Leon Trotsky: The Development Of Capitalism In Russia

Analyzing the Bolshevik State compared to Marxism can be difficult because Marx, Engels and their followers gave relatively little thought to what the state would look like after a socialist revolution. Engels famously wrote, “the state is not ‘abolished,’ it withers away,” which highlights the hazy and unfixed nature of Marx and Engle’s writings on the ultimate, classless society they envisioned. Further, what they did write is subject to the differing interpretations by numerous socialist parties all claiming to be Marxist. As discussed earlier, Lenin claimed he simply reshaped Marxism to fit the conditions of Russia. Others argue his interpretation was not true Marxism at all. However, the basic principles of a socialist state in the eyes of Marx’s are outlined in the Communist Manifesto as follows:

Despite starting his political journey as a supporter of the Menshevik wing (peaceful communism), Leon Trotsky became one of the paramount powers of the Bolshevik party, leading their Red Army to victory during the Russian civil war of 1918 to 1921; so

Lenin defined his movement by the slogan “all power to the soviets” Lenin believed he could make a new revolution in a way the old one happened by starting large street demonstrations. The soviets were giving lenin little support, but lenin believed he could manipulate them for his own purposes. Lenin tried to sieve power for the bolsheviks

Trotsky had one great weakness which led to his downfall; he was unpopular. The other Communist leaders were united by their dislike of Trotsky. They resented his earlier non-Bolshevik past and his sudden rise with the party after 1917. Many other Bolsheviks also hated Trotsky, because of the fact that he had been a Menshevik. Therefore Trotsky had no real allies to help him secure power, and always had people plotting against him. An example of this is when Zinoviev and Kamenev decided that they should take over as the new leaders. They decided to use Stalin and his control of party organisation to help them, and these three formed the Triumvirate. This ultimately prevented Trotsky from becoming

Most modern historians agree that the peasants, workers and soldiers played a major part in the revolution and therefore it was the job of the Bolsheviks to capture this power and manipulate and use it for their own ends. This was made much easier as a result of Trotsky’s excellent rhetoric and Victor Serge, in ‘Memoirs of a Revolutionary’ (1945), recalled that ‘Trotsky was all tension and energy […] an orator of unique quality [whose voice] always infused with a truly spontaneous passion. He outshone Lenin through his great oratorical talent, through his organising ability, first with the army, then on the railways, and by his brilliant gifts as a theoretician. ’ Naturally, as a Bolshevik it was easier for Serge to agree with Trotsky and therefore, find his words inspiring and interesting. However, to make special note of his rhetoric suggests an unusually good quality to his work and this is further demonstrated by the number of people he managed to rally around his cause. Wood writes

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

Trotsky’s involvement in the 1917 revolution was of utmost significance to Bolshevik success. With Lenin in exile in Finland, Trotsky became the public face of Bolshevism. Trotsky’s leadership of the Soviet demonstrated his distinct skills, which became essential to the success of the revolution. His formation, recruiting, disciplining and arming of the Red Guard became a significant factor to the movement. It had amassed to over 200,000 militants by October. Additionally Trotsky’s arranging of the Soviet, placing Bolshevik delegates in power, allowed the Bolsheviks to organize the Military Revolutionary committee.

Trotsky despite his talents and status as a communist leader was disliked by his peers. His arrogance, condescension and perceived intellectual superiority alienated many of members of the politburo. If in an address that bored Trotsky he was known to have openly read a novel instead. Lenin himself raised concerns regarding the assured arrogance of Trotsky in his last testament writing that “he is perhaps the most capable

Firstly many members of the communist distrusted Trotsky due to his Menshevik past and didn’t see him as a true and Loyal Bolshevik. He didn’t join to Bolshevism until 1917 and this made the ‘old’ Bolsheviks suspect him. The distrust continued with his role as the commander of the Red Army and his opportunism is switching alliances against and with other colleagues like Zinoviev and Kamenev. Due to this many suspected him of becoming a dictator and they wanted

He adopted the name Koba, after an anecdotal Georgian outlaw-legend, and joined the more activist wing of the Marxist Social Democratic development, the Bolsheviks, drove by Vladimir Lenin. While there he started furtively perusing the work of German social Democratic and "Comrade Manifesto" creator Karl Marx, getting to be occupied with the progressive development against the Russian government. In the wake of leaving school, Stalin turned into an underground political activist, tuning to labor exhibits and strikes. In 1899, Stalin was ousted from the theological college for missing exams, despite the fact that he guaranteed it was for Marxist publicity. In 1912, Lenin, leader of Switzerland, appointed Joseph Stalin to serve on the first Central Committee of the Bolshevik Party. In November 1917, the Bolsheviks took power in Russia. The Soviet Union was founded in 1922, with Lenin as its first leader. Stalin had kept on climbing the political ladder, and in 1922 he got to be secretary general of the Central Committee of the Communist Party, a part that empowered him to choose his acquaintances to government officials and grow a base of political backing. In the late 1930s, Stalin founded the Great Purge, a progression of battles intended to free the Communist Party, and the military and different parts of

Lev Bronstein was born on November 8th, 1879 and grew up in a small town in Yanovka, present day Ukraine. He was the 5th child of a well off Jewish farmer. When Bronstein was 9, he was sent to finish his schooling in Nikolayev. As a teenager he was very interested in socialism and helped create the South Russia Worker’s Union. He was later arrested along with 200 other union workers and was sent to jail for four years. While he was in prison, he married a woman named Aleksandra Soklovskaya and together they had two daughters . He abandoned his wife and kids. He then escaped prison, obtained a forged passport and changed his name to Leon Trotsky.

There he joined a group of Russian Social Democrats working with Vladimir Ulyanov, the founder of the Bolshevik Party, and who, as Lenin, would become the first leader of communist Russia. Their main project at the time was production of the revolutionary newspaper Iskra (The Spark). Because of his intellectual brilliance and his remarkable abilities as a speaker, writer and organiser, Trotsky quickly assumed a leading role.

Lev Davidovich Bronshtein was born on the 7th of November 1879. A noted revolutionary and facing multiple phases of exile and incarceration by the Tsarist regime he forged an alliance under the name of Leon Trotsky with the Mensheviks political party in Russia. Working in conjunction with Lenin, he eventually joined the Bolshevik party in support of the Revolution and later serves in key leadership and administrative positions. With the continued power struggle and clash of ideologies in the new Russian government, he was eventually exiled by Stalin and eventually assassinated by the regime. Trotsky had the unique position of not only living during the era of the Russian revolution but also as a participant and eventual historian of the

First is the Russian Revolution. Before the revolution, Trotsky became a member of the Menshevik Faction. Then he came to Russia in 1917 after he escaped the St. Peter Soviet of 1903. He joined the revolution despite Lenin’s disagreements and Trotsky had a theory of a permanent revolution (‘Leon Trotsky’). In the revolution, he at first was a foreign commissar. When he negotiated a peace treaty with Germany, he went up to a war commissar and led the triumphant Red Army against the White Army (‘Leon Trotsky’).

Lenin believed that Trotsky was the best suitable to take the Communist party to the next level. Trotsky was not all that popular among party members though and Stalin was in a position as Gen Sek, or General Secretary, to place his people in powerful positions throughout the party. Also, Stalin worked extremely hard at achieving power whereas Trotsky was rather lazy. Because of these reasons along with Stalin's "zero tolerance" attitude towards everyone, he was able to seize control.