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Date Posted: 20:11:30 05/06/03 Tue
Author: Mr John D Clare
Subject: The role of Trotsky
In reply to: 's message, "What was the role of Trotsky in the Russian Revolution?" on 19:09:17 05/06/03 Tue

Trotsky was VITALLY important throughout the Russian Revolution:

1. Trotsky was one of the main thinkers behind the Communists
He had become a workers’ leader aged only 20, and in 1900 was exiled. He spent most of the next 17 years abroad – apart from 1905, when he came back to Russia and became the Chairman of the St Petersburg Soviet during the 1905 revolution. During his years of exile:
· He was editor of Pravda (Truth) – the main Communist newspaper. He also wrote in other Communist newspapers. He helped to form what Communists believed.
· He attacked the war in his book ‘War and the International’ (1914), setting out the ideas for Communist foreign policy – World Revolution and the spread of Communism to other countries.

2. Trotsky organised the November Revolution, 1917
Lenin did not like Trotsky, but Trotsky was so important that Lenin was forced to work with him Trotsky became Chairman of the Military Revolutionary Committee – ie leader of the Bolshevik Red Guards. As such, it was Trotsky who organised the November Revolution and carried it out.
After the Revolution, Trotsky became a member of the Politburo – the committee of 5 Bolsheviks who ran the government.

3. Trotsky organised the peace Treaty of Brest-Litovsk (1917)
After the November Revolution, Lenin made Trotsky Commisar for Foreign Affairs.
Trotsky did not conduct foreign affairs in the old way. He was very blunt – he closed down the French Information Bureau because of its anti-Soviet propaganda, and arrested all Englishmen in Russia until the English released a Soviet journalist they had detained.
The Politburo decided that they had to have peace with Germany, and ordered a ceasefire Nov 7. Trotsky had to accept the very harsh terms of the Treaty of Brest-Litovsk – but then he told the Germans that he would destroy them just as soon as Germany lost the war!

4. Trotsky organised the Terror
Actually, Trotsky opposed Terror – he said: ‘We have not organised the revolution to kill’. But there were so many groups trying to destroy the Bolsheviks that, on 20 Dec 1917, Lenin created the ‘Extraordinary Commission for the Suppression of the Counter-Revolution’ (the Cheka) = a secret police force. Trotsky was put in charge, and began mercilessly to eliminate all enemies of the Revolution.

5. Trotsky won the Civil War
When the ‘Whites’ attacked the Bolsheviks and started the Civil War, Lenin made Trotsky Commissar for War, and President of the Supreme War Council. As such, he won the Civil War virtually single-handed:
· He declared: ‘War is the instrument of policy’.
· He rebuilt the Russian army based on the Red Guards.
· He raised troops – increasing numbers from 7,000 in March 1918 to 5 million in Sep 1920.
· He recruited and trained the army officers which was VERY difficult – remember that most officers supported the Whites
· He organised the supplies of weapons and food to the army.
· When the Kronstadt sailors revolted in Mar 1921, Trotsky forced the Red Guards to attack across the melting ice, and ruthlessly put down the revolt.

6. Trotsky thought up the New Economic Policy
Trotsky had realised long before 1921 that the Russians were starving and that eventually they would turn against the Bolsheviks – so he proposed a New Economic Policy to let them have a little prosperity. At first everyone opposed him, but the Kronstadt rebellion made them see that he was right – Lenin brought in the NEP in 1921.

7. Trotsky was used to give Stalin power
After Lenin’s death, Trotsky lost the battle with Stalin to take over power. He was exiled in 1929 and murdered in 1940. During all that time, he wrote books (esp. a History of the Russian Revolution) attacking Stalin. Stalin’s propaganda machine used Trotsky as a focus for its propaganda, denouncing him as the fount of all evil.

There is a lot more about Trotsky at <a rel=nofollow target=_blank href="http://www.spartacus.schoolnet.co.uk/RUStrotsky.htm">http://www.spartacus.schoolnet.co.uk/RUStrotsky.htm</a>

Finally, remember that the above is just a whole load of WHAT HE DID. You will need to look at what the question is actually asking and USE this information to answer what you have been asked.

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