it to the full. L. Trotsky On May 24, 1940, Trotsky survived a raid on his home by Stalinist assassins led by GPU agent Iosif Grigulevich, Mexican painter and Stalinist Assassination On August 20, 1940, Trotsky was successfully attacked in his home by a The blow was poorly delivered 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." Trotsky was taken to a hospital, operated on, and survived for more than a day, dying at the age of 60 on August 21, 1940 as a result of severe brain damage. [Walsh, Lynn, [http://www.marxist.net/trotsky/life/life.htm "The Assassination of Trotsky"] , "Militant International Review", Summer 1980, retrieved on 2007-07-29.] Mercader later testified at his trial: According to Epilogue 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 Trotsky was never formally rehabilitated by the Soviet government, despite the Trotsky's great-granddaughter, Contributions to theory Trotsky considered himself a "Bolshevik-Leninist", arguing for the establishment of a Permanent Revolution Permanent Revolution is the theory that the Although most closely associated with Leon Trotsky, the call for Permanent Revolution is first found in the writings of Trotsky's conception of Permanent Revolution is based on his understanding, drawing on the work of the founder of Russian Marxism The United Front Trotsky was a central figure in the After he was exiled and politically marginalised by Stalinism, Trotsky continued to argue for a united front against Trotsky in art Trotsky was admired by Mexican muralist Trotsky's death was dramatized in the 1972 film " The character "Snowball" in Notes ee also *"My Life", Trotsky's autobiography elected works * References * * Pipes, Richard, ed. (1996) "The Unknown Lenin". Yale University Press. ISBN 0-300-06919-7 External links * [http://www.marxists.org/archive/trotsky/index.htm The Leon Trotsky Internet Archive] at Persondata Источник: Leon TrotskyIn addition to the happiness of being a fighter for the cause of socialism, fate gave me the happiness of being her husband. During the almost forty years of our life together she remained an inexhaustible source of love, magnanimity, and tenderness. She underwent great sufferings, especially in the last period of our lives. But I find some comfort in the fact that she also knew days of happiness.
February 27, 1940
Coiyoacan. ["sic"] I laid my raincoat on the table in such a way as to be able to remove the ice axe which was in the pocket. I decided not to miss the wonderful opportunity that presented itself. The moment Trotsky began reading the article, he gave me my chance; I took out the ice axe from the raincoat, gripped it in my hand and, with my eyes closed, dealt him a terrible blow on the head.Fact|date=February 2007
"It is our interest and our task to make the revolution permanent until all the more or less propertied classes have been driven from their ruling positions, until the proletariat has conquered state power and until the association of the proletarians has progressed sufficiently far—not only in one country but in all the leading countries of the world—that competition between the proletarians of these countries ceases and at least the decisive forces of production are concentrated in the hands of the workers. ... Their battle-cry must be: "The Permanent Revolution." [Marx & Engels, [http://www.marxists.org/archive/marx/works/1847/communist-league/1850-ad1.htm "Address of the Central Committee to the Communist League"] , March 1850.]
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* [http://web.mit.edu/fjk/Public/essays/Trotsky-bio.html Autobiography, 1879–1917.]
* [http://www.marxists.org/archive/trotsky/1931/tpr/rp-index.htm Results and Prospects]
* [http://www.marxists.org/archive/trotsky/1907/1905/index.htm 1905]
* [http://www.marxists.org/archive/trotsky/1914/war/index.htm War and the International]
* [http://www.marxists.org/archive/trotsky/1918/military/index.htm Trotsky's Military Writings, Volume 1]
* [http://www.marxists.org/archive/trotsky/1919/military/index.htm Trotsky's Military Writings, Volume 2]
* [http://www.marxists.org/archive/trotsky/1920/military/index.htm Trotsky's Military Writings, Volume 3]
* [http://www.marxists.org/archive/trotsky/1920/terrcomm/index.htm Terrorism and Communism]
* [http://www.marxists.org/archive/trotsky/1921/military/index.htm Trotsky's Military Writings, Volume 4]
* [http://www.marxists.org/archive/trotsky/1922/red-white/index.htm Between Red and White]
* [http://www.marxists.org/archive/trotsky/1922/military/index.htm Trotsky's Military Writings, Volume 5]
* [http://www.marxists.org/archive/trotsky/1923/newcourse/index.htm The New Course]
* [http://www.marxists.org/archive/trotsky/1924/lit_revo/index.htm Literature and Revolution]
* [http://www.marxists.org/archive/trotsky/1924/lessons/index.htm The Lessons of October]
* [http://www.marxists.org/archive/trotsky/1924/ffyci-1/index.htm The First Five Years of the Communist International, Volume 1]
* [http://www.marxists.org/archive/trotsky/1924/ffyci-2/index.htm The First Five Years of the Communist International, Volume 2]
* [http://www.marxists.org/archive/trotsky/britain/wibg/index.htm Where Is Britain Going?]
