Lev Davidovich Trotsky is real. The Mysterious Demon of the Revolution - Lev Davidovich Trotsky

In 1994, a book entitled “Special Assignments: Memoirs of an Unwanted Witness – Master of Soviet Espionage” was published in America, which immediately became sensational.

The author of this literary masterpiece was Pavel Anatolyevich Sudoplatov, a Soviet intelligence agent who was responsible for organizing the murder of one of the most prominent political and government figures in Soviet Russia, Lev Davydovich Trotsky. The name of Pavel Sudoplatov was kept a closely guarded secret for 58 years.

Who is he, this secret agent, whose revelations shed light on one of the mysteries of Russian history? Sudoplatov was born in the city of Melitopol in 1907, as a twelve-year-old teenager he left to defend Soviet power in the ranks of the Red Army, and in 1921 he became an employee of the Cheka.

Six years later, Sudoplatov began working in the Secret Political Directorate of the Ukrainian OGPU in Kharkov. The activity and diligence of the young employee were soon noticed by the Ukrainian authorities, and in 1933 Sudoplatov was transferred to the Foreign Department of the allied OGPU in Moscow (a few years later, on the basis of this department, the First Directorate of the NKVD would be formed).

In the capital, Sudoplatov continued to work diligently, his zeal did not go unnoticed by the leadership. In 1939, the young security officer received an important task from Comrade Stalin himself: he had to organize an operation to eliminate Leon Trotsky, who was living in Mexico at that time.

Soon after this significant meeting, Pavel Anatolyevich Sudoplatov was appointed to the post of deputy head of the First Directorate of the NKVD, where he remained until 1942, which he largely owed to the successful completion of the operation to liquidate Trotsky.

Lev Bronstein (this is Trotsky’s real name) until the end of his days remained Stalin’s personal enemy, the most famous opponent of the “father of nations”, who openly expressed his attitude towards the political situation in the Land of the Soviets.

For a number of decades, Trotsky was presented by domestic historians as an enemy of the people; the word “Trotskyist” was a common noun; it was used to brand everyone who allegedly interfered with the construction of socialism. Numerous legends were associated with Trotsky’s name; he was even called a state criminal who fled abroad in search of salvation. This man played a significant role in Russian history, the significance of which cannot but be appreciated, but his life is nothing more than a drama with a tragic ending.

In the history of the social democratic movement, the name of Leon Trotsky can be placed on a par with the names of such outstanding figures as K. Marx, F. Engels, V. I. Lenin, I. V. Stalin, K. Zetkin, K. Liebknecht, R. Luxembourg et al.

The ideas of Marxism, which became the ideological basis of the social democratic trend, attracted the attention of Lev Bronstein back in 1896, at which time he joined the ranks of the Russian Social Democratic Labor Party (RSDLP) under the pseudonym Trotsky.

The active young man quickly became one of the most popular figures in Russian Social Democracy.

In 1903, after the significant Second Congress of the RSDLP (1903), which split the single party into two parts, Trotsky became a significant figure in the ranks of the Bolshevik organization.

The very next year, he made a proposal to unite the Bolshevik and Menshevik factions, but his idea did not meet with support from either one or the other: the differences were too significant.

Being a supporter of the radical left, Trotsky nevertheless believed that fundamental changes in Russian society should occur during a permanent (continuous) revolution: having completed a bourgeois revolution, the Russian proletariat would move to the socialist stage of the revolution, in which workers from all over the world would take part. Let us recall that it was Trotsky who was the developer of the theory of permanent revolution, the main ideas of which were formulated already by 1905.

Participation in the revolution of 1905-1907 brought Lev Davydovich fame in the circles of St. Petersburg workers; perhaps, he became one of the brightest figures and the de facto leader of the Petrograd Council of Workers' Deputies.

From 1908 to 1912, Trotsky served as editor-in-chief of the newspaper Pravda. In February 1917, he was elected chairman of the Petrograd Council of Workers' and Soldiers' Deputies, and after the October events he became a member of the Politburo of the Central Committee of the Bolshevik Party (he held this position for another seven years, from 1919 to 1926) and People's Commissar for Foreign Affairs.

In 1918, Trotsky received a new appointment, after which he had to combine the duties of People's Commissar for Military Affairs with the duties of Chairman of the Revolutionary Military Council of the Republic.

On the initiative of this man, the Workers' and Peasants' Red Army (RKKA) was created in 1918 to protect Soviet power. Its actions on many fronts of the Civil War were led by Trotsky himself.

In the memory of the soldiers, Lev Davydovich remained a tough and stern man, who often used repressive measures to maintain order in the ranks of the Red Army (later the “father of nations” transferred these methods of establishing order to everyday life).

Trotsky was the main opponent of Joseph Vissarionovich Stalin. They looked at the modern reality of Soviet Russia differently, and their plans for the fate of the country after Lenin’s death had nothing in common at all. Trotsky later described the Stalinist regime as a bureaucratic degeneration of proletarian power.

