Leon Trotsky

Leon Trotsky (1879–1940) was a Russian revolutionary, Marxist theoretician and political writer, born in Yanovka, Ukraine, under the surname Bronstein. A leading figure of the October Revolution, he served as People's Commissar for Foreign Affairs and for Military and Naval Affairs, and founded the Red Army. He went into exile in 1929 and was assassinated in Mexico in 1940. His writings combine revolutionary theory with immediate political debate in a sharp, polemical style; his major works include The History of the Russian Revolution and The Revolution Betrayed. The library holds three of his works, covering revolutionary theory, a record of the revolutionary process, and a reply to Karl Kautsky, reflecting his political and historical writing.