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On January 31, 1929, Leon Trotsky was expelled from Russia to Turkey. From the article:
"Leon Trotsky
Leon Trotsky Biography
Activist (1879–1940)
Communist Leon Trotsky helped ignite the Russian Revolution of 1917, and built the Red Army afterward. He was exiled and later assassinated by Soviet agents.
Synopsis
Born Lev Davidovich Bronshtein on November 7, 1879, Leon Trotsky's revolutionary activity as a young man spurred his first of several ordered exiles to Siberia. He waged Russia's 1917 revolution alongside Vladimir Lenin. As commissar of war in the new Soviet government, he helped defeat forces opposed to Bolshevik control. As the Soviet government developed, he engaged in a power struggle against Joseph Stalin, which he lost, leading to his exile again and, eventually, his murder.
Early Life
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. While there, he became enthralled with Marxism.
In 1897, Trotsky helped found the South Russian Workers' Union. He was arrested within a year and spent two years in prison before being tried, convicted and sent to Siberia for a four-year sentence. While in prison, he met and married Alexandra Lvovna, a co- revolutionary who had also been sentenced to Siberia. While there, they had two daughters.
In 1902, after serving only two years of his sentence, Leon Trotsky escaped exile, abandoning his wife and daughters. On forged papers, he changed his name to Leon Trotsky, a moniker he would use the rest of his life. He managed to make his way to London, England, where he joined the Socialist Democratic Party and met Vladimir Lenin. In 1903, Leon Trotsky married his second wife, Natalia Ivanovna. The couple had two sons.
Provisional Government and Soviet Leadership
During the early years of the Social Democratic Party, there were often disputes among the party's leadership over its form and strategy. Vladimir Lenin argued for a small party of professional revolutionaries who would lead a large contingent of non-party supporters. Julius Martov advocated for a larger, more democratic organization of supporters. Leon Trotsky tried to reconcile the two factions, resulting in numerous clashes with both groups' leaders. Many of the Social Democrats, including the ambitious Joseph Stalin, sided with Lenin. Trotsky's neutrality was seen as disloyal.
On January 22, 1905, unarmed demonstrators marching against the Russian Tsar were killed by the Imperial Guard. When word reached Leon Trotsky, he returned to Russia to support the uprisings. By the end of 1905, he had become a leader of the movement. In December, the rebellion was crushed, and Trotsky was arrested and once again sent to Siberia. At his trial, he put on a spirited defense and increased his popularity among the party's elite. In January 1907, Trotsky escaped prison and traveled to Europe, where he spent 10 years in exile in various cities, including Vienna, Zurich, Paris and New York, spending much of the time writing for Russian revolutionary journals, including Pravda, and advocating an anti-war policy.
After the overthrow of Russian Tsar Nicholas II, in February 1917, Trotsky set out for Russia from New York. However, Okhrana (the Tsar's secret police) persuaded British authorities to have him detained at Halifax, Canada. He was held there for a month, before the Russian provisional government demanded his release. After he arrived in Russia in May 1917, he quickly addressed some of the problems forming in post-revolutionary Russia. He disapproved of the provisional government because he felt it was ineffectual. The new prime minister, Alexander Kerensky, saw Trotsky as a major threat and had him arrested. While in jail, Trotsky was admitted to the Bolshevik Party and released soon after. He was elected chairman of the Petrograd Soviet, a strong hold of dissent against the provisional government.
In November 1917, the provisional government was overthrown and the Soviet Council of People's Commissars was formed, with Vladimir Lenin elected chairman. Leon Trotsky’s first role in the new government was serving as commissar for foreign affairs and making peace with the Germans. Talks began in January 1918, and Germany had a long list of demands for territory and reparations. Trotsky wanted to wait out the German government, in hopes that it would be defeated by the Allies or suffer internal insurrection. However, Lenin felt that peace with Germany needed to be made so they could concentrate on building a communist government in Russia. Trotsky disagreed and resigned from this post.
After the Bolsheviks took control of the Soviet government, Lenin ordered the formation of the Red Army and appointed Leon Trotsky its leader. The army's first orders were to neutralize the White Army (Socialist revolutionaries opposed to Bolshevik control) during the Russian Civil War. Trotsky proved to be an outstanding military leader, as he led the army of 3 million to victory. The task was difficult, as Trotsky directed a war effort that was at times on 16 different fronts. It also didn't help that some members of the Soviet leadership, including Lenin, became involved in military strategy, redirecting the Red Army's efforts and countermanding some of Trotsky's orders. In late 1920, the Bolsheviks finally won the Civil War, ensuring Bolshevik control of the Soviet government. After the White Army surrendered, Trotsky was elected a member of the Communist Party central committee. He was clearly positioned as the Soviet Union's number-two man, next to Lenin.
During the winter of 1920-21, as the Soviet government moved from war to peace-time operations, an increasingly acrimonious debate grew over the role of trade unions. Believing that the workers should have nothing to fear from the government, Leon Trotsky advocated the state control the trade unions. He reasoned that this would give officials a tighter control over labor and facilitate a greater integration between government and the proletariat. Lenin criticized Trotsky, accusing him of harassing the unions and abandoning his support for the proletariat. A breach between the two developed and other officials, including Joseph Stalin, took advantage, siding with Lenin to gain favor. As Trotsky dug in and refused to modify his position, the dissention grew and Lenin feared the conflict would splinter the party. At a meeting at the Tenth Party Congress in March 1921, the issue came to a head when several of Trotsky's supporters were replaced by Lenin's lieutenants. Trotsky finally dropped his opposition and, to show his allegiance to Lenin, ordered the suppression of the Kronstadt Rebellion (an uprising of sailors and longshoremen protesting heavy-handed Bolshevik tactics). But the damage was done, and Trotsky had lost much of his political influence over the dispute.
