Was Leon Trotsky a good person and what was he known for?

In 1918, during the Russian Civil War, V.I. Lenin had 3 people who he absolutely trusted: Yakov Sverdlov, Josef Stalin and Leon Trotsky. They were all devout Communists. They all hated Capitalism. They were all able to kill for power. Sverdlov die... read more

Trotsky and Stalin fought for power in the Bolshevik inner circle. Stalin won. He was better. Trotsky lost and he was allowed to go into exile. He spent the rest of his days badmouthing Stalin. One day a NKVD killer put a piolet in his head. Lev Trotsky was not a good person. He was known for creating the Red Army. read more

Leon Trotsky, leader and founder of the victorious Red Army, was an obvious choice. Too obvious, perhaps, for his own good. His competition, most notably Stalin, worked to defame his name, drawing on alleged conflicts with Lenin and attempts to credit himself more than the Bolsheviks. read more

Leon Trotsky was born Lev Davidovich Bronstein in Yanovka, Ukraine—in the Russian Empire—on November 7, 1879. His parents, David and Anna Bronstein, were prosperous Jewish farmers. When he was 8 years old, Trotksy went to school in Odessa, then moved in 1896 to Nikolayev, Ukraine, for his final year in school. read more