Six facts about Trotsky’s life that were rarely spoken about in the USSR

10.01.2023

“You lie like Trotsky,” my grandmother used to say to me when I excitedly told tall tales or tried to cover up any misdeeds. Why did ordinary Soviet people, brought up in the spirit of Communism, associate Leon Trotsky with a liar?

After all, he was the first associate of Vladimir Ulyanov, who was at the helm of the Revolution of 1917. It would seem that on the contrary, this person should have been appreciated and talked about him only in a positive way. About the main facts related to the personality of Trotsky, I will tell in this article.

1. Trotsky is a rich Jew

This man’s real name was Leiba Davidovich Bronstein. He was born in the village of Yanovka near Kherson into a family of Jews. Anna and David Bronstein moved to the land of Kherson from Poltava and were able to acquire several dessiatinas of land, a mill and a workshop. The boy was the fifth child, growing up very bright and eager to learn.

In 1896, Bronstein graduated with honors from St. Paul’s College in Odessa. And just at this time he became fascinated by the works of Karl Marx and strictly followed the “precepts of Marxism”. The most interesting thing is that Marx was “planted” to him by his future wife Alexandra Sokolovskaya, who was 6 years older than Leiba.

2. Changed his last name, escaping from his wife and prison

The underground organization “Southern Russian Workers’ Union” under Bronstein’s leadership existed for almost a year. But in 1898, everyone was arrested and the most ardent members were imprisoned, followed by sending to the mines in Siberia. But Trotsky was lucky here too – he managed to find helpers and two years later organized an escape.

Escaping from prison, Bronstein made himself a new document in the name of Leon Trotsky. Moreover, an interesting fact is that he borrowed the surname from the chief warden of the prison where he was jailed. Sokolovskaya, with whom Bronstein had married shortly before his exile, remained in Siberia with her two young daughters, born in marriage to Trotsky. Later he said that the escape took place with the consent of his wife, and it was she who was in charge of all the organization.

3. Fleeing to London

In 1902, Trotsky decided to leave Imperial Russia and take refuge in London. There he became friends with Vladimir Ulyanov at social-democratic gatherings. Together they published the newspaper Iskra, where Trotsky wrote articles under the pseudonym of “Pero.

At that time Trotsky literally joined the Social Democratic Party of Great Britain: he lectured and engaged in the propaganda of ideas. He was Lenin’s right-hand man, for which he was nicknamed “Lenin’s cudgel. However, already at that time Trotsky and Lenin began to disagree, and in 1905 Leiba Davidovich returned to Russia. There he created a new circle, the “St. Petersburg Soviet of People’s Deputies,” which supported only his beliefs.

4. All of Trotsky’s children died

Active in St. Petersburg again led to his arrest and lifelong exile to the Siberian expanse. But Trotsky escapes again while still on his way to penal servitude. Now Bronstein sneaks off to Vienna, where he takes over the newspaper Pravda.

Four years later, when the Social Democrats in Vienna began to be gradually absorbed by the Bolsheviks, Trotsky moves to France. Abroad, actively producing newspapers and promoting the ideas of Marxism, he lived until 1917, a total of almost 10 years.

In France, Trotsky marries again: the journalist Natalia Sedova. She gave birth to two sons: Lev and Sergei. Lev died under strange circumstances during the operation, and Sergei was shot by the Bolsheviks, accusing him of “Trotskyism. By the way, the daughters did not live long either: Zinaida committed suicide and Nina died of tuberculosis. Alexandra Sokolovskaya lived until 1938, but was caught up in the mass repression and shot for “adherence to Trotsky.

5. Exile to Turkey

Much has been written about how Trotsky and Lenin overthrew the Provisional Government in 1917. I will not dwell on this, I will only say that Lenin again became close to Trotsky, and this friendship lasted until Lenin’s death in 1924.

Then a confrontation began: Stalin, Zinoviev and Kamenev, accusing Trotsky of spreading “Trotskyism,” forced the latter to leave the Soviet Union. In 1926, Bronstein attempted to regain power, but failed. Trotsky was “exiled” to Turkey and stripped of his Soviet citizenship.

6. A Truly Russian Weapon of Murder

In 1935, the Marxist moved to Norway, but there he was also “asked” for fear of confronting the USSR. From there, the disgraced politician leaves with Natalia Sedova for Mexico, where he lives until the NKVD “killer” is sent to him.

Ramon Mercander struck the politician with an ice axe… How did he get the ice axe through the guards? Why this particular weapon, because on August 20, 1940, there was a debilitating heat wave in Mexico? In general, the NKVD’s orders are sometimes difficult to explain…

The murderer served 20 years in a Mexican prison. And upon his return to the USSR, he received the title of Hero…