By 1922, the pressures of revolution and injuries from an earlier assassination attempt had taken their toll on Vladimir Lenin. In May, he suffered his first stroke and questions arose over who would succeed him. Leon Trotsky had a stellar record as a military leader and administrator and seemed the obvious choice among the rank and file membership of the Communist Party. But he had offended many in the Politburo (the Communist Party's executive committee), and a group of Politburo members, led by Joseph Stalin, joined forces to oppose him. The previous month, Lenin had appointed Stalin to the new post of Central Committee General Secretary. Though not a significant post at the time, it gave Stalin control over all party-member appointments. He quickly consolidated his power and started lining up allies against Trotsky.
Between 1922 and 1924, Vladimir Lenin tried to counter some of Stalin's influence and support Trotsky on several occasions. However, a third stroke virtually silenced Lenin and Stalin was free to completely push Trotsky out of power. Lenin died on January 21, 1924, and Trotsky was isolated and alone, outmaneuvered by Stalin. From that point on, Trotsky was steadily pushed out of important roles on Soviet government and, eventually, pushed out of the country.
Between 1925 and 1928, Trotsky was gradually pushed from power and influence by Stalin and his allies, who discredited Trotsky's role in the Russian Revolution and his military record. In October 1927, Trotsky was expelled from the Central Committee and exiled the following January to the very remote Alma-Ata, located in present-day Kazakhstan. Apparently, that was not far enough for Stalin, so in February, 1929, Trotsky was banished entirely from the Soviet Union. Over the next seven years, he lived in Turkey, France and Norway, before arriving in Mexico City.
Trotsky continued to write and criticize Joseph Stalin and the Soviet government. During the 1930s, Stalin conducted political purges and named Trotsky, in absentia, a major conspirator and enemy of the people. In August 1936, 16 of Trotsky's allies were charged with aiding Trotsky in treason. All 16 were found guilty and executed. Stalin then set out to assassinate Trotsky. In 1937, Trotsky moved to Mexico, eventually settling in Mexico City, where he continued to criticize Soviet leadership.
Death and Legacy
In the early months of 1940, Leon Trotsky's health was failing and he knew he was a marked man. In February, he wrote a testament expressing his final thoughts for posterity and forcibly denied Stalin's accusations. On August 20, 1940, Trotsky was sitting at his desk in his study in Mexico City. Ramon Mercader, an undercover agent for the Soviet Union's secret police, attacked Trotsky with a mountaineering ice ax, puncturing his skull. He was taken to the hospital, but died a day later, at the age of 60.
For decades, Leon Trotsky was discredited in the Soviet Union, the result of Stalin's hatred and his totalitarian control. However, 10 years after the collapse of the Soviet government, in 2001, Trotsky's reputation was officially "rehabilitated" by the Russian government. His legacy of being the most brilliant intellect of the Communist Revolution and his reputation as a tireless worker, rousing public speaker and decisive administrator was restored. Some historians believe if he had not subordinated himself to Lenin during the Bolshevik Revolution, the history of the Soviet Union might have been very different. However, Trotsky had allowed his intelligence and arrogance to antagonize those less able than himself, and in the end, alienated many around him, allowing deceitful men like Stalin to take advantage."
"Leon Trotsky
Leon Trotsky Biography
Activist (1879–1940)
Communist Leon Trotsky helped ignite the Russian Revolution of 1917, and built the Red Army afterward. He was exiled and later assassinated by Soviet agents.
Synopsis
Born Lev Davidovich Bronshtein on November 7, 1879, Leon Trotsky's revolutionary activity as a young man spurred his first of several ordered exiles to Siberia. He waged Russia's 1917 revolution alongside Vladimir Lenin. As commissar of war in the new Soviet government, he helped defeat forces opposed to Bolshevik control. As the Soviet government developed, he engaged in a power struggle against Joseph Stalin, which he lost, leading to his exile again and, eventually, his murder.
Early Life
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. While there, he became enthralled with Marxism.
In 1897, Trotsky helped found the South Russian Workers' Union. He was arrested within a year and spent two years in prison before being tried, convicted and sent to Siberia for a four-year sentence. While in prison, he met and married Alexandra Lvovna, a co- revolutionary who had also been sentenced to Siberia. While there, they had two daughters.
In 1902, after serving only two years of his sentence, Leon Trotsky escaped exile, abandoning his wife and daughters. On forged papers, he changed his name to Leon Trotsky, a moniker he would use the rest of his life. He managed to make his way to London, England, where he joined the Socialist Democratic Party and met Vladimir Lenin. In 1903, Leon Trotsky married his second wife, Natalia Ivanovna. The couple had two sons.
