Soviet demonology was a deep, complex affair. We may, in fact, never discover exactly what was the truth behind all of the lies and destroyed history. Stalinist Russia, and the subsequent Gorbachev controlled-presses that were essentially puppets of Stalin's ghost, performed exceptionally well in its major task of censoring "dangerous individuals." One such "demon" was Leon Trotsky. Trotsky may well have been one of the leading political forces behind communism outside of Russia and, despite his disagreements with Lenin, was one of the three major figures who made the Bolshevik revolution possible.
Trotsky was an intriguing individual on his own. Born Lev Davidovich Bronstein in the Ukraine, his part in contributing to Marxist theory and the Bolshevik revolution could easily distinguish him apart from the many other contemporary revolutionaries. Even today, Trotskyism is a major school of Marxist thought, opposed as it is to Stalinism. Similarly, the subject of the "permanent revolution", as he, playing the part of the "prophet" foretold of and defined more tangibly than Karl Marx himself, is still debated and considered a possibility for communist revolutions. The Bolshevik revolution itself would have been handicapped without its second most influential leader, the first of course being Lenin himself.
However, what makes him truly worthwhile of the investigations that have been carried out by so many essayist and historians is his involvement in Soviet Russia's demonology and the eventual fall of the USSR. The beginning of this was his fall out with Lenin, which was greatly publicized by the forces of Stalinism after the fact. While minor, his decision in 1903 to side with the Mensheviks, a faction opposed to Lenin and his Bolsheviks, was the turn that took his political career down the path of eventual obscurity. The irony of this is that Trotsky left the Menshevik faction shortly after due to a schism between him and the faction's policy (somewhat thematic of his entire political career) and continued on to stage the first failed Soviet revolution.
Trotsky's trial and conviction would prove to be the establishing moment for his life as a political speaker. His deportation to Siberia proved futile, as he escaped en route and headed towards London. During this period of emigration, Trotsky developed his idea of a "permanent revolution" and even demonstrated a few of the tenants. His emigration proved to be a chance to work for the cause of socialism outside of Russia, a major point of the Permanent Revolution. Eventually, though he was in New York at the time, his work to promote socialism and revolution aided in the overthrow of Tsar Nicholas II, or rather, his conviction to abdicate. Though unaffiliated at the time, Trotsky's immediate response was to return to Russia to aid the revolutionaries. With some difficulty, Trotsky returned to Russia three months after the February Revolution.
Upon his return, nearly immediately Trotsky was accepted as a member of the Mezhrainontsy faction. Despite his agreement with the Bolshevik, Trotsky continued along his political path and was quickly put into position as a leader of the new faction. Directly afterward, the First Congress of the Soviets elected him as a member of the All-Russian Central Executive Committee ("VTsIK"), representing the Mezhrainontsy. After a few moments of trouble, Trotsky proved himself a confident leader and finally ended up leading efforts to follow through on the February revolution and combat the Cossacks, and the provisional government headed by Aleksandr Kerensky. Allied with Lenin, he kept unity paramount by avoiding divisions between power in the Soviet, making the Bolsheviks the primary faction in the revolution.
With the Bolsheviks in power, Trotsky was made the People's Commissar of Foreign Affairs. This showed exactly how much Trotsky's star was ascendant for the Bolsheviks. Throughout his period as a leader in the early USSR, he continued to rise in the footsteps of Lenin, who he had reconnected with. His rise was readily apparent and fairly threatening to other revolutionary leaders, especially due to his tendency to switch sides easily. Even Lenin was threatened.
This rise to fame lasted until the 1920 trade union debate, when Lenin finally revealed his growing antipathy for Trotsky. On the surface, Lenin criticized his up-and-coming second for his bureaucratic actions and near-draconic dealings with the trade unions. Deeper down, Lenin's true concern was the fractious nature of the society he had begun to build and Trotsky's antagonistic attitude toward unity. This schism, itself a reminder of the former fall-out between the two in 1903, would also be a point in Stalinism's favor for the eventual overarching plan to declare Trotsky the reason for all of the revolution's downfalls.
Due to this schism, Trotsky quickly began to lose power. Though this division between Trotsky and Lenin was mirrored by a good amount of followers, a quick decisive victory was won in the Tenth Party Congress in March, 1921. Most of Trotsky's supporters were taken down from their places of power and forced divisions and factions to be outlawed outside of pre-Congress discussionsLenin, ill as he was, did not foresee the long-reaching repercussions this action would have. Stalin would later swoop in on this instance and use it as a major point for most of his suppression of dissidence in the future. Surprised by one of his fellows indication that Trotsky would be “thrown away”, the recovering Lenin attempted with haste (as is shown in Lenin's Testament) to prevent the upcoming part split that would begin with his death. One more obvious instance was his attempt to make Trotsky his deputy, to which the council approved. Oddly enough, Trotsky himself “categorically refused.”
