1. RISE OF STALIN Trotsky was considered the front-runner.
In 1924, no one expected Stalin to become Lenin’s successor.
Yet by 1929, Stalin had managed to outwit all his rivals to become the leader of the Soviet Union. How did he do that?

2. Leon Trotsky

3. LEON TROTSKY
Brilliant and fearless leader with great speaking and writing skills
Played a leading role in the October 1917 Revolution
Led the Red Army to victory during the Civil War
Saw himself as Lenin’s rightful heir
Seen as arrogant by his opponents

4. Trotsky’s handicaps
Trotsky was a Jew and very conscious of the fact that this constituted a political handicap. Anti-Semitism was an ingrained feature of Russian society and continued under communist rule.
In 1917 he had declined Lenin’s offer to be a commissar on the grounds that his appointment would be an embarrassment to Lenin and the government, he said it would give enemies grounds for claiming that the country was ruled by a Jew.

5. Biography Born: Yanovka, Ukraine on November 7th, 1879
Died: August 20th, 1940
Parents:
David Leont'evich Bronshtein
Anna L'vovna Bronshtein
A Russian Jewish revolutionary leader
Soviet politician
14 years old= introduced to Marxism in Nikolayev
1897= organized the underground South Russian Workers' Union
January 1898= Arrested
1890= deported to Siberia & married Alexandra Lvovna (had 2 daughters)
1892= escaped and went to London alone.
Joined the Social Democratic Party
Met and worked with a group of Marxists producing the journal Iskra.

6. Biography
1903= Married Natalya Sedova (had two sons: Leon and Sergei Sedov)
A part of the Mensheviks from
2nd congress of the Social Democratic Party
May 1917= he went back to Russia
Joined the Bolsheviks in 1917
Founder and first leader of the Red Army
A close friend of Lenin

7. Early Politics Introduced to Marx’s ideas at 14
Joined South Russian Workers’ Union
Arrested for revolutionary activity & sent to Siberia
Escaped to London
Joined Social Democratic Party

8. Lenin & Martov
Lenin – small party professional revolutionaries with supporters
Supporters formed the Bolsheviks
Martov – large party of activists
Supporters formed the Mensheviks
Trotsky supported Martove
Martov won by small margin

9. St Petersburg Soviet 1905 challenged Nicholas II
Arrested and imprisoned
Moved throughout Europe during WWI
Lenin tried to get him to join the Bolsheviks

10. Relationship with Lenin
Both against Mensheviks, Provisional Government, and Social Revolutionaries
They were in the Bolsheviks together since July 1917
Appointed to be the commissar for foreign affairs by Lenin for the Bolsheviks in November 1917
Appointed Commissar of War by Lenin in 1918
Reached success together (Trotsky was in charge when Lenin was hiding during the July Days)

11. May 1917 Returned to Russia after overthrow of Tsar
Angry at Menshevik support of Provisional government so joined the Bolsheviks
Imprisoned by provisional government but freed by Bolsheviks

12. Military Role Trotsky recruited members for the new Red Army
"Show me another man who could have practically created a model army in a year and won respect of the military specialist as well.“ – Lenin
Led 5 million man army to success

13. Relationship with Lenin
Won the Civil War because he created a strong force of army with Lenin’s Red Army
Won over the White Army (a volunteer army created by Kornilov to fight the Bolsheviks after the Kornilov plot in September 1917)

14. Kornilov Plot
Kerensky was scared that Kornilov would take all the credits for his action with his army
Kerensky had to ask the Bolsheviks for help
He gave the Bolsheviks weapons
The Bolsheviks did what was asked of them, which was to convince the Kornilov’s army to desert him.
Held on to the weapons that were given to them and took control of the country.

15. Stalin Lenin was ill so Stalin appointed as General Secretary
Main rival for leadership was Trotsky
Stalin removed Trotsky supporters from the Party Congress
Lenin feared Stalin and so asked for Trotsky’s support
Lenin died before he could have Stalin removed

16. Relationship with Stalin
They are both in rivalry
Stalin didn‘t like that Trotsky became leader of Bolsheviks after Lenin’s death
Stalin used Trotsky’s past to get him out of the group
Gregory Zinoviev and Lev Kamenev
Trotsky was removed from power in 1925 because of Stalin

17. Trotsky & Stalin Trotsky accused Stalin of being a dictator
1925 Stalin removed Trotsky from power
1927 Stalin expelled Trotsky from communist party
1929 Trotsky was exiled and forced from Turkey to France to Mexico…
1940 Stalin had Trotsky assassinated in Mexico City

18. Relationship with Stalin
Stalin caused the deaths of Trotsky’s children (Sergei & Leon Sedov)
In April, 1937, Trotsky appeared before a commission of inquiry in New York headed by John Dewey. Trotsky was found not guilty of the charges of treason being made by Stalin.
Trotsky was killed by Ramon Mercader who was under Stalin’s order using an ice pick

19. Contribution to Russia’s History
Led the Civil war to a success for the Bolsheviks
United Front
Permanent Revolution
Trotsky’s conception on Marxist

20. Important Events in His Life
Wrote many books, including “The Revolution Betrayed”, “Defense of Terrorism”, “Lenin”, “My Life”, and “The History of the Russian Revolution”.
In 1937, Trotsky moved to Mexico where he lived in Frida Kahlo's childhood home. They soon became lovers. She called him “El viejo” (the old man). He slipped her notes in books and she painted him a full-length portrait of herself for him. Their relationship lasted only a year.
Frida Kahlo

21. Death/Exile Trotsky was exiled 4 times
1900 from Russia
1905 from Russia
1917 from France and Spain
1928 from Russia
In 1940, while Trotsky was living in Mexico, an agent Stalin sent assassinated him

22. Time Line
1900: exiled from Russia to Siberia for his revolutionary activity as a Social Democrat
1902: escaped from Siberian exile
1905: exiled for his leadership in the St. Petersburg Soviet

23. Time Line 1907: escaped from his second exile
: was a revolutionary writer in Western Europe
1917: he was expelled from France and Spain and went to New York to become an editor of the Russian socialist paper Novy Mir (New World). Heard of the Czar’s downfall and returned to Russia

24. Time Line
1917: planned a power seizure with Lenin that made a Bolshevik government
1917: became the 1st Soviet commissar of foreign affairs and was soon the commissar of war
: Civil War in Russia

25. Time Line
: was the leader of the triumphant Red Army during the Civil War
1924: Lenin’s death
1924: Trotsky and Stalin’s struggle for leadership
1927: was expelled from the communist party

26. Time Line 1928: was exiled from Russia to Soviet Central Asia.
1929: deported to Turkey
1940: Trotsky was assassinated in Mexico by an agent Stalin sent