* [http://www.marxists.org/archive/trotsky/1932/pcr/index.htm Problems of the Chinese Revolution]
* [http://www.marxists.org/archive/trotsky/1927/opposition/index.htm Platform of the Joint Opposition]
* [http://www.marxists.org/archive/trotsky/1928/3rd/index.htm The Third International After Lenin]
* [http://www.marxists.org/archive/trotsky/1930/hrr/index.htm History of the Russian Revolution]
* [http://www.marxists.org/archive/trotsky/1930/mylife/index.htm My Life]
* [http://www.marxists.org/archive/trotsky/germany/1930/300926.htm The Turn in the Communist International and the Situation in Germany]
* [http://www.marxists.org/archive/trotsky/1931/tpr/index.htm Permanent Revolution]
* [http://www.marxists.org/archive/trotsky/germany/1931/311126.htm Germany, the Key to the International Situation]
* [http://www.marxists.org/archive/trotsky/germany/1932-ger/index.htm What Next? Vital Questions for the German Proletariat]
* [http://www.marxists.org/archive/trotsky/germany/1932/320914.htm The Only Road]
* [http://www.marxists.org/archive/trotsky/1932/11/oct.htm In Defence of October]
* [http://www.marxists.org/archive/trotsky/1934/06/warfi.htm War and the Fourth International]
* [http://www.marxists.org/archive/trotsky/1936/revbet/index.htm The Revolution Betrayed]
* [http://www.marxists.org/archive/trotsky/1936/whitherfrance/index.htm Whither France?]
* [http://www.marxists.org/archive/trotsky/1937/dewey/index.htm The Case of Leon Trotsky]
* [http://www.marxists.org/archive/trotsky/1937/ssf/index.htm The Stalin School of Falsification]
* [http://www.marxists.org/archive/trotsky/1938/morals/morals.htm Their Morals and Ours]
* [http://www.marxists.org/archive/trotsky/1938/tp/index.htm The Death Agony of Capitalism and the Tasks of the Fourth International (The Transitional Program)]
* [http://www.marxists.org/archive/trotsky/idom/dm/index.htm In Defence of Marxism]
**(1954) "Trotsky: The Prophet Armed". Oxford University Press.
**(1959) "Trotsky: The Prophet Unarmed". Oxford University Press.
**(1963) "Trotsky: The Prophet Outcast". Oxford University Press.
* Deutscher, Isaac (1966) "Ironies of History". Oxford University Press. ISBN 0-19-211169-8
* Daniels, Robert V. (1991) "Trotsky, Stalin & Socialism". Boulder: Westview Press. ISBN 0-8133-1223-X
* Gilbert, Helen (2003) "Leon Trotsky: His Life and Ideas". Seattle: Red Letter Press ISBN 0-932323-17-0
* Hallas,Duncan (1979) "Trotsky's Marxism". London: Pluto Press. ISBN 0-8610-4095-3
* Hansen, Joseph, ed. (1969) "Leon Trotsky: The Man and His Work. Reminiscences and Appraisals". New York: Merit Publishers.
* Knei-Paz, Baruch (1978) "Social and Political Thought of Leon Trotsky". Oxford University Press. ISBN 0-19-827233-2
* Levine, Isaac Don (1960) "The Mind of an Assassin". New York: New American Library/Signet Book.
* Mandel, Ernest (1979), "Trotsky: A Study in the Dynamic of His Thought". London: NLB. ISBN 0-8609-1027-X
* Molyneux, John (1981) "Leon Trotsky's Theory of Revolution". London: Palgrave Macmillan. ISBN 0-312-47994-8
* Renton, David (2004) "Trotsky (Life & Times)". London: Haus Publishing ISBN 1-904341-62-5
* Serge, Victor & Trotsky, Natalia Sedova (1951), "The Life and Death of Leon Trotsky" (1973 English transl. by A. J. Pomerans) London: Wildwood House. ISBN 0-704-50138-4 ndash (largely represents the views of his widow)
* Thatcher, Ian D. (2003) "Trotsky". London: Routledge. ISBN 0-415-23251-1
* van Heijenoort, Jean (1978) "With Trotsky in Exile: From
* Volgokonov, Dimitri (1996) "Trotsky, the Eternal Revolutionary". New York:
* "The Modern Encyclopedia of Russian and Soviet History," Volume 39, Academic International Press
* [http://youtube.com/watch?v=fKI9oi1YJNM Trotsky speaks about the Moscow Trials] en icon
* [http://www.wsws.org/sections/category/history/h-trotsky.shtml Trotsky's historical significance - archives of the ICFI]
* [http://www.flickr.com/photos/akinyc/sets/72057594053063859/ January 2006 images of Trotsky House, Mexico City]
* [http://foia.fbi.gov/foiaindex/trotsky.htm FBI records relating to Trotsky's murder]
* [http://www.guardian.co.uk/russia/article/0,2763,1507575,00.html 'Ice-pick that killed Trotsky' found in Mexico] which is stained with his blood
* [http://www.internationalviewpoint.org/article.php3?id_article=352 International Viewpoint dossier on Trotsky (USFI)]
* [http://www.jta.org/page_view_story.asp?intarticleid=15758 On anniversary of murder, museum for Trotsky proves to be tourist draw] by Larry Luxner of the
* [http://www.marxist.com/LeninAndTrotsky/ Lenin and Trotsky - What they Really Stood For] by
* [http://www.trotskyana.net The Lubitz TrotskyanaNet, dealing with Leon Trotsky, Trotskyism and Trotskyists]
* [http://www.etext.org/Politics/MIM/classics/trotsky.html Various criticism of Trotsky] from MIM
* [http://libcom.org/library/contradiction-trotsky-claude-lefort "The Contradiction of Trotsky"] by
* [http://www.marxist.com/65-years-trotsky-death220805-6.htm Sixty-five years since Trotsky's Death] an essay by Rob Sewell
* [http://trotsky.ru Russian Trotsky site]
NAME=Bronstein, Lew Dawidowitsch
ALTERNATIVE NAMES=Lew Dawidowitsch Trotzki
SHORT DESCRIPTION=
DATE OF BIRTH=birth date|1879|11|7|df=y
PLACE OF BIRTH=Janowka,
DATE OF DEATH=death date|1940|8|21|df=y
PLACE OF DEATH=
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