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Sampson 1

Triniti D. Sampson
Mrs. Throckmorton
English 1
30 September 2014
Leon Trotsky (1879-1940)
Leon Trotsky or other known as Lev Davidovich Bronstein was a communist
theorist, writer, and leader in the 1917 Russian Revolution, the soviet Russias first
commissar for foreign affairs under Lenin from the years 1917-1918. Leon Trotsky was
the machine gun of the commissariat of finance. The name Leon Trotsky came up when
he escaped from prison and made up a fake name Trotsky was the name of the head jailor
of the Odessa prison. 1905 was when Trotsky started his writing career in Russia; he
started writing articles for pamphlets and newspaper to inspire protests and help raise the
Russian Revolution. By late 1905 Trotsky became a leader of the revolution. Leon
Trotsky didnt care about anyone but himself, not even his wives or children.
What was Trotskys early life like? Trotskys father was Jewish and was a
landowner, he didnt know how to read or write. Like any good parent he wanted more
for his son then he had for himself. Trotskys mother was Russian and learned at a young
age to read and write. His father insisted that his son would lead a better life than he had
and made sure that Trotskys mother put in effort to make sure he knew her skills and
more. His mother taught him how to write and read, though his mother was a great
teacher his father wanted more for him, he found a school and signed him up
immediately.

Sampson 2

Triniti D. Sampson
Mrs. Throckmorton
English 1
30 September 2014
Trotsky picked up on many different languages very fast and he also started
getting arrogant very fast, just like many talented athletes who let their above average
abilities go to their head because of Trotskys privileged upbringing and early lessons he
was always highly ahead of everyone academically and it went to his head which made
people not like him very much. Trotsky started to get rid of his Jewishness in order to
become more Russian. His home life was nice and comfortable, he had a lot of love
growing up but not enough attention he was the fifth child of eight but still taken very
well care of.
In 1895 Trotsky dropped his studies to go off and lead a student group, his father
was very upset that he spent his life trying to ensure his son had a better education than
he did and was shocked that Trotsky left something so important to lead a life chasing
something that was simple and dumb. Many of his fathers worries were that not all of his
children would get a good education like Trotsky thats why his father was so
disappointed when he dropped out school.
Left something so important to lead something that was simple and dumb. Many
great people in the world have dropped out and made something great of themselves
without going with what the system has to say. For example, Steve Jobs never graduated
from college and one of the most creative technological thinks of all time. There are
many examples of people who chose to follow their own career path and Trotsky was one

Sampson 3

Triniti D. Sampson
Mrs. Throckmorton
English 1
30 September 2014
of them. I think that kind of support and motivation to do something so risky is amazing
and I think that if more people had the chance they would do something they truly love
and enjoy instead of something that just brings in money.
Trotsky was a keen debater he was mostly influenced by the political
developments of Western Europe. Trotsky was criticized on many things but the main
things are centralism and militarized forms of work. During this time he was the chief
archectic of the new army (the Red army) within a very short time he transformed the
irregular militia into an army with strict forma discipline. 100,000 men volunteered for
the Red Army and at the end of 1920 there were about 5.5 million men. He worked as the
Soviet Russias first commissar for foreign affairs for two years and for his last duties he
issued a few proclamations and shot down shop.
When Lenin died in 1924 there was a big fight over who was going to replace
him. This fight was between Stalin, Trotsky, Kamenev, Zinoviev and Bukharin. It came
down to Stalin and Trotsky but Stalin won. Just like in his childhood Trotsky was
disliked by his peers for being arrogant and therefore lost in the race as Lenins
replacement. People thought of Trotsky as very condescending and had an attitude that
pushed people out instead of bringing people in.
Trotsky was exiled from the party because Stalins ruthlessness over powered
Trotskys arrogance and too many of his fellow communists agreed with kicking Trotsky

Sampson 4

Triniti D. Sampson
Mrs. Throckmorton
English 1
30 September 2014
out of the party. Many people thought that Stalin was very patriotic and Trotsky was
completely against the Soviet Union. Trotsky soon got deported from Russia; he then
worked to stage a second revolution to remove Stalin. Even though he got pulled out of
the party and Russia he still had his writing and he very much excelled in it. Stalin then
hired an agent to assassinate Trotsky; he then got killed on August 20, 1940.

Sampson 5

Triniti D. Sampson
Mrs. Throckmorton
English 1
30 September 2014

Works Cited
Wikipedia contributors. "Leon Trotsky." Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia. Wikipedia,
The Free Encyclopedia, 2 Oct. 2014. Web. 2 Oct. 2014.

"Modern History." HSC Online. 1 Jan. 2014. Web. 3 Oct. 2014.


<http://hsc.csu.edu.au/modern_history/personalities/trotsky/3279/significance.htm#c>.

Brown, Archie. The Cambridge Encyclopedia of Russia and the Soviet Union. Cambridge
[Cambridgeshire: Cambridge UP, 1982. 332-333, 469-470, 472, 109, 435,. Print.

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