Provisional Government and Soviet Leadership
During the early years of the Social Democratic Party, there were often disputes among the party's leadership over its form and strategy. Vladimir Lenin argued for a small party of professional revolutionaries who would lead a large contingent of non-party supporters. Julius Martov advocated for a larger, more democratic organization of supporters. Leon Trotsky tried to reconcile the two factions, resulting in numerous clashes with both groups' leaders. Many of the Social Democrats, including the ambitious Joseph Stalin, sided with Lenin. Trotsky's neutrality was seen as disloyal.
On January 22, 1905, unarmed demonstrators marching against the Russian Tsar were killed by the Imperial Guard. When word reached Leon Trotsky, he returned to Russia to support the uprisings. By the end of 1905, he had become a leader of the movement. In December, the rebellion was crushed, and Trotsky was arrested and once again sent to Siberia. At his trial, he put on a spirited defense and increased his popularity among the party's elite. In January 1907, Trotsky escaped prison and traveled to Europe, where he spent 10 years in exile in various cities, including Vienna, Zurich, Paris and New York, spending much of the time writing for Russian revolutionary journals, including Pravda, and advocating an anti-war policy.
After the overthrow of Russian Tsar Nicholas II, in February 1917, Trotsky set out for Russia from New York. However, Okhrana (the Tsar's secret police) persuaded British authorities to have him detained at Halifax, Canada. He was held there for a month, before the Russian provisional government demanded his release. After he arrived in Russia in May 1917, he quickly addressed some of the problems forming in post-revolutionary Russia. He disapproved of the provisional government because he felt it was ineffectual. The new prime minister, Alexander Kerensky, saw Trotsky as a major threat and had him arrested. While in jail, Trotsky was admitted to the Bolshevik Party and released soon after. He was elected chairman of the Petrograd Soviet, a strong hold of dissent against the provisional government.
In November 1917, the provisional government was overthrown and the Soviet Council of People's Commissars was formed, with Vladimir Lenin elected chairman. Leon Trotsky’s first role in the new government was serving as commissar for foreign affairs and making peace with the Germans. Talks began in January 1918, and Germany had a long list of demands for territory and reparations. Trotsky wanted to wait out the German government, in hopes that it would be defeated by the Allies or suffer internal insurrection. However, Lenin felt that peace with Germany needed to be made so they could concentrate on building a communist government in Russia. Trotsky disagreed and resigned from this post.
After the Bolsheviks took control of the Soviet government, Lenin ordered the formation of the Red Army and appointed Leon Trotsky its leader. The army's first orders were to neutralize the White Army (Socialist revolutionaries opposed to Bolshevik control) during the Russian Civil War. Trotsky proved to be an outstanding military leader, as he led the army of 3 million to victory. The task was difficult, as Trotsky directed a war effort that was at times on 16 different fronts. It also didn't help that some members of the Soviet leadership, including Lenin, became involved in military strategy, redirecting the Red Army's efforts and countermanding some of Trotsky's orders. In late 1920, the Bolsheviks finally won the Civil War, ensuring Bolshevik control of the Soviet government. After the White Army surrendered, Trotsky was elected a member of the Communist Party central committee. He was clearly positioned as the Soviet Union's number-two man, next to Lenin.
During the winter of 1920-21, as the Soviet government moved from war to peace-time operations, an increasingly acrimonious debate grew over the role of trade unions. Believing that the workers should have nothing to fear from the government, Leon Trotsky advocated the state control the trade unions. He reasoned that this would give officials a tighter control over labor and facilitate a greater integration between government and the proletariat. Lenin criticized Trotsky, accusing him of harassing the unions and abandoning his support for the proletariat. A breach between the two developed and other officials, including Joseph Stalin, took advantage, siding with Lenin to gain favor. As Trotsky dug in and refused to modify his position, the dissention grew and Lenin feared the conflict would splinter the party. At a meeting at the Tenth Party Congress in March 1921, the issue came to a head when several of Trotsky's supporters were replaced by Lenin's lieutenants. Trotsky finally dropped his opposition and, to show his allegiance to Lenin, ordered the suppression of the Kronstadt Rebellion (an uprising of sailors and longshoremen protesting heavy-handed Bolshevik tactics). But the damage was done, and Trotsky had lost much of his political influence over the dispute.
By 1922, the pressures of revolution and injuries from an earlier assassination attempt had taken their toll on Vladimir Lenin. In May, he suffered his first stroke and questions arose over who would succeed him. Leon Trotsky had a stellar record as a military leader and administrator and seemed the obvious choice among the rank and file membership of the Communist Party. But he had offended many in the Politburo (the Communist Party's executive committee), and a group of Politburo members, led by Joseph Stalin, joined forces to oppose him. The previous month, Lenin had appointed Stalin to the new post of Central Committee General Secretary. Though not a significant post at the time, it gave Stalin control over all party-member appointments. He quickly consolidated his power and started lining up allies against Trotsky.
Between 1922 and 1924, Vladimir Lenin tried to counter some of Stalin's influence and support Trotsky on several occasions. However, a third stroke virtually silenced Lenin and Stalin was free to completely push Trotsky out of power. Lenin died on January 21, 1924, and Trotsky was isolated and alone, outmaneuvered by Stalin. From that point on, Trotsky was steadily pushed out of important roles on Soviet government and, eventually, pushed out of the country.
