Leon Trotsky and Joseph Stalin

Leon Trotsky and Joseph Stalin

            The year was 1917. The February Revolution removed the czar of Russia from power and placed the Provisional Government in power. In October of the Julian calendar, the Bolsheviks voted in favor of an uprising of the Bolsheviks against the new government. The Bolsheviks had control over the military forces in Petrograd, which was the capital of Russia at the time. The Congress then voted to pass the power to the Bolsheviks. Then the Russian Civil War began for the next 5 years. The White Army was the anti-Bolshevik side aided by the WWI Allies. The Red Army was the Bolshevik army. The Bolsheviks eventually won and took over Russia and renamed it the USSR, Union of Soviet Socialist Republics.

            WWI Russia wasn’t industrialized yet and suffered great losses at the hands of the enemy. After Soviet control came to Russia at the end of the Russian civil war, Lenin dies in 1924. There are now 2 people who will fight to control the Communist Party of the USSR; Leon Trotsky and Joseph Stalin.

            Leon Trotsky was born in November 7th, 1879 in present-day Ukraine. His real name is Lev Davidovich Bronshtein. He became a revolutionist after moving to Nicolayev and being exposed to Marxism. He later helped establish the South Russia Workers Union. He got married around this time to Aleksandra Sokolovskaya, but later divorces. At the time, punishment was exile so he was sentenced to exile in 1902 to Siberia for establishing the union. After escaping from Siberia, he changed his name to Trotsky. He becomes a writer for the paper Iskra, which favors revolution. Trotsky also marries Natalia Sedova and remains married to her until he dies. He went to England and attended the Second Congress of the Social Democratic Labor Party. It was then that the Party split between the Bolsheviks, led by Vladimir Lenin; and the Mensheviks, led by Julius Martov. Trotsky was on the Menshevik side in the beginning of the dispute.

            In 1905, a revolution against the Czar occurred. New councils called Soviets began forming all around Russia. Trotsky was part of the revolution of 1905 and helped form the Petrograd soviet and was later elected chairman of the Soviet. The czar then made a document called the October Manifesto, which gave people some freedom; such as freedom of press, meeting, speech, and made sure laws were not made without the Duma agreeing on it. Trotsky was arrested along with other members of the Soviet and was exiled to Siberia. He remained there for 2 years and began thinking of a permanent revolution of the country and world. Trotsky escaped from Siberia and moved to Vienna, then part of Austria-Hungary. He was editor of a newspaper called the Pravda. He later had to move to Zurich, because of World War I. He kept editing newspaper in Zurich. He was against the war and allied himself with other pacifists. This got him into trouble after he moved to Paris in 1915 and had to move to Spain. After the police found where he was, he moved to New York City in 1917. During his stay in New York, the February Revolution removed Czar Nicholas II from power. He stayed for a short time before returning to Russia. He was stopped in Britain but was released after the Provisional Government of Russia had requested.