In 1924, the leader of the world proletariat died, and Trotsky’s views were declared a petty-bourgeois deviation in the RCP(b). From that time on, the life of the largest statesman and political figure in the Land of Soviets changed dramatically.

The campaign against the oppositionists launched by Stalin in 1927 also affected Trotsky, who was charged with counter-revolutionary activities in accordance with Article 58 of the Criminal Code of the RSFSR. On the same day he was expelled from the party.

The investigation into the Trotsky case was short-lived; after a few days, a car with prison bars on the windows was rushing the enemy of the people and his family to Alma-Ata, away from the dear capital. This was the last journey through the Moscow streets of the legendary founder of the Red Army and leader of the October Revolution.

Alma-Ata soon gave way to Turkestan, then numerous moves followed: from the Turkish possessions (Prince's Islands in the Sea of ​​Marmara), Trotsky's family moved to France, then to Sweden and finally settled in Mexico. It was a real exile. At the same time, a message appeared on the pages of the Pravda newspaper about depriving the enemy of the people of Trotsky of Soviet citizenship and the right to return to their homeland.

The man was in distant Mexico, and his shadow continued to hover over Russia: in Moscow, one trial in the case of the Trotskyist-Zinoviev bloc was replaced by another, as a result, Trotsky’s closest associates, Zinoviev and Kamenev, were convicted. In Leningrad, Kirov became the victim of a secret conspiracy.

The family of Lev Davydovich arrived in Mexico just in the same year when the next trial in the case of the Trotskyists began in Moscow, in which Trotsky himself was the main defendant (note that he was not even present at the hearing). The latter was charged with political espionage and secret connections with Hitler and the Japanese Emperor.

Moreover, prosecutor Vyshinsky, who was in charge of the case, made a statement that unexpected disasters in domestic mines, enterprises and railways, as well as repeated attempts on the lives of Stalin, Kirov and other members of the Politburo, did not happen without the participation of Trotsky. In other words, the exile was blamed for all the failures and mistakes of the Soviet government.

Lev Davydovich’s wife Natalya later recalled: “We listened to the radio, received mail and Moscow newspapers and felt the madness, absurdity, baseness, deception and blood that filled us from all sides here in Mexico... With a pencil in his hands, Lev Davydovich... tirelessly noted the lies , which grew so large that it became impossible to refute it.”

Wanting to justify himself in the eyes of the world proletariat and absolve himself of all charges brought against him, Trotsky wrote a letter to the participants of the rally in New York with the following content: “I am ready to appear before a transparent and impartial commission of inquiry with documents, facts, evidence... and reveal the truth to the end.

I declare: if this commission decides that I am even in the slightest degree guilty of the crimes that Stalin attributes to me, I undertake in advance to voluntarily surrender into the hands of the executioners of the GPU...

I make this statement in front of the whole world. I ask the press to publish my words in the most remote corners of our planet. But if the commission establishes that the Moscow trial is a conscious and deliberate falsification, I do not ask my accusers to voluntarily go to execution. No, eternal damnation in the memory of human generations will be enough for them!

Trotsky’s arrival in Mexico was not accidental; his friend, the famous Mexican artist, one of the founders of the Mexican Communist Party Diego Rivera, lived in this country.

The exile became for the painter a heroic figure worthy of being captured on canvas. Later, Rivera actually created a panel glorifying class struggle and communism, the central images of which were Lenin and Trotsky. This work adorned the walls of Rockefeller Center in New York for a number of years, horrifying respectable American citizens.

It was the Mexican artist who gave shelter to Leon Trotsky and his wife Natalia: the exiles settled in Rivera’s Blue House in one of the outskirts of Mexico City.

However, even here, far from his homeland, Lev Davydovich was the object of attacks by local communists. By order of President Cardenas, police officers were on duty at the Blue House day and night, and supporters of Trotsky’s ideas from the United States served in the inner chambers.

It is worth noting that the American Trotskyists not only protected their ideologist, but also provided him with great assistance in his propaganda work.

At this time, Moscow and the entire Land of Soviets lived in an atmosphere of tense anticipation. Young and old, ordinary workers and peasants, high-ranking officials and members of the Politburo - everyone listened anxiously to see if the noise of the wheels of a car with bars on the windows could be heard on the street at night and if there would be a characteristic knock on the door.

Even people who carried out righteous judgment could not feel safe. The OGPU and the secret services were also purged, like all other institutions.

Quite often, representatives of diplomatic services, as well as intelligence and counterintelligence agents, were recalled from European countries to the USSR, where a “fair” Soviet court charged them with treason. Many agents, who knew full well about their future fate in their homeland, committed suicide.

A sad fate also befell Ignacy Reiss, who led Soviet counterintelligence in Europe. In protest against the purges and miscarriages of justice, he stopped his espionage activities even before the call to Moscow arrived.

A few days earlier, Reiss had informed Trotsky of Stalin's decision to eliminate Trotskyism outside the Soviet Union by any means necessary. According to the counterintelligence officer, to achieve this goal it was planned to use all methods: blackmail, cruel torture, painful interrogations and even terrorist acts.

