NSWModern History

Section III (Personalities): Leon Trotsky, Revolutionary and Theorist of Permanent Revolution

13 dot points across 13 inquiry questions. Click any dot point for a focused answer with worked past exam questions where available.

What role did Trotsky play in the 1905 Revolution, and what did the experience teach him?

Trotsky's role in the 1905 Revolution, including his return to Russia in February 1905, his chairmanship of the St Petersburg Soviet from October to December 1905, his arrest in December 1905, his 1906 trial, and the political lessons embodied in Results and Prospects
A focused answer to the HSC Modern History Personality dot point on Trotsky in 1905. The February return, the Soviet of Workers' Deputies, the October Manifesto, Trotsky's 50-day chairmanship, the 3 December arrest, the 1906 trial, and Results and Prospects (1906) as the first programmatic statement of Permanent Revolution.
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How was Trotsky assassinated, and what does the operation tell us about Stalin's reach?

Trotsky's assassination in Coyoacan, Mexico, on 21 August 1940, including the 24 May 1940 Siqueiros raid, the NKVD penetration of the Coyoacan household, the Ramon Mercader operation, and the long preparation of Stalin's order
A focused answer to the HSC Modern History Personality dot point on the assassination. The fortified Coyoacan residence, the 24 May 1940 Siqueiros raid, the NKVD Operation Duck under Sudoplatov, Ramon Mercader (Jacques Mornard, Frank Jacson), the ice axe attack of 20 August 1940, Trotsky's death the following day, and Mercader's 1960 release.
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How did Trotsky perform as Commissar for Foreign Affairs, and what was the significance of Brest-Litovsk?

Trotsky as Commissar for Foreign Affairs, November 1917 to March 1918, including the publication of the secret treaties, the negotiations at Brest-Litovsk, the 'no war, no peace' formula, the German offensive of February 1918, and the eventual signature of the Brest-Litovsk Treaty on 3 March 1918
A focused answer to the HSC Modern History Personality dot point on Trotsky as Commissar for Foreign Affairs. The November 1917 publication of the Tsarist secret treaties, the Brest-Litovsk negotiations, the 'no war, no peace' formula of January 1918, Operation Faustschlag, the 3 March 1918 signature, and the move to the War Commissariat.
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What was Trotsky's background, and how did his early life shape his political development as a Marxist?

Trotsky's background and political development, including his Jewish Ukrainian farming family, his Nikolayev radicalisation, his arrest and Siberian exile, his 1902 escape, the London meeting with Lenin, and the 1903 RSDLP split that placed him outside both factions
A focused answer to the HSC Modern History Personality dot point on Trotsky's early life. The Yanovka farm, the Nikolayev South Russian Workers' Union, the 1898 arrest, Siberia, the 1902 escape via Iskra, the 1903 London Congress, and the early non-factional positioning between Bolsheviks and Mensheviks.
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Where did Trotsky live in exile, and what did he write there?

Trotsky's life and writings in exile, 1929 to 1940, including the Prinkipo, French, and Norwegian residences, the Mexican refuge, the autobiography My Life (1930), the History of the Russian Revolution (1932), and The Revolution Betrayed (1936)
A focused answer to the HSC Modern History Personality dot point on Trotsky in exile. The 1929-1933 Prinkipo, the 1933-1935 French residences, the 1935-1936 Norwegian internment, the Mexican Coyoacan years, and the major books: My Life (1930), History of the Russian Revolution (1932), The Revolution Betrayed (1936), and the unfinished Stalin.
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Why did Trotsky found the Fourth International in 1938, and what was its programme?

Trotsky's founding of the Fourth International in September 1938, including the 1933 break with the Comintern after the German catastrophe, the International Left Opposition, the Transitional Programme, the Founding Conference at Perigny, and the rival socialist tradition the new International represented
A focused answer to the HSC Modern History Personality dot point on the Fourth International. The 1930 International Left Opposition, the 1933 break with the Comintern after Hitler's seizure of power, the September 1938 Founding Conference at Alfred Rosmer's house near Paris, the Transitional Programme drafted at Coyoacan, and the rival Marxist tradition to Stalinism.
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How have historians interpreted Leon Trotsky, and how has the verdict changed over time?