Between 1925 and 1928, Trotsky was gradually pushed from power and influence by Stalin and his allies, who discredited Trotsky's role in the Russian Revolution and his military record. In October 1927, Trotsky was expelled from the Central Committee and exiled the following January to the very remote Alma-Ata, located in present-day Kazakhstan. Apparently, that was not far enough for Stalin, so in February, 1929, Trotsky was banished entirely from the Soviet Union. Over the next seven years, he lived in Turkey, France and Norway, before arriving in Mexico City.
Trotsky continued to write and criticize Joseph Stalin and the Soviet government. During the 1930s, Stalin conducted political purges and named Trotsky, in absentia, a major conspirator and enemy of the people. In August 1936, 16 of Trotsky's allies were charged with aiding Trotsky in treason. All 16 were found guilty and executed. Stalin then set out to assassinate Trotsky. In 1937, Trotsky moved to Mexico, eventually settling in Mexico City, where he continued to criticize Soviet leadership.
Death and Legacy
In the early months of 1940, Leon Trotsky's health was failing and he knew he was a marked man. In February, he wrote a testament expressing his final thoughts for posterity and forcibly denied Stalin's accusations. On August 20, 1940, Trotsky was sitting at his desk in his study in Mexico City. Ramon Mercader, an undercover agent for the Soviet Union's secret police, attacked Trotsky with a mountaineering ice ax, puncturing his skull. He was taken to the hospital, but died a day later, at the age of 60.
For decades, Leon Trotsky was discredited in the Soviet Union, the result of Stalin's hatred and his totalitarian control. However, 10 years after the collapse of the Soviet government, in 2001, Trotsky's reputation was officially "rehabilitated" by the Russian government. His legacy of being the most brilliant intellect of the Communist Revolution and his reputation as a tireless worker, rousing public speaker and decisive administrator was restored. Some historians believe if he had not subordinated himself to Lenin during the Bolshevik Revolution, the history of the Soviet Union might have been very different. However, Trotsky had allowed his intelligence and arrogance to antagonize those less able than himself, and in the end, alienated many around him, allowing deceitful men like Stalin to take advantage."
Leon Trotsky
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Communism
World History
American History
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One of the "trio" of Socialists/Communists responsible for the making of Russia.
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Leon Trotsky Exile in Turkey - Part 1/6
A film/documentary about Leon Trotsky's exile in Turkey in 1929-1933.
Thank you my friend SGT (Join to see) for making us aware that on January 31, 1929, Leon [Lev Davidovich] Trotsky was expelled from Russia to Turkey.
Leon Trotsky Exile in Turkey - Part 1/6
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Qfp-uJscUE4
Images:
1. Trotsky's house, the Yanaros mansion on the island of Büyükada in Turkey, as it appears today. Trotsky lived at the house from April 1929 until July 1933.
2. Leon Trotsky in Prinkipo 1928
3. Leon Trosky an exile's life in Istanbul, Turkey
4. Leon Trotsky, the People's Commissar for Military and Naval Affairs USSR, as the Guard of the October revolution on 14 May 1923
Biographies
1. maviboncuk.blogspot.com/2015/08/trotsky-turkish-exile-in-buyukada.html
2. aa.com.tr/en/culture-and-art/leon-trotsky-an-exiles-life-in-istanbul/75619
1. Background from {[http://maviboncuk.blogspot.com/2015/08/trotsky-turkish-exile-in-buyukada.html]}
Trotsky | A Turkish Exile in Büyükada
Dante meets his ancestor, and in a response to a question from Dante, Cacciaguida speaks the truth bluntly. Dante will be exiled (Canto XVII):
"You shall leave everything you love most dearly: this is the arrow that the bow of exile
shoots first. You are to know the bitter taste of others' bread, how salt it is, and know
how hard a path it is for one who goes descending and ascending others' stairs."
Paradiso, Canto XVII, lines 55–60, Mandelbaum translation.
The Istanbul home of Leon Trotsky, the top Bolshevik politician who lost to Stalin in the struggle for control of the Soviet Union, has been listed for sale on a Turkish property website.
The three-story, five-bedroom home, situated on the scenic Buyukada Island close to the city, is notable for being the site where Trotsky lived for four and-a-half years, and his first port of call after being expelled from the Soviet Union in 1929. Despite the history behind the home, it has not been restored, and visitors are frequently surprised by its poor condition.
Mavi Boncuk |
In 1917, Leon Trotsky burst upon the international stage as the brain behind the Russian Revolution. He presided over the complete transformation of his country, not merely a change of government but a total restructuring of society on every level. To many, he was the heroic St. George, slaying the dragon of capitalist repression. To others, he was the ruthless and Satanic purveyor of bloody rebellion, the cold, detached theorist gone mad with power. In truth, he fitted neither of these images. He was a writer, a thinker, a nation-builder—albeit a reluctant one—with deep roots in his Russia’s agricultural heartland. Trotsky’s dream was for a world free from injustice, inequality, and war, and in this he was absolutely single-minded. To him, the ideas of Karl Marx showed the way, and for one brief moment he set the machinery in motion to achieve that end…. He lived to see his work betrayed and his ideals perverted by those who seized power after him. He would be ejected from the government he helped to establish and hounded into exile and death.