Six weeks after sending this letter, Reiss was found dead on a road near Lausanne, with about a dozen bullets found in his body.

Soon, the Mexican police managed to find out that the people who killed Reiss were also watching the son of Leon Trotsky, by the way, also Leo. It was established that in January 1937, foreign adherents of Stalin were preparing to make an attempt on his life in the town of Mulhouse, where Lev was going to come to discuss with a lawyer the claim against the Swiss Stalinists.

However, the killers failed to carry out their plan: the victim did not arrive on time. This incident gave reason to think about the question: is there a provocateur in Leo Jr.’s circle?

Soon, the French authorities, who were investigating the murder of Ignace Reiss, received information according to which, after committing this crime, one of the terrorists applied to the Mexican visa service with a request to grant him the right to reside in this country; in addition, he acquired a detailed plan of Mexico City.

The information received forced Trotsky and his family members to be more cautious. In one of his messages to his son, Lev Davydovich wrote: “If an attempt is made on your or my life, Stalin will be blamed, but he has nothing to lose, at least in terms of honor.”

In September 1937, an international commission led by Dewey announced the results of the Trotsky case and issued a verdict: “Based on all the materials ... we believe that the trials in Moscow in August 1936 and January 1937 were fakes ... We believe that Leon Trotsky and Lev Sedov (Trotsky’s son) is not guilty.” This message made Lev Davydovich very happy. However, the general public did not attach much importance to the verdict of the international commission; nevertheless, the exile felt a surge of new strength and the ability to work intensively.

Trotsky's joy was soon overshadowed by a series of sad events: his son Lev had serious health problems; in early February 1938 he suffered an acute attack of appendicitis. It was impossible to postpone the operation for a long time, and Lev agreed to receive medical care in a small private clinic on the outskirts of Paris, where Russian emigrant doctors worked. Mister Martin, a French engineer (this is how Trotsky’s son introduced himself) was operated on the same day.

The operation was quite successful, and within a few days Leva was on the mend. But then the unexpected happened - the patient’s health deteriorated sharply, severe pain caused loss of consciousness, and in his delirium the young man often repeated Russian words.

Trotsky Jr.’s wife, Zhanna, in every possible way denied the words of the surgeon, who suspected the patient of attempting suicide. In her opinion, Lev was poisoned on the orders of the NKVD.

The new operation was unsuccessful, the patient’s health deteriorated, and on February 16, 1938, Lev Sedov died. He was only 32 years old.

During the investigation into the circumstances of the death of Trotsky’s son, it was found that the young man became a victim of the Main Security Directorate, part of the NKVD. Later, Etienne, Lev Jr.’s closest associate, admitted that after calling an ambulance, he immediately reported this to the authorities, and as a result, appropriate measures were taken.

In addition, at the trials held in Moscow, Trotsky’s son was found to be an active Trotskyist and guilty of aiding an enemy of the people.

Moreover, Lev Sedov was declared the chief of staff of the Trotskyist-Zinovievist conspiracy. Many employees of the Main Security Directorate were of the opinion that “the young man works well, without him the old man would have had a much more difficult time.”

The news of his son's death greatly affected the health of Leon Trotsky. His wife described the sad event this way: “I was just... looking through old drawings and photographs of our children. Call. I was surprised to see Lev Davydovich... He entered with his head bowed, as I had never seen him, his face was ashen-gray and unexpectedly aged. "What's happened? – I asked in alarm. “Are you sick?” He answered quietly: “It’s bad with Leva, with our little Leva.”

Trotsky spent seven long days and nights in his room, grieving for his son. During this time, he had changed a lot, he was simply unrecognizable: a swollen face, a grown beard, a stern look from dull eyes.

For the third time this man mourned his child. In 1928, his youngest, twenty-six-year-old Nina, died. Her already poor health was undermined by the arrest and exile of her husband.

The daughter from Trotsky's first marriage, Zina, who was once an active participant in the revolutionary movement and then emigrated to Germany, suffered from a severe nervous disorder for a number of years. Feeling useless to society, she committed suicide in January 1933.

Lev Davydovich was also worried about the fate of his youngest son, Sergei, who remained in Russia. The messages coming from Moscow turned out to be of little comfort: informants reported that for several months Sergei was demanded to publicly renounce his father, and after refusing, he was sentenced to five years of camp life and sent to Vorkuta.

At the beginning of 1937, the authorities, dissatisfied with the results of the previous trial, returned Sergei Trotsky to the capital to continue interrogations; no one heard anything more about him. Most likely, he was no longer alive.

Of Trotsky’s heirs, only Zina’s son, Seva, who was born in 1925 and lived with his mother in Germany, managed to survive.

In the spring of 1939, Lev Davydovich moved from Rivera's Blue House to Avenida Viena on the outskirts of Coyoacan. The house he rented turned out to be very old, but quite solid and large. By order of Trotsky, an observation tower was built at the gate; In addition to the alarm system installed in the house, security was carried out by loyal people, and police were constantly on duty on the street.

