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Leon Trotsky Research Paper

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Leon Trotsky, originally known as Lev Davidovich Bronstein, was born November 7th in the year 1879. Born to a Jewish-Russian family of wealthy but illiterate farmers, he was sent to school in Odessa by age nine. Although he was enrolled in a German school, during his studies there the school was “Russified” during the Imperial Government’s policy of Russification. The environment of the town of Odessa contributed greatly to the development of Trotsky’s revolutionary ideas and his international outlook. Later on in his life, by 1896, he quickly became involved in revolutionary activities after moving to the harbor town of Nkdayev. As a narodnik, also known as a revolutionary populist, he was first introduced to Marxism, but disliked the core …show more content…

In the summer of 1902, urged by his wife, he escaped from Siberia hidden in between a loaf of hay on a wagon, and then immigrated to London to write for Iskra. Once he had arrived to London he officially changed his last name to Trotsky, abandoning his former surname of Bronstein. Historians have said that this change to Trotsky was an adopted name from a jailer in Odessa. Under the alias of Pero (meaning feather or pen in Russian) quickly rose to become a leading writer for Iskra alongside Georgi Plekhanov, Vladimir Lenin, and Julius Martov. Shortly after Trotsky’s employment at the paper, it split into two sanctions, the Bolsheviks, which argued for a smaller but disciplined party, while the Mensheviks, argued for a larger and less discipline party, the latter which Trotsky supported. Later on, Trotsky left the Mensheviks over their insistence on an alliance with Russian liberals and their opposition to reconciliation with Lenin and the Bolsheviks. Between the years of 1904 and 1917, he spent most of his time trying to reconcile different groups within the party, which resulted in many clashes with Lenin and other prominent party …show more content…

Later on, even after almost all members of his opposition had denounced themselves, he refused to separate himself from the movement so he was exiled officially in 1929. Although he was no longer apart of the society, he continued to oppose the Stalinist bureaucracy, even writing books about the topic. This very act, although brave, paid the ultimate price, when Spanish-born Soviet agent Ramon Mercader attacked Trotsky in his study. Even though Trotsky put up a valiant fight, he later succumbed to his injuries in a hospital on August the 20th of 1940. The legacy of Leon Trotsky is composed of the branch of Marxism known and Trotskyism, a strong opposition of Stalinism, and his political discourse to this day. Lastly, it’s important to note that although his books are now allowed to be sold in Russia, he was one of the few Soviet political figures who were not rehabilitated by the government under Nikita

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