Trotsky was deported from the Soviet Union in February 1929[2]. Although it is customary to think of Mexico as Trotsky's chief sanctuary, Mustafa Kemal was as willing as Lazaro Cardenas to protect him and for many of the same reasons. As a radical nationalist, Kemal was anxious to establish Turkey's reputation as a modern secular republic that respected democratic rights, even extending them to one of the world's most controversial figures. Back in 1929, when Trotsky arrived - courtesy of the uneasy hospitality of Ataturk, a fervent anti-communist - on Turkish shores, the future seemed uncertain. Trotsky's first stop in Istanbul was the Russian consulate, which provided living quarters for him despite the fact that he was no longer welcome in the Soviet Union. Within a month or so he moved to a first-class hotel in nearby Beyoglu, which is one of the most cosmopolitan and affluent neighborhoods in Istanbul.
The ruined Sivastopol Köşkü (Trotsky House) stands in its wild garden at the foot of Hamlacı Sokağı, which leads down to the north shore from Çankaya Caddesi. Leon Trotsky moved there on March 8, 1929 lived here until 1933, after being exiled from Russia, and it was here that he wrote his autobiography and his History of the Russian Revolution.
“One of the unforeseen, though not accidental, stops in my life has proved to be Constantinople,” he wrote in the prologue of his 1930 autobiography. “Here I am camping… and patiently waiting for what is to follow, he added, admitting that a revolutionary’s life was impossible without a certain amount of “fatalism.” His first station in exile was at Büyükada – off the coast of Istanbul in the Sea of Marmara – where he stayed for the next four years. There were many former White Army officers in Istanbul, which put Trotsky's life in danger. But a number of Trotsky's European supporters volunteered to serve as bodyguards and assured his safety. The White Army was loyal to the czarist regime in Russia and fought against the communist Red Army in the Russian Civil War from 1917 to 1921.
“In one way or another, the Constantinople interval has proved the most appropriate moment for me to look back before circumstances allow me to move forward,” he continued.
While on the island, Trotsky seemed to warm to his surroundings. A biographer described his daily routine of rising before dawn and pacing the corridors, deep in thought. Despite his paranoia, which resulted in an incident where he pulled out his pistol on a visiting doctor - and workaholic nature, he found the time on Büyükada to take up fishing, a hobby that a neighbor recalled him made him “happy like a child.”
Trotsky left Büyükada on 17 July 1933, never to return. And although isolated - apart from his wife, staff and a volunteer squad of bodyguards - the revolutionary wrote in a diary entry made on the day he left the island: ""It has been four and one-half years. I have the strange feeling of having my feet firmly planted on Büyükada.”
The fatalism he had written of in 1929 at Büyükada proved to be apt. Trotsky was never to return to the island, and continued his permanent exile in France, Norway, and lastly, Mexico, where he enjoyed an extramarital affair with prominent artist Frida Kahlo.
In 1940, Stalin - who by this time had wiped out nearly all of his old compatriots - sent an assassin to do away with his old nemesis. After several unsuccessful attempts, a Spanish communist and Soviet agent, Ramon Mercader, who worked to gain Trotsky’s trust, walked into his study and struck him on the head with an ice axe. Trotsky, aged 60, died the next day.
2. background from {[https://www.aa.com.tr/en/culture-and-art/leon-trotsky-an-exiles-life-in-istanbul/75619]}
Leon Trotsky: An exile's life in Istanbul
By Handan Kazanci
ISTANBUL
A hunted figure lost in exile, under round-the-clock security and so jumpy that he once pulled a gun on his doctor – these are the remarkable years of Leon Trotsky, Russian revolutionary and fugitive who once lived in Istanbul.
More than 80 years ago this Saturday, one of the driving forces behind the Russian revolution came to Istanbul where he stayed for almost five years, living on one of the city’s islands and penning some of his most influential books.
February 12, 1929 was when the hero of the October revolution, 49 years old at the time, set foot in Istanbul travelling under the name “Leon Sedov.”
One of the leading names of the 1917 revolution that put an end to Tsardom in Russia, Trotsky was forced into exile after a power struggle for the Soviet leadership with Joseph Stalin after Vladimir Lenin’s death.
“He did not want to come to Turkey but he was forced to,” says Halim Bulutoglu, chief of the Adalar Foundation based in Buyukada, or Big Island.
Buyukada is located off the southern shore of Istanbul in the Marmara Sea where Trotsky’s family spent most of their time during their Turkish exile.
The communist leader, who was also founder of the Red Army, was the developer of the “permanent revolution” theory which aimed to create a worldwide socialist government.
When Lenin’s former right-hand man came to Istanbul, Trotsky and his family stayed at the Russian Consulate at first, says Bulutoglu.
Trotsky biographer Robert Service wrote in 2009 that the Turkish authorities led by Mustafa Kemal Ataturk, the founder of Republic of Turkey, set some strict conditions before granting Trotsky asylum.
“Moscow had to give an assurance that no attempt would be made to assassinate him on Turkish soil. They [Turkey] also made demands upon Trotsky himself. He had to refrain from interfering in local politics and publish nothing inside the country.”
Trotsky always had the feeling that Stalin was watching for the right time to assassinate him.
One of the island’s locals was Istanbul-born Turkish-Greek Akillas Millas, now 81.
Millas moved to the island a year after Trotsky left for France in 1933. He recalls one of the anecdotes told to him when he was a child:
“The Trotskys invited a doctor when Trotsky was seriously ill, a doctor who carried his stethoscope in his back pocket. When the doctor moved to take it out, Trotsky pulled his gun on him.”