Thus, Trotsky’s house turned into a real fortress, which Lev Davydovich left very rarely. This circumstance affected his hobbies: Trotsky took up floriculture (cacti became his passion) and began raising chickens and rabbits in his garden.

According to his wife, Lev Davydovich loved animals very much and felt sorry for them; he independently looked after them, cleaned their cages, and fed them.

The arrival of Seva’s grandson somehow diversified the couple’s life. After the death of his mother, the boy traveled around Europe for some time: from Germany he moved to Austria, then to France, schools and languages ​​changed constantly. Seva practically did not speak Russian, but he had no problems communicating with his grandparents.

In February 1940, Leon Trotsky wrote a will, in every line of which tragic anticipation was felt. In this message, he tried to reflect his life credo: “For 43 years of my adult life, I was a revolutionary, a Marxist... My faith in the communist future of humanity is now no less ardent, but stronger than in the days of my youth.”

It would seem that Trotsky did not stop the “father of nations” from carrying out his Last Judgment: all his supporters and members of their families were destroyed, but Stalin thought differently.

Criticism of Trotsky, coming from the other side of the world, cast a shadow on the bright image of the leader. Lev Davydovich reacted ardently to the events taking place in the Soviet Union, and his reports about the crimes of Stalin’s henchmen found a response in Europe and America, critical articles of Trotsky appeared in many newspapers around the world.

In the last days of April 1940, the message “You are being deceived” was written, addressed to Soviet workers, peasants, soldiers and sailors. The sailors secretly smuggled Trotsky's leaflet into the Soviet Union and distributed it among the population.

“Your newspapers lie to you in the interests of Cain-Stalin, his corrupt commissars, secretaries and agents of the GPU,” wrote Trotsky. “Your bureaucracy is bloodthirsty and merciless at home, but cowardly before the imperialist powers.”

He called Stalin "the main source of danger for the Soviet Union." Of course, in such a situation the head of the Soviet state could not allow Trotsky to live.

By order of Stalin, NKVD secret agent Jackson was sent to Mexico - under this nickname Ramon Mercader, the son of the Spanish communist Caridad Mercader, was listed on the lists.

The operation was prepared very carefully, thinking through every detail. According to the plan, in mid-May an “unexpected” meeting between Mercader (he came to Paris under the name Mornard) and Sylvia Agelof, an ardent Trotskyist, who, as Trotsky’s secretary, had access to his fortress, took place in Paris in mid-May.

The lonely, unattractive person was an old maid. Marriage did not threaten her, and with great pleasure and some surprise she accepted the passionate courtship of a handsome and well-mannered man.

Mornar did not show much interest in politics and spent a lot of money on entertainment and visiting bars and restaurants. When Sylvia went to the USA for a while, he visited her, and then asked her to go with him to Mexico. The woman in love happily accepted his proposal.

A few days after Silvia and Ramon returned to Mexico, NKVD agents attempted to assassinate Trotsky. The operation to destroy the enemy of the people was led by the talented Spanish artist David Siqueiros, with whom state security officers established contacts during the Spanish Civil War. Around the same time, the painter met the Mercader family.

Meanwhile, in Trotsky’s house, everything was ready to repel an armed attack: security was increased and put on alert.

On the night of May 23-24, 1940, Trotsky's house became the target of an attack. Lev Davydovich, who had been working hard all day, went to bed late, and early in the morning, as soon as dawn broke outside the window, he was awakened by a noise similar to machine-gun fire. With his wife and grandson, he was forced to hide on the floor behind the bed.

The shooting continued for about half an hour, but, fortunately, all family members survived. The attackers probably considered their deadly mission accomplished and left peacefully.

When Lev Davydovich went out into the street, the following picture appeared to his gaze: the police officers guarding the street were disarmed and tied up, glass shards were lying everywhere.

Mexico City police have launched an investigation into an armed attack on the home of a Russian emigrant. During his testimony, when asked by the investigator about the main suspect, Trotsky replied: “The author of the attack is Joseph Stalin, acting through the GPU.”

A few days later, Trotsky described the sensations of that terrible night: “The shots were too close, here in the room, next to me and above my head. The smell of gunpowder smoke intensified and permeated everywhere. We were attacked." After Trotsky’s death, this information penetrated the pages of foreign newspapers, the article was called “Stalin is looking for my death.”

From that time on, the house on Avenida Viena lived in an atmosphere of doom. Getting up in the morning, Lev Davydovich addressed his wife with the following words: “You see, they didn’t kill us this night, and you’re still unhappy.”

A few days after the failed assassination attempt, the main executor of the responsible assignment of the GPU met Trotsky. A few weeks earlier, Mercader began a relationship with the Rosmers, close friends of Lev Davydovich. That day, the killer was going to have lunch with new friends and picked them up on Avenida Viena. At the invitation of Natalia Trotskaya, he stayed for lunch. This was the beginning of the end.

