Ramon Mercader, an undercover agent for the Soviet Union's secret police, attacked Trotsky with a mountaineering ice ax, puncturing his skull. At his trial, he put on a spirited defense and increased his popularity among the party's elite. The letter cited "a host of factual errors", the "repugnant connotations" of the passages in which Service deals with Trotsky's Jewish origins, and Service's recourse to "formulas associated with Stalinist propaganda" for the purpose of discrediting Trotsky. However, 10 years after the collapse of the Soviet government, in 2001, Trotsky's reputation was officially "rehabilitated" by the Russian government. If you are willing to invest the time, Isaac Deutscher's three volume biography of Leon Trotsky is rewarding. After he arrived in Russia in May 1917, he quickly addressed some of the problems forming in post-revolutionary Russia. The couple had two sons. Are there any books and/or biographies that are a must read? His parents, David and Anna Bronstein, were prosperous Jewish farmers. Between 1922 and 1924, Lenin tried to counter some of Stalin's influence and support Trotsky on several occasions. He won the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1957. In January 1907, Trotsky escaped prison and traveled to Europe, where he spent 10 years in exile in various cities, including Vienna, Zurich, Paris and New York, spending much of the time writing for Russian revolutionary journals, including Pravda, and advocating an anti-war policy. Trotsky was born Lev Davidovich Bronstein on 7 November 1879 in Yanovka, Ukraine, then part of Russia. In 1900 he was exiled to Siberia for his revolutionary activities, but he escaped abroad by using a forged passport bearing the name Trotsky. Attacks on Trotsky did not cease. His parents, David and Anna Bronstein, were … I've read Robert Service's biography of modern Russia and it was excellent. He was arrested within a year and spent two years in prison before being tried, convicted and sent to Siberia for a four-year sentence. In October 1927, Trotsky was expelled from the Central Committee and exiled the following January to the very remote Alma-Ata, located in present-day Kazakhstan. Soviet leader Nikita Khrushchev publicized Stalin's crimes, was a major player in the Cuban Missile Crisis and established a more open form of Communism in the USSR. Robert Service completes his masterful trilogy on the founding figures of the Soviet Union in an eagerly anticipated, authoritative biography of Leon Trotsky. We strive for accuracy and fairness. Many of the Social Democrats, including the ambitious Stalin, sided with Lenin. Patenaude, reviewing Service's book alongside a rebuttal by the Trotskyist David North(In Defence of Leon Trotsky), charged Service with making dozens of factual errors, misrepresenting evidence, and "fail[ing] to examine in a serious way Trotsky's political ideas". Reviews in the mainstream British press were predominantly positive. While there, they had two daughters. Andrei Chikatilo was a former school teacher who murdered more than 50 young people in the Soviet Union. Immediately download the Leon Trotsky summary, chapter-by-chapter analysis, book notes, essays, quotes, character descriptions, lesson plans, and more - everything you need for studying or teaching Leon Trotsky. Leon Trotsky's unfinished biography of Stalin, the most extensive ever edition of the book completed from the original archive material. He's a scholar of Russian history and he's written lengthy biographies of Stalin, Lenin and Trotsky.I think you should give him a try. In 1937, Trotsky moved to Mexico, eventually settling in Mexico City, where he continued to criticize Soviet leadership. Albert Camus was a French Algerian writer best known for his absurdist works, including 'The Stranger' and 'The Plague.' For decades, Trotsky was discredited in the Soviet Union, the result of Stalin's hatred and his totalitarian control. Trotsky tried to reconcile the two factions, resulting in numerous clashes with both groups' leaders. Prior to the publication of Trotsky: A Biography, Service had written a number of historical studies and biographies of Russia in the period of revolution: The Bolshevik Party in Revolution 1917-23: A Study in Organizational Change (1979), A History of Twentieth-Century Russia (1997), The Russian Revolution, 1900-27 (1999), A History of Modern Russia, from Nicholas II to Putin (1998, Second edition in 2003), Lenin: A Biography (2000), Russia: Experiment with a People (2002), Stalin: A Biography (2004) and Comrades: A World History of Communism (2007). Trotsky's extraordinary life and extensive writings have left an indelible mark on revolutionary conscience, yet there was a danger that his name would disappear from history. Trotsky wanted to wait out the German government, in hopes that