Leon Trotsky
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Modern History Assessment: Task 3- Personalities in the Twentieth Century.
Leon Trotsky: 1879-19
“Insurrection is an art, and like all arts has its own laws”-Leon Trotsky
Leon Trotsky or Lev Davidovich Bronstein as was his birth name, was born on 26 October 1879, In Kherson, a southern Ukrainian province. His father, named David, was what was known as a Kulak (Rich Peasant). He was Jewish and this was an unusual and rare combination in the 19th century Russian society. This “Rich peasant” would later become one of the most influential and significant figure in the Russian revolution against the Tsarist regime.
Leon Trotsky is defined as many things, a Marxist, ruthless military dictator, revolutionary. Left and right wing historians have been in debate over the true depth of Trotsky’s role in the Soviet Union during his lifetime. An example of this would be Isaac Deutscher, a historian and author of texts such as (Deutscher, I. (1954). The Prophet Armed: Trotsky 1879-1921. USA: Oxford University Press.) Deutscher praises Trotsky as a revolutionary prophet and a hardcore Marxist theorist who was manipulated and disposed of by the one and only Joseph Stalin. In contrast to this, the historian Richard Pipes, (Pipes, R. (1995). A Concise History of the Russian Revolution.) Condemns and shuns Leon Trotsky as a “Brutal Fanatic”, and a mediocre and insignificant politician. The question that must be asked is “Are these historians reliable?” The two historians are limited by their political perspectives, which are adherently and quite obviously biased. Isaac Deutscher’s account is seemingly blinded by his Marxist ideology and also due to his past as a Trotskyist.
Between the years 1917-1923, Trotsky unarguably played the revolutionary. He enlisted as a Bolshevik in 1917 and was arrested for the involvement in and organizing of the “July Days”, which was a failed attempt by the Bolsheviks to seize control and power. With the mounting pressure against Alexander...
Leon Trotsky: 1879-19
“Insurrection is an art, and like all arts has its own laws”-Leon Trotsky
Leon Trotsky or Lev Davidovich Bronstein as was his birth name, was born on 26 October 1879, In Kherson, a southern Ukrainian province. His father, named David, was what was known as a Kulak (Rich Peasant). He was Jewish and this was an unusual and rare combination in the 19th century Russian society. This “Rich peasant” would later become one of the most influential and significant figure in the Russian revolution against the Tsarist regime.
Leon Trotsky is defined as many things, a Marxist, ruthless military dictator, revolutionary. Left and right wing historians have been in debate over the true depth of Trotsky’s role in the Soviet Union during his lifetime. An example of this would be Isaac Deutscher, a historian and author of texts such as (Deutscher, I. (1954). The Prophet Armed: Trotsky 1879-1921. USA: Oxford University Press.) Deutscher praises Trotsky as a revolutionary prophet and a hardcore Marxist theorist who was manipulated and disposed of by the one and only Joseph Stalin. In contrast to this, the historian Richard Pipes, (Pipes, R. (1995). A Concise History of the Russian Revolution.) Condemns and shuns Leon Trotsky as a “Brutal Fanatic”, and a mediocre and insignificant politician. The question that must be asked is “Are these historians reliable?” The two historians are limited by their political perspectives, which are adherently and quite obviously biased. Isaac Deutscher’s account is seemingly blinded by his Marxist ideology and also due to his past as a Trotskyist.
Between the years 1917-1923, Trotsky unarguably played the revolutionary. He enlisted as a Bolshevik in 1917 and was arrested for the involvement in and organizing of the “July Days”, which was a failed attempt by the Bolsheviks to seize control and power. With the mounting pressure against Alexander...