According to the guards, from May 28 to August 20, 1940, Jackson (as mentioned earlier, that was the name of Mercader by the NKVD officers) visited Trotsky’s house 10 times and during this time he saw his victim only two or three times.

The killer behaved quite modestly, trying not to arouse suspicion. Each of his visits to the house on Avenida Viena was accompanied by the appearance on Natalia Trotskaya’s table of a flower bouquet or a box of chocolates.

Three days before the upcoming operation, a dress rehearsal took place. Jackson appeared at Trotsky’s house with an article in his hands, Lev Davydovich agreed to read it and express his opinion. The entire time Trotsky was getting acquainted with the contents of the article, the killer stood behind him, without taking off his hat and holding a cloak in his hands, under which a dagger, a pistol and an ice pick were hidden.

Probably Lev Davydovich felt Mercader's deception. He repeatedly told his wife that this man was not who he said he was (the killer introduced himself as a Belgian who grew up in France).

Finally August 20th arrived. At about five o'clock in the evening, Trotsky, who had been working all day on an important article for the book "Stalin", went out to feed his rabbits. Soon Jackson approached him, bringing a revised article.

According to Natalya Trotskaya, who watched what was happening from the balcony, the guest was holding a coat in his hands. This circumstance alarmed the woman somewhat, since it was warm and sunny outside.

The men went into the office. As soon as Trotsky sat down at the table and bent over the manuscript, Mercader dealt him a terrible blow to the head. During his testimony, the killer said: “I put my coat on a chair, took out an ice pick and, closing my eyes, brought it down on Trotsky’s head with all the force I was capable of.”

He believed that the blow would be fatal, but the victim screamed piercingly, it seemed that only a mortally wounded animal could scream like that. “I will hear this scream all my life,” Mercader said during the investigation.

Despite being seriously wounded, Trotsky jumped out from behind the table and began throwing everything he could get his hands on at the killer. With a fractured skull and bloody face, he was terrifying. Gathering his last strength, the wounded man rushed to Mercader standing in front of him, bit him on the hand and snatched the ice ax. The killer, who did not expect the attack and was shocked by what was happening, did not even manage to use either a pistol or a dagger.

Natalya came running into the office in response to the scream; at the sight of her bloodied husband, she understood everything. Trotsky was laid on the sofa, he could hardly speak. Lev Davydovich barely audibly whispered, turning to his wife: “You know... I felt... I understood what he wanted to do...”. Then, turning slightly towards Secretary Hansen, he added in English: “This is the end. Take care of Natalya, she has been with me for many, many years.”

At this time, the guards were beating the killer, and loud screams were heard throughout the house. In a barely audible whisper, Trotsky said: “Tell the guys not to kill him. You don’t need to kill him, you need to make him talk.” Trying to justify himself, Mercader shouted: “They are holding me, they imprisoned my mother...”

When the doctor arrived at the house on Avenida Viena, one half of Trotsky’s body no longer felt anything. The paralyzed Lev Davydovich was sent to the hospital. All this time he was conscious and even told the investigator information about Mercader: “He is a political murderer... An agent of the GPU...”

In the hospital, Trotsky was prepared for surgery for several hours; at approximately 19:30 he lost consciousness. Five surgeons performed craniotomy: one part of the brain was destroyed, the other suffered from numerous bone fragments.

However, Lev Davydovich survived the operation, and over the next twenty-two hours his body fought for its life.

The tenacity with which this mortally wounded man clung to life amazed even doctors who were accustomed to everything. In their practice, this was perhaps the only case when a victim with such a terrible injury - a split skull - managed to live, periodically regaining consciousness, for about a day.

Trotsky died on August 21, 1940 at 19:25, without regaining consciousness. The results of the autopsy performed immediately after death were stunning: it was determined that Trotsky's brain weighed 2 pounds 13 ounces, that is, 0.4 kg.

The very next day, a large funeral procession marched through the main streets of Mexico City. Many, having learned about the tragedy through the media, decided to pay tribute to the memory of Trotsky. For five days they said goodbye to one of the creators of the Russian revolution, during which time about 300 thousand people passed by his coffin. On the streets they sang the song “The Great Bullfight of Leon Trotsky,” written by an unknown author.

It was decided to cremate the body of the deceased; The procedure took place on August 27. The urn with the ashes was buried in the ground in a small fortress on the outskirts of Coyoacan. A white boulder was placed over the grave and a red flag was placed.

The tragic death of Lev Davydovich Trotsky belongs to the category of political murders. The ubiquitous agents of the state security services of the Soviet Union were able to implement Stalin’s order even on the other side of the world, on the territory of a foreign country.

The fate of Ramon Mercader, Trotsky's murderer, turned out to be much happier: after serving his sentence in a Mexican prison, he moved permanently to Moscow, where he was awarded the Gold Star of the Hero of the Soviet Union.

Leon Trotsky can be called one of the most controversial figures in the history of the 20th century. He was an ideologist of the revolution, created the Red Army and the Comintern, dreamed of a world revolution, but became a victim of his own ideas.