it would be defeated by the Allies or suffer internal insurrection. But the damage was done, and Trotsky had lost much of his political influence over the dispute. On Lenin: Notes Towards a Biography by Leon Trotsky . He was exiled and later assassinated by Soviet agents. By Tim Lambert. Communist Leon Trotsky helped ignite the Russian Revolution of 1917, and built the Red Army afterward. A breach between the two developed and other officials, including Joseph Stalin, took advantage, siding with Lenin to gain favor. He was elected chairman of the Petrograd Soviet, a strong hold of dissent against the provisional government. He died a gruesome death. However, Trotsky had allowed his intelligence and arrogance to antagonize those less able than himself, and in the end, alienated many around him, allowing deceitful men like Stalin to take advantage. Countless studies of the Russian revolutionary movement and the Revolution exist. He presided over the complete transformation of his country, not merely a change of government but a total restructuring of society on every level. By an incredible coincidence, Trotsky and his wife survive. BORN: 1879, Yanovka, Ukraine DIED: 1940, Mexico City NATIONALITY: Russian GENRE: Nonfiction MAJOR WORKS: My Life (1930) The History of the Russian Revolution to Brest-Litovsk (1932) The Revolution Betrayed (1937). Born Lev Davidovich Bronshtein on November 7, 1879, Leon Trotsky's revolutionary activity as a young man spurred his first of several ordered exiles to Siberia. From that point on, Trotsky was steadily pushed out of important roles on Soviet government and, eventually, pushed out of the country. I'm finishing up reading Gulag: A history, and I'm very interested in reading more about Stalin and to a lesser extent Lenin and Trotsky. His biography of Trotsky was positively reviewed in the British and American press on its publication, but two years later was strongly criticized by Service's Hoover Institution colleague Bertrand Patenaude in a review for The American Historical Review. In July 2009, prior to the publication of his own book, Robert Service had written a review of Partenaude's publication Stalin's Nemesis: The Exile and Murder of Leon Trotsky which he applauded for being "vividly told" but also criticised for neglecting Trotsky's crimes while sharing power in the USSR. Trotsky had himself aided the cutting off the only branch which might have supported him. Leon Trotsky was born Lev Davidovich Bronstein to David Leontyevich Bronstein (1847-1922) and Anna Lvovna (née Zhivotovskaya, 1850-1910) on 7 November 1879, the fifth child of a Ukrainian-Jewish family of wealthy farmers in Yanovka or Yanivka, in the Kherson governorate of the Russian Empire (now Bereslavka, in Ukraine), a small village 24 kilometres (15 mi) from the nearest post office. Talks began in January 1918, and Germany had a long list of demands for territory and reparations. One of his housekeepers in Mexico, a peasant woman urbanized, proletarianized, and radicalized by coming to the city, is as good at microfilming as at dusting. While in jail, Trotsky was admitted to the Bolshevik Party and released soon after. Trotsky had a stellar record as a military leader and administrator and seemed the obvious choice among the rank and file membership of the Communist Party. In November 1917, the provisional government was overthrown and the Soviet Council of People's Commissars was formed, with Vladimir Lenin elected chairman. He disapproved of the provisional government because he felt it was ineffectual. In 1903, Trotsky married his second wife, Natalia Ivanovna. In August 1936, 16 of Trotsky's allies were charged with aiding Trotsky in treason. Leon Trotsky biography Leon Trotsky (1879-1940) was a Russian Marxist and leading figure in the Russian Revolution of 1917. He was held there for a month, before the Russian provisional government demanded his release. However, Lenin felt that peace with Germany needed to be made so they could concentrate on building a communist government in Russia. Second, only to Lenin, Trotsky was a key figure in the Russian civil war and the formative years of the Soviet Union. "use strict";(function(){var insertion=document.getElementById("citation-access-date");var date=new Date().toLocaleDateString(undefined,{month:"long",day:"numeric",year:"numeric"});insertion.parentElement.replaceChild(document.createTextNode(date),insertion)})(); Subscribe to the Biography newsletter to receive stories about the people who shaped our world and the stories that shaped their lives. In May, he suffered his first stroke and questions arose over who would succeed him. Lenin favoured Stalin until, too late, their fallout in 1923 really opened Lenin's eyes to the danger of a future with Stalin in power. Trotsky spent the rest of his life in exile, living