Leon Trotsky Research Paper

Two days ago, Leon Trotsky, co-leader of the Russian Revolution and founder of the Fourth International, was assaulted with an ice pick by a Stalinist agent called Ramón Mercade. He was sitting in his study at his villa in Mexico, his final place of exile, when the attack took place. The great riotous died the next day as he couldn't recover from his deadly injuries. For those who do not know much about this revolutionist, Leon Trotsky came from a Jewish peasant family and was a momentarily Chairman of the Petrograd Soviet in the 1905 Revolution, but was later arrested and exiled to Siberia. Thus, he escaped and lived in exile, then returned back to Russia in May, 1917. He joined the Bolsheviks in July of that year, and played a leading role in the 1917 Russian Revolution. He was the founder and commander of the Red Army, and helped win the Civil War. After the White Army surrendered, Trotsky was elected as a member of the Communist Party central committee. He was clearly situated as Lenin's heir. Trotsky became an important face of Bolshevism

Stalin wants -and still wants- to seize power and become the dictator that he represents. Since Lenin had appointed Stalin to the new post of Central Committee General Secretary, which was not one of the best decisions made, it gave Stalin control over all party-member appointments. He quickly strengthened his power and started lining up allies against Trotsky. Between 1922 and 1924, Lenin tried to oppose some of Stalin's authority and support Trotsky on several occasions. However, a third blow practically silenced Lenin, and Stalin was free to completely push Trotsky out of power; when Lenin died, Trotsky was isolated and alone, and outsmarted by Stalin. From that point on, Trotsky was pushed out of important roles gradually on Soviet government and, was eventually, pushed out of the entire