"Demon of the Revolution"

Trotsky's role in the 1917 revolution was key. One can even say that without his participation it would have failed. According to the American historian Richard Pipes, Trotsky actually led the Bolsheviks in Petrograd during the absence of Vladimir Lenin, when he was hiding in Finland.

Trotsky's importance for the revolution is difficult to overestimate. On October 12, 1917, as chairman of the Petrograd Soviet, he formed the Military Revolutionary Committee. Joseph Stalin, who in the future would become Trotsky’s main enemy, wrote in 1918: “All work on the practical organization of the uprising took place under the direct leadership of the chairman of the Petrograd Soviet, Comrade Trotsky.” During the attack on Petrograd by the troops of General Pyotr Krasnov in October (November) 1917, Trotsky personally organized the defense of the city.

Trotsky was called the “demon of the revolution,” but he was also one of its economists.

Trotsky came to Petrograd from New York. In the book of the American historian Anthony Sutton, “Wall Street and the Bolshevik Revolution,” it is written about Trotsky that he was closely associated with Wall Street tycoons and went to Russia with the generous financial support of the then American President Woodrow Wilson. According to Sutton, Wilson personally gave Trotsky a passport and gave the “demon of the revolution” $10,000 (more than $200,000 in today’s money).

This information, however, is controversial. Lev Davidovich himself commented in the newspaper “New Life” on rumors about dollars from bankers:

“Regarding the story of 10 thousand marks or dollars, neither is mine
the government and I knew nothing about it until information about it appeared
already here, in Russian circles and the Russian press.” Trotsky further wrote:

“Two days before I left New York for Europe, my German associates gave me a farewell rally.” At this meeting, a gathering for the Russian revolution took place. The collection gave $310.”

However, another historian, again an American, Sam Landers, in the 90s found evidence in the archives that Trotsky did bring money to Russia. In the amount of $32,000 from the Swedish socialist Karl Moor.

Creation of the Red Army

Trotsky is also credited with creating the Red Army. He set a course for building an army on traditional principles: unity of command, restoration of the death penalty, mobilization, restoration of insignia, uniform uniforms and even military parades, the first of which took place on May 1, 1918 in Moscow, on Khodynskoye Field.

An important step in the creation of the Red Army was the fight against the “military anarchism” of the first months of the existence of the new army. Trotsky reinstated executions for desertion. By the end of 1918, the power of the military committees was reduced to nothing. People's Commissar Trotsky, by his personal example, showed the Red commanders how to restore discipline.

On August 10, 1918, he arrived in Sviyazhsk to take part in the battles for Kazan. When the 2nd Petrograd Regiment fled without permission from the battlefield, Trotsky applied the ancient Roman ritual of decimation (execution of every tenth by lot) against deserters.

On August 31, Trotsky personally shot 20 people from among the unauthorized retreating units of the 5th Army. At the instigation of Trotsky, by decree of July 29, the entire population of the country liable for military service between the ages of 18 and 40 was registered, and military conscription was established. This made it possible to sharply increase the size of the armed forces. In September 1918, there were already about half a million people in the ranks of the Red Army - more than two times more than 5 months ago. By 1920, the number of the Red Army was already more than 5.5 million people.

Barrier detachments

When it comes to barrage detachments, people usually remember Stalin and his famous order number 227 “Not a step back,” however, Leon Trotsky was ahead of his opponent in the creation of barrage detachments. It was he who was the first ideologist of the punitive barrage detachments of the Red Army. In his memoirs “Around October,” he wrote that he himself substantiated to Lenin the need to create barrier detachments:

“To overcome this disastrous instability, we need strong defensive detachments of communists and militants in general. We must force him to fight. If you wait until the man loses his senses, it will probably be too late.”

Trotsky was generally distinguished by his harsh judgments: “As long as the evil tailless monkeys called people, proud of their technology, build armies and fight, the command will put soldiers between possible death in front and inevitable death behind.”

Over-industrialization

Leon Trotsky was the author of the concept of super-industrialization. The industrialization of the young Soviet state could be carried out in two ways. The first path, which Nikolai Bukharin supported, involved the development of private entrepreneurship by attracting foreign loans.

Trotsky insisted on his concept of super-industrialization, which consisted of growth with the help of internal resources, using the means of agriculture and light industry to develop heavy industry.

The pace of industrialization was accelerated. Everything was given from 5 to 10 years. In this situation, the peasantry had to “pay” for the costs of rapid industrial growth. If the directives drawn up in 1927 for the first five-year plan were guided by the “Bukharin approach,” then by the beginning of 1928 Stalin decided to revise them and gave the green light to accelerated industrialization. To catch up with the developed countries of the West, it was necessary to “run a distance of 50–100 years” in 10 years. The first (1928-1932) and second (1933-1937) five-year plans were subordinated to this task. That is, Stalin followed the path proposed by Trotsky.