According to Millas, Trotsky did not have any contact with the local people in the island.
A Turkish specialist in Trotskyist history, Masis Kurkcugil, agrees with Millas, adding: “He did not have any influence on communists in Turkey as maybe there were around 40 left in the country after 1927’s mass arrests.”
In 1927 the government cracked down on the illegal Turkish Communist Party, detaining many members.
Trotsky had round-the-clock security on the island where he felt more protected, as the only way to reach it was by ferry.
The household’s numbers changed regularly and consisted of Trotsky’s then-wife Natali and their son Leva who helped him with his political work and daughter Zina.
There were also supporters and volunteer bodyguards who lived in the house with the family, as well as Turkish security.
Trotsky wrote two of his most well-known books “My Life” (1930) and “History of the Russian Revolution” (1932) as well as articles for newspapers during his time on the island.
He also created a “Bulletin of the Opposition” whose first issue was published in Paris in 1929, writes Trotsky biographer Service.
According to Service, he had a very strict daily routine: “He awoke early, usually at four or five o’clock, and put on a blue sweater and a pair of espadrilles before pacing up and down the corridors deep in thought.”
Millas recalls Trotsky’s fishing and hunting routines: “Sometimes the household would go fishing with a Greek fishermen called Charalambos,” and recalled hearing how Trotsky was “happy like a child” when they once caught around 40 crabs at sea.
The Trotskys had two houses in the island says Bulutoglu, but the family had to leave the island and move to the mainland after a fire in the main property.
Speculation suggests that the perpetrator could have been Trotsky’s first daughter Zina who suffered from tuberculosis and depression which led her to eventually commit suicide at the age of 32 in Berlin.
When Trotsky’s family came back to the island for second time they lived in Triandifilidis Villa which today is in ruins, with only some of its walls remaining.
The two properties that Trotsky lived in on Buyukada today belong to Turkish owners. Last year Turkish media reported that one of these would be turned into a museum but neither the culture ministry nor Istanbul municipality confirmed the reports.
Although Trotsky avoided contact with locals, he always had visitors from Western countries. His supporters came to protect him and many volunteered as bodyguards for the exiled revolutionary.
He left Istanbul when he received asylum from France in 1933, then Norway until 1936 when the family finally departed for Mexico to live in the painter Diego Rivera’s house in Coyoacan.
Ironically, given Trotsky’s high-profile role in history today, when he was assassinated in Mexico by a Russian agent with an ice pick in 1940, most Turkish communists were probably kept unawares as communism was illegal in Turkey, says Kurkcugil."
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Leon Trotsky Exile in Turkey - Part 1/6
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Qfp-uJscUE4
Images:
1. Trotsky's house, the Yanaros mansion on the island of Büyükada in Turkey, as it appears today. Trotsky lived at the house from April 1929 until July 1933.
2. Leon Trotsky in Prinkipo 1928
3. Leon Trosky an exile's life in Istanbul, Turkey
4. Leon Trotsky, the People's Commissar for Military and Naval Affairs USSR, as the Guard of the October revolution on 14 May 1923
Biographies
1. maviboncuk.blogspot.com/2015/08/trotsky-turkish-exile-in-buyukada.html
2. aa.com.tr/en/culture-and-art/leon-trotsky-an-exiles-life-in-istanbul/75619
1. Background from {[http://maviboncuk.blogspot.com/2015/08/trotsky-turkish-exile-in-buyukada.html]}
Trotsky | A Turkish Exile in Büyükada
Dante meets his ancestor, and in a response to a question from Dante, Cacciaguida speaks the truth bluntly. Dante will be exiled (Canto XVII):
"You shall leave everything you love most dearly: this is the arrow that the bow of exile
shoots first. You are to know the bitter taste of others' bread, how salt it is, and know
how hard a path it is for one who goes descending and ascending others' stairs."
Paradiso, Canto XVII, lines 55–60, Mandelbaum translation.
The Istanbul home of Leon Trotsky, the top Bolshevik politician who lost to Stalin in the struggle for control of the Soviet Union, has been listed for sale on a Turkish property website.
The three-story, five-bedroom home, situated on the scenic Buyukada Island close to the city, is notable for being the site where Trotsky lived for four and-a-half years, and his first port of call after being expelled from the Soviet Union in 1929. Despite the history behind the home, it has not been restored, and visitors are frequently surprised by its poor condition.
Mavi Boncuk |
In 1917, Leon Trotsky burst upon the international stage as the brain behind the Russian Revolution. He presided over the complete transformation of his country, not merely a change of government but a total restructuring of society on every level. To many, he was the heroic St. George, slaying the dragon of capitalist repression. To others, he was the ruthless and Satanic purveyor of bloody rebellion, the cold, detached theorist gone mad with power. In truth, he fitted neither of these images. He was a writer, a thinker, a nation-builder—albeit a reluctant one—with deep roots in his Russia’s agricultural heartland. Trotsky’s dream was for a world free from injustice, inequality, and war, and in this he was absolutely single-minded. To him, the ideas of Karl Marx showed the way, and for one brief moment he set the machinery in motion to achieve that end…. He lived to see his work betrayed and his ideals perverted by those who seized power after him. He would be ejected from the government he helped to establish and hounded into exile and death.