in the home of Mexican communist artist Diego Rivera in Mexico. In February, he wrote a testament expressing his final thoughts for posterity and forcibly denied Stalin's accusations. The most careful and well-argued biography is a short one by Oleg Khlevniuk, though it misses some dimensions of Stalin by refusing to speculate in the absence of evidence. Provisional Government and Soviet Leadership. Leon Trotsky was born on 7 November 1879 in Ukraine. It is very well-written; it is thorough (if at times tedious) and it is enlightening (especially on his wary relationship with Lenin and his warring relationship with Stalin). Trotsky stood alone as the champion of revolutionary socialism and Cliff's biography is the best possible tribute: The essence of Marxism is action. He was born in Ukraine of Jewish parents named Bronstein. In 1897, Trotsky helped found the South Russian Workers' Union. If you see something that doesn't look right, contact us! Fourteen historians and sociologists signed a letter to the publishing house. In The Daily Telegraph, the popular historian Simon Sebag Montefiore described Trotsky as "an outstanding, fascinating biography of this dazzling titan." At a meeting at the Tenth Party Congress in March 1921, the issue came to a head when several of Trotsky's supporters were replaced by Lenin's lieutenants. His real name was Lev Davidovich Bronstein. His biography of Trotsky was positively reviewed in the British and American press on its publication, but two years later was strongly criticized by Service's Hoover Institution colleague Bertrand Patenaude in a review for The American Historical Review. Blood being the operative word.” ―Christopher Orlet, American Spectator His legacy of being the most brilliant intellect of the Communist Revolution and his reputation as a tireless worker, rousing public speaker and decisive administrator was restored. He reasoned that this would give officials a tighter control over labor and facilitate a greater integration between government and the proletariat. Leon Trotsky's revolutionary activity as a young man spurred his first of several ordered exiles to Siberia. The book has also been harshly criticized by the German historian of communism Hermann Weber who led a campaign to prevent Suhrkamp Verlag from publishing it in Germany. After the Bolsheviks took control of the Soviet government, Lenin ordered the formation of the Red Army and appointed Leon Trotsky its leader. Introduction by New International. Leon Trotsky was born Lev Davidovich Bronstein in Yanovka, Ukraine — in the Russian Empire — on November 7, 1879. 1 An interview with Tariq Ali", https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Trotsky:_A_Biography&oldid=990529575, Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License, This page was last edited on 25 November 2020, at 00:35. His father, David Leontyevich, had lived in Poltava, and later moved to Bereslavka, as it had a large Jewish commu… Wellred Books proudly presents a work eighty years in the making. Robert Service completes his masterful trilogy on the founding figures of the Soviet Union in an eagerly anticipated, authoritative biography of Leon Trotsky. Overview. Francisco Madero was a reformist politician who successfully removed dictator Porfirio Diaz from office in Mexico. Deutscher was a disciple of Trotsky. His eulogy for the late party leader was, in effect, delivered in a biography of Lenin that Trotsky wrote for the 13th edition (1926) of the Encyclopædia Britannica. Although focusing his review on a discussion of what he interprets as the negative side to Trotsky's personality, Gray claims that Service's work is "scrupulously balanced". By 1922, the pressures of revolution and injuries from an earlier assassination attempt had taken their toll on Lenin. Trotsky and his arch-rival Joseph Stalin struggled for power after Lenin's death in 1924. His father was a prosperous Jewish farmer. As Trotsky dug in and refused to modify his position, the dissention grew and Lenin feared the conflict would splinter the party. He was clearly positioned as the Soviet Union's number-two man, next to Lenin. As the Soviet government developed, he engaged in a power struggle against Joseph Stalin, which he lost, leading to his exile again and, eventually, his murder. Robert Service, professor of Russian History at Oxford University, counters such speculative thinking with his new biography on Trotsky. Lenin criticized Trotsky, accusing him of harassing the unions and abandoning his support for the proletariat. Trotsky proved to be an outstanding military leader, as he led the army of 3 million to victory. He was taken to the hospital, but died a day later, at the age of 60. Anastasia was the daughter of the last Russian tsar, Nicholas II. 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