Red five-pointed star

Leon Trotsky can be called one of the most influential “art directors” of Soviet Russia. It was thanks to him that the five-pointed star became the symbol of the USSR. When it was officially approved by the order of the People's Commissar of Military Affairs of the Republic Leon Trotsky No. 321 dated May 7, 1918, the five-pointed star received the name “Mars star with a plow and hammer.” The order also stated that this sign “is the property of persons serving in the Red Army.”

Seriously interested in esotericism, Trotsky knew that the five-pointed pentagram has a very powerful energy potential and is one of the most powerful symbols.

The swastika, the cult of which was very strong in Russia at the beginning of the 20th century, could also become a symbol of Soviet Russia. She was depicted on the “Kerenki”, swastikas were painted on the wall of the Ipatiev House by Empress Alexandra Feodorovna before the execution, but by Trotsky’s sole decision the Bolsheviks settled on a five-pointed star. The history of the 20th century has shown that the “star” is stronger than the “swastika”. Later, the stars shone over the Kremlin, replacing the double-headed eagles.

Who was really unlucky in Soviet historiography was Trotsky! They were crossed out from everywhere, all merits were disavowed. They physically destroyed both himself and almost all his close relatives. The truth emerged only decades later. Unsightly, bloody, uncomfortable - but what it is.

Biography and activities of Leon Trotsky

Lev Davidovich Trotsky (real name Bronstein) was born in 1879 on the Yanovka farm in southern Russia. He was the fifth child in the family of a very wealthy landowner. The father of the family did not even know how to read, which, however, did not in the least prevent him from succeeding in life. Both parents worked in the fields along with numerous farm laborers. The father of the family grew richer year by year, and the family continued to live in a dugout with a thatched roof.

Lev received a certain education - first in Nikolaev, then in Odessa. I was always the first in my studies. He had an excellent memory, fresh thinking and a fatherly bulldog grip. The youth of the future revolutionary fell during the cult of the Narodnaya Volya. They were almost deified. Leo was ambitious, tenacious and extremely ambitious. He was completely devoid of any good spirit and did not build utopian dreams. He is quickly becoming a mature man.

At the beginning of her journey, Leva Bronstein was far from revolutionary impulses. He was torn between mathematics and social activities. In the end, he dropped out of school and devoted himself to revolutionary ideas. He started as a populist in the late 90s. XIX century. He was arrested for campaigning activities and spent two years in prison. Communication with other prisoners made him a convinced Marxist.

In 1900, Lev was sent into exile in the Irkutsk province. There he spent two years, got married, and became the father of two daughters. Then he left his wife and left for Europe, explaining that revolutionary duty was above all else. To escape, he used a false passport, where he entered the name of the former prison guard - Trotsky. She became the party pseudonym of Lev Bronstein.

Trotsky came to London, met with, and began to collaborate in the Iskra newspaper. There was agreement between the two leaders only until Trotsky showed his own ambitions. It was then that he received the labels that stuck firmly to him - “Judas” and “political prostitute.” Lenin, as you know, did not mince words, even towards his allies. They quarreled with Trotsky and made peace again.

In 1905, Trotsky was arrested and put in solitary confinement in the Peter and Paul Fortress. There he did not feel disadvantaged: he wrote a lot, and then handed over the manuscripts to his lawyers, whom no one inspected on the way out. According to the court verdict, eternal settlement in Siberia awaited him. However, Trotsky does not even reach his destination and again flees abroad, to France, where he takes an active part in the publication of socialist newspapers. Now he is finally becoming an independent political figure.

The French authorities deport him to America. There he learned about. He is in a hurry to return to Russia. He plunges headlong into business. He is elected Chairman of the Council of Workers' and Peasants' Deputies. It was Trotsky who was the organizer and inspirer. Lenin seizes the initiative a little later. Trotsky forms Red Guard detachments. Lenin and Trotsky in every possible way stimulated the lawlessness of the masses.

The culminating moment in Trotsky's biography is the civil war and the formation of the Red Army. This “demon of the revolution” travels on all fronts on his personal armored train, agitates, shoots, and gives orders. He was not a commander - he relied on unbridled terror and intimidation of dissidents. After the war, Trotsky became People's Commissar of Railways. The period of his factional activity begins, in opposition to the rising Stalin and many other party comrades.

Trotsky found himself alone and lost in the struggle for power. They were afraid of him. Trotsky did not lose so much - he was defeated by other former party comrades, in particular Bukharin, Rykov and Tomsky. Bukharin was the main ideologist of the party, Rykov headed the government, Tomsky headed the trade unions. In 1925, Trotsky was removed from his post as People's Commissar for Military and Naval Affairs.

In 1926, he was removed from the Politburo of the Central Committee of the All-Union Communist Party of Bolsheviks. The next year he was removed from all posts and sent into exile in Alma-Ata. In 1929, Trotsky was expelled from the USSR and then deprived of Soviet citizenship. His wife, Natalya Sedova, and son Lev left with him. Trotsky turned out to be of no use to anyone and a burden to everyone. He often changed his place of residence, rushing around the world (France, Denmark, Norway) until he settled in Mexico. Here he breathed freely. He began to form parties all over the world. Created the IV International.