Trotsky was deported from the Soviet Union in February 1929[2]. Although it is customary to think of Mexico as Trotsky's chief sanctuary, Mustafa Kemal was as willing as Lazaro Cardenas to protect him and for many of the same reasons. As a radical nationalist, Kemal was anxious to establish Turkey's reputation as a modern secular republic that respected democratic rights, even extending them to one of the world's most controversial figures. Back in 1929, when Trotsky arrived - courtesy of the uneasy hospitality of Ataturk, a fervent anti-communist - on Turkish shores, the future seemed uncertain. Trotsky's first stop in Istanbul was the Russian consulate, which provided living quarters for him despite the fact that he was no longer welcome in the Soviet Union. Within a month or so he moved to a first-class hotel in nearby Beyoglu, which is one of the most cosmopolitan and affluent neighborhoods in Istanbul.
The ruined Sivastopol Köşkü (Trotsky House) stands in its wild garden at the foot of Hamlacı Sokağı, which leads down to the north shore from Çankaya Caddesi. Leon Trotsky moved there on March 8, 1929 lived here until 1933, after being exiled from Russia, and it was here that he wrote his autobiography and his History of the Russian Revolution.
“One of the unforeseen, though not accidental, stops in my life has proved to be Constantinople,” he wrote in the prologue of his 1930 autobiography. “Here I am camping… and patiently waiting for what is to follow, he added, admitting that a revolutionary’s life was impossible without a certain amount of “fatalism.” His first station in exile was at Büyükada – off the coast of Istanbul in the Sea of Marmara – where he stayed for the next four years. There were many former White Army officers in Istanbul, which put Trotsky's life in danger. But a number of Trotsky's European supporters volunteered to serve as bodyguards and assured his safety. The White Army was loyal to the czarist regime in Russia and fought against the communist Red Army in the Russian Civil War from 1917 to 1921.
“In one way or another, the Constantinople interval has proved the most appropriate moment for me to look back before circumstances allow me to move forward,” he continued.
While on the island, Trotsky seemed to warm to his surroundings. A biographer described his daily routine of rising before dawn and pacing the corridors, deep in thought. Despite his paranoia, which resulted in an incident where he pulled out his pistol on a visiting doctor - and workaholic nature, he found the time on Büyükada to take up fishing, a hobby that a neighbor recalled him made him “happy like a child.”
Trotsky left Büyükada on 17 July 1933, never to return. And although isolated - apart from his wife, staff and a volunteer squad of bodyguards - the revolutionary wrote in a diary entry made on the day he left the island: ""It has been four and one-half years. I have the strange feeling of having my feet firmly planted on Büyükada.”
The fatalism he had written of in 1929 at Büyükada proved to be apt. Trotsky was never to return to the island, and continued his permanent exile in France, Norway, and lastly, Mexico, where he enjoyed an extramarital affair with prominent artist Frida Kahlo.
In 1940, Stalin - who by this time had wiped out nearly all of his old compatriots - sent an assassin to do away with his old nemesis. After several unsuccessful attempts, a Spanish communist and Soviet agent, Ramon Mercader, who worked to gain Trotsky’s trust, walked into his study and struck him on the head with an ice axe. Trotsky, aged 60, died the next day.
2. background from {[https://www.aa.com.tr/en/culture-and-art/leon-trotsky-an-exiles-life-in-istanbul/75619]}
Leon Trotsky: An exile's life in Istanbul
By Handan Kazanci
ISTANBUL
A hunted figure lost in exile, under round-the-clock security and so jumpy that he once pulled a gun on his doctor – these are the remarkable years of Leon Trotsky, Russian revolutionary and fugitive who once lived in Istanbul.
More than 80 years ago this Saturday, one of the driving forces behind the Russian revolution came to Istanbul where he stayed for almost five years, living on one of the city’s islands and penning some of his most influential books.
February 12, 1929 was when the hero of the October revolution, 49 years old at the time, set foot in Istanbul travelling under the name “Leon Sedov.”
One of the leading names of the 1917 revolution that put an end to Tsardom in Russia, Trotsky was forced into exile after a power struggle for the Soviet leadership with Joseph Stalin after Vladimir Lenin’s death.
“He did not want to come to Turkey but he was forced to,” says Halim Bulutoglu, chief of the Adalar Foundation based in Buyukada, or Big Island.
Buyukada is located off the southern shore of Istanbul in the Marmara Sea where Trotsky’s family spent most of their time during their Turkish exile.
The communist leader, who was also founder of the Red Army, was the developer of the “permanent revolution” theory which aimed to create a worldwide socialist government.
When Lenin’s former right-hand man came to Istanbul, Trotsky and his family stayed at the Russian Consulate at first, says Bulutoglu.
Trotsky biographer Robert Service wrote in 2009 that the Turkish authorities led by Mustafa Kemal Ataturk, the founder of Republic of Turkey, set some strict conditions before granting Trotsky asylum.
“Moscow had to give an assurance that no attempt would be made to assassinate him on Turkish soil. They [Turkey] also made demands upon Trotsky himself. He had to refrain from interfering in local politics and publish nothing inside the country.”
Trotsky always had the feeling that Stalin was watching for the right time to assassinate him.
One of the island’s locals was Istanbul-born Turkish-Greek Akillas Millas, now 81.
