On this day in 1940, the world learned of the assassination of Leon Trotsky, a defining moment in the brutal rivalries of the Soviet era.
Leon Trotsky, one of the leaders of the Russian Revolution of 1917 and a fierce opponent of Joseph Stalin, was struck down in Mexico City, where he had been living in exile. The assassin, Spanish communist Ramón Mercader, attacked Trotsky with an ice pick on Stalin’s orders.
Trotsky, a central figure in the Bolshevik victory during the Russian Civil War, had once been a key ally of Vladimir Lenin. But after Lenin’s death, he clashed with Stalin over the future of the Soviet Union. Stalin’s rise to power forced Trotsky into exile, stripped of citizenship, and eventually made him the target of a global manhunt.
Mercader posed as a sympathiser who had infiltrated Trotsky’s inner circle. On 20 August 1940, he struck Trotsky in the head. Gravely wounded, Trotsky fought with his attacker and reportedly told guards not to kill him, insisting he be interrogated. Trotsky died from his injuries the following day, 21 August, at the age of 60.
The assassination of Trotsky eliminated Stalin’s most prominent rival and sent shockwaves through the international socialist movement. For many, it symbolised the ruthless consolidation of Stalin’s rule and the suppression of dissent within the Soviet world.
Trotsky’s legacy lives on in the political movements that bear his name, Trotskyism, which continue to advocate for his vision of international revolution and opposition to authoritarianism.
Also read: ON THIS DAY: Karl Marx publishes Communist Manifesto (1848)
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