Stalin gave the order to destroy Trotsky at any cost. Having gained Trotsky's trust, Soviet agent Ramon Mercader broke his head with an ice pick on August 20, 1940.

• Trotsky's killer served a twenty-year sentence and returned to Moscow, where he already received the title of Hero of the Soviet Union.

Lev Davydovich's real name is Leiba Bronstein. Born in 1879 in the village of Yanovka, Kherson province, Elizavetgrad district. Studying at the Odessa Real School, and then at Nikolaev, Lev Davydovich was already distinguished by his willful and conflictual character.
Having joined the Narodniks in 1896, he considered the meaning of his life to be the struggle to improve the economic situation of workers and their political education, and was an active creator of the South Russian Workers' Union.
Once in prison on Butyrka, he became familiar with the ideas of Marxism. He was exiled for 4 years to the Irkutsk province, which he served together with his wife, Sokolovskaya Alexandra, who bore him two daughters. Having abandoned his family, he fled abroad in 1902 using someone else’s passport. From that time on, he acquired the pseudonym Trotsky, based on the last name on his fake passport.
While in London, he was engaged in revolutionary propaganda through the editorial office of the newspaper Iskra, where he was recommended by Lenin. At the Second Congress of the RSDLP he criticized the activities of the Bolsheviks, accusing them of dividing the party and establishing a dictatorial regime. But he also broke up with the Mensheviks in 1904. While in prison, he formulated ideas about permanent revolution. The sentence condemned the politician to eternal settlement and deprivation of civil rights, but Trotsky fled abroad.
He expressed an anti-war position regarding the World War of 1914 and called for revolution throughout the world.
He was able to return to Russia only in May 1917; Lev Davydovich supported Lenin in the idea of ​​​​growing the February revolution into a socialist one. While criticizing the Provisional Government, actively participating in organizing an armed uprising, creating the Council for the Defense of Petrograd, he actually organized and led the October Revolution. He became a people's commissar of the first Soviet government in charge of foreign affairs, but did not achieve success in this post. As People's Commissar for Military Affairs, and then the chairman who headed the Revolutionary Military Council of the Republic, Trotsky actively worked to create the Red Army: to professionalize the army, he recruited military specialists - officers who served in the tsarist army; strengthened discipline; using punitive measures. He was not only a theorist, but also a practitioner of the “Red Terror”.
A participant in the creation of the Comintern, People's Commissar of Transport, Trotsky, being an administrator, always welcomed the use of force. So he called for a strict distribution of material goods and the creation of a labor army. Trotsky even proposed to carry out industrialization through forced labor and complete collectivization.
He took part in the struggle for power even at a time when Lenin was ill. After the death of the leader, he actively condemned the policies pursued by I.V. Stalin. In his opinion, the party leadership betrayed the October ideals, abandoning the revolution throughout the world.
The actions of the politician were called anti-party, having a “petty-bourgeois bias.” He was first removed from the Politburo membership, then expelled from the Communist Party of the USSR. In 1928 he was exiled to Alma-Ata, and already in 1929 Trotsky and his family were expelled from the USSR.
He lived abroad in several countries: Turkey, France, Norway, Mexico, since the governments of many states refused to accept him. Until August 1940, Lev Davydovich was actively involved in political activities. He wrote many works, including his main work on the history of the Russian revolution. In his writings, Trotsky criticized the Stalinist regime, calling it a bureaucratic degeneration of the dictatorship of the proletariat, and called for the overthrow of the Stalinist regime.
Gathering his supporters, he created the IV International in 1938.
J.V. Stalin, considering that the expulsion of Trotsky from the USSR was an insufficient measure, ordered his liquidation. In 1940, after the second attempt, Trotsky was mortally wounded by Ramon Mercader, a communist from Spain.
What did the head of state fear when he ordered the expulsion of Trotsky from the USSR? Why was the doctrine of a political figure - Trotskyism - dangerous for the USSR?
Trotskyists consider themselves true Marxists - Leninists. In their opinion, the leader of the movement played all the leading roles in organizing the October Revolution and creating the Red Army. This can be perceived as truth by those social strata of society both in the USSR and throughout the world that are politically immature.
These same sections of society support the Trotskyists as “left-wing” revolutionaries calling for “immediate” change. The Trotskyists, in turn, take advantage of revolutionary impatience.
Expulsion from the USSR was a necessary measure to get rid of a person who was contradictory in his actions: while fighting tsarist despotism, Trotsky called for adaptation to autocracy; actively participating in the October Uprising, he tried to slow down its progress.
Trotskyism as a movement is dangerous due to its secrecy and disguised opportunism. The ideas of Trotskyism are distinguished by their consistency in anti-Leninist and anti-Bolshevik activities, attracting those dissatisfied with the policies of the Communist Party. And this was the main reason for Trotsky’s expulsion from the USSR.