Millas moved to the island a year after Trotsky left for France in 1933. He recalls one of the anecdotes told to him when he was a child:
“The Trotskys invited a doctor when Trotsky was seriously ill, a doctor who carried his stethoscope in his back pocket. When the doctor moved to take it out, Trotsky pulled his gun on him.”
According to Millas, Trotsky did not have any contact with the local people in the island.
A Turkish specialist in Trotskyist history, Masis Kurkcugil, agrees with Millas, adding: “He did not have any influence on communists in Turkey as maybe there were around 40 left in the country after 1927’s mass arrests.”
In 1927 the government cracked down on the illegal Turkish Communist Party, detaining many members.
Trotsky had round-the-clock security on the island where he felt more protected, as the only way to reach it was by ferry.
The household’s numbers changed regularly and consisted of Trotsky’s then-wife Natali and their son Leva who helped him with his political work and daughter Zina.
There were also supporters and volunteer bodyguards who lived in the house with the family, as well as Turkish security.
Trotsky wrote two of his most well-known books “My Life” (1930) and “History of the Russian Revolution” (1932) as well as articles for newspapers during his time on the island.
He also created a “Bulletin of the Opposition” whose first issue was published in Paris in 1929, writes Trotsky biographer Service.
According to Service, he had a very strict daily routine: “He awoke early, usually at four or five o’clock, and put on a blue sweater and a pair of espadrilles before pacing up and down the corridors deep in thought.”
Millas recalls Trotsky’s fishing and hunting routines: “Sometimes the household would go fishing with a Greek fishermen called Charalambos,” and recalled hearing how Trotsky was “happy like a child” when they once caught around 40 crabs at sea.
The Trotskys had two houses in the island says Bulutoglu, but the family had to leave the island and move to the mainland after a fire in the main property.
Speculation suggests that the perpetrator could have been Trotsky’s first daughter Zina who suffered from tuberculosis and depression which led her to eventually commit suicide at the age of 32 in Berlin.
When Trotsky’s family came back to the island for second time they lived in Triandifilidis Villa which today is in ruins, with only some of its walls remaining.
The two properties that Trotsky lived in on Buyukada today belong to Turkish owners. Last year Turkish media reported that one of these would be turned into a museum but neither the culture ministry nor Istanbul municipality confirmed the reports.
Although Trotsky avoided contact with locals, he always had visitors from Western countries. His supporters came to protect him and many volunteered as bodyguards for the exiled revolutionary.
He left Istanbul when he received asylum from France in 1933, then Norway until 1936 when the family finally departed for Mexico to live in the painter Diego Rivera’s house in Coyoacan.
Ironically, given Trotsky’s high-profile role in history today, when he was assassinated in Mexico by a Russian agent with an ice pick in 1940, most Turkish communists were probably kept unawares as communism was illegal in Turkey, says Kurkcugil."
FYI LTC Greg Henning LTC Jeff Shearer MAJ Dale E. Wilson, Ph.D. Maj Bill Smith, Ph.D. COL Mikel J. Burroughs SFC Joe S. Davis Jr., MSM, DSL Maj Marty Hogan SP5 Jeannie Carle SP5 Mark Kuzinski MSG Andrew White TSgt David L. SGT Robert Pryor SGT Steve McFarland PO1 William "Chip" Nagel PO2 (Join to see) TSgt Joe C. SPC Margaret Higgins SPC Nancy Greene Sgt Kelli Mays
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LTC Stephen F.
Leon Trotsky Exile in Turkey - Part 3/6
A film/documentary about Leon Trotsky's exile in Turkey in 1929-1933.
Leon Trotsky Exile in Turkey - Part 3/6
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mxaHInKWyJQ
FYI PO1 William "Chip" Nagel PO3 Phyllis Maynard PO3 (Join to see) PO3 Steven Sherrill Alan K. SPC Margaret Higgins MSgt Robert "Rock" Aldi TSgt Joe C. Maj William W. 'Bill' Price SGT (Join to see) SPC Douglas Bolton MSG Felipe De Leon Brown SP5 Mark Kuzinski Maj Marty Hogan COL Mikel J. Burroughs
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mxaHInKWyJQ
FYI PO1 William "Chip" Nagel PO3 Phyllis Maynard PO3 (Join to see) PO3 Steven Sherrill Alan K. SPC Margaret Higgins MSgt Robert "Rock" Aldi TSgt Joe C. Maj William W. 'Bill' Price SGT (Join to see) SPC Douglas Bolton MSG Felipe De Leon Brown SP5 Mark Kuzinski Maj Marty Hogan COL Mikel J. Burroughs
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LTC Stephen F.
Leon Trotsky Exile in Turkey - Part 4/6
A film/documentary about Leon Trotsky's exile in Turkey in 1929-1933.
Leon Trotsky Exile in Turkey - Part 4/6
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=njP7hGc8r64
FYI PO1 William "Chip" Nagel PO3 Phyllis Maynard PO3 (Join to see) PO3 Steven Sherrill Alan K. SPC Margaret Higgins MSgt Robert "Rock" Aldi TSgt Joe C. Maj William W. 'Bill' Price SGT (Join to see) SPC Douglas Bolton MSG Felipe De Leon Brown SP5 Mark Kuzinski Maj Marty Hogan COL Mikel J. Burroughs LTC Greg Henning
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=njP7hGc8r64
FYI PO1 William "Chip" Nagel PO3 Phyllis Maynard PO3 (Join to see) PO3 Steven