Trotsky Bolshevik Revolutionary Marxist Theorist Red Army Commander

Leon Trotsky was a Bolshevik revolutionary and Marxist theorist who proved to be an influential politician during the early days of the Soviet Union. He was also the founder and commander of the Red Army and Peoples Commissar of War. Trotskyism, a variation of communist theory, founded by him, is now considered one of the major schools of Marxist thought.

In 1896, Trotsky was involved in revolutionary activities for the first time at Nikolayev. Although he was opposed to Marxism at the beginning, his imprisonment and periods of exile made him a Marxist. South Russian Workers Union in Nikolayev was organized by him in 1897 and used the name Lvov to write and print leaflets, proclamations, pamphlets etc., to motivate industrial workers and radical students. The Russian Social Democratic Labor Party was formed in 1898, when he was in prison and from then onwards considered himself a member of the party.

In Siberia, Trotsky became conscious of the divergences within the party and finally immigrated to London to join Georgy Plekhanov, Vladimir Lenin, Julius Martov and other editors of Iskra, a London-based newspaper. However, he split with Lenin, due to differences in opinion. In February 1905, he secretly returned to Russia, where he first wrote leaflets for an underground printing press in Kiev. He wanted to have an elected non-party revolutionary organization representing the workers. In 1906, he along with other Soviet leaders was charged with supporting an armed rebellion.

With the outbreak of the 2nd World War, Trotsky along with other social democrats, were engaged in anti-war positions and participated in the Zimmerwald Conference of anti-war socialists in September 1915. He was sent to Spain from France in 1916 and then to America and Nova Scotia. Finally, the Russian foreign minister asked for his release and was finally arrested in 1917. After the Russian Revolution, he became the Peoples Commissar for Foreign Affairs and led the Soviet delegation during the peace negotiations.

In the spring of 1918, Trotsky became the head of the Red Army. He also played a key role in the Civil War between 1918 and 1920. After Lenins death in 1924, 1925 was a particularly difficult year for him and in May he was appointed Chairman of the Concessions Committee, head of the electro-technical board and chairman of the scientific-technical board of industry. Later he resigned from 2 technical positions and with growing in-fighting within the party; he was expelled from the Central Committee in 1927.

Trotsky opposed the rise and policies of Joseph Stalin during the 1920s but failed in the struggle of the Left Opposition. He was deported from Soviet Union and continued to oppose Stalinist bureaucracy even while in exile as Head of the Fourth International. Born on November 7, 1879, he was assassinated on August 21, 1940, by Ramon Mercader, a Soviet agent, in Mexico. Trotsky