The historiography and modern interpretations of Leon Trotsky, including the Stalinist anti-myth, Isaac Deutscher's classic trilogy of 1954 to 1963, Pierre Broue's 1988 biography, the post-1991 archival opening, and Robert Service's revisionist 2009 biography
A focused answer to the HSC Modern History Personality dot point on Trotsky historiography. The Stalinist anti-myth of the Short Course (1938), Isaac Deutscher's three-volume biography (1954-1963), Pierre Broue (1988), Dmitri Volkogonov (1992), Robert Service's 2009 revisionist Trotsky, and the post-2009 Patenaude and North critiques.
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How did Trotsky respond to the Moscow Trials, and what was the Dewey Commission?

Trotsky's response to the Moscow Trials, 1936 to 1938, including the August 1936 trial of Zinoviev and Kamenev, the January 1937 Pyatakov trial, the March 1938 Bukharin trial, and the John Dewey Commission of Inquiry at Coyoacan in April 1937
A focused answer to the HSC Modern History Personality dot point on the Moscow Trials and Dewey Commission. The August 1936, January 1937, and March 1938 Trials, the framing of Trotsky, the John Dewey Commission Coyoacan hearings of April 1937, the December 1937 Not Guilty report, and Trotsky's pamphlet The Stalin School of Falsification (1937).
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What was Trotsky's role in the October Revolution of 1917?

Trotsky's role in the October Revolution of 1917, including his May 1917 return, his July arrest, his Bolshevik membership from late July, his Petrograd Soviet chairmanship from September, his chairmanship of the Military Revolutionary Committee, and his direction of the 24-25 October seizure of power
A focused answer to the HSC Modern History Personality dot point on October 1917. The May 1917 return, the Mezhraiontsy fusion, the July Days arrest, the Petrograd Soviet chairmanship, the Military Revolutionary Committee, the 24-25 October seizure of power, the Second Congress of Soviets, and Lenin's later assessment of Trotsky as the second man of October.
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What was Trotsky's theory of Permanent Revolution, and why did it matter politically?

Trotsky's theory of Permanent Revolution, including its 1906 formulation in Results and Prospects, its mature 1929 statement in The Permanent Revolution, and its political function as the alternative to Stalin's Socialism in One Country
A focused answer to the HSC Modern History Personality dot point on Permanent Revolution. The 1906 essay, the Parvus collaboration, combined and uneven development, the proletariat as the revolutionary class in a backward country, the international dimension, and the 1928-1929 rearticulation as the direct alternative to Stalin's Socialism in One Country.
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How did Trotsky build and lead the Red Army during the Russian Civil War?

Trotsky as People's Commissar for War, 1918 to 1925, including the construction of the Red Army on conscription and military specialist foundations, the political commissar system, the armoured train, the defence of Petrograd in 1919, and the Polish War of 1920
A focused answer to the HSC Modern History Personality dot point on Trotsky as War Commissar. The March 1918 appointment, conscription and ex-Tsarist military specialists, the political commissar system, the armoured train, the Tsaritsyn dispute with Stalin, the August 1918 to October 1919 turning points, the Polish War of 1920, and the Kronstadt revolt of March 1921.
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What was Trotsky's analysis of Stalinism in The Revolution Betrayed (1936)?

Trotsky's analysis of Stalinism in The Revolution Betrayed (1936), including the doctrines of the degenerated workers' state, the bureaucracy as a social caste, the Soviet Thermidor, the call for political revolution, and the influence of the analysis on twentieth-century anti-Stalinist Marxism
A focused answer to the HSC Modern History Personality dot point on Trotsky and Stalinism. The Norway-period composition of The Revolution Betrayed (1936), the degenerated workers' state, the bureaucracy as social layer, the Soviet Thermidor analogy, the call for political revolution, and the influence on twentieth-century anti-Stalinist Marxism.
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How and why did Trotsky lose the struggle with Stalin in the 1920s?

Trotsky's defeat in the struggle for the succession to Lenin, 1922 to 1929, including the trade union dispute, the Lenin Testament, the troika, the Left Opposition platform, the United Opposition of 1926-1927, the November 1927 expulsion, and the Alma-Ata and Prinkipo exiles
A focused answer to the HSC Modern History Personality dot point on Trotsky and Stalin. The 1921 trade union debate, Lenin's Testament, the troika, Socialism in One Country, the Left Opposition, the 1926-1927 United Opposition, the November 1927 expulsion, the January 1928 Alma-Ata exile, and the February 1929 expulsion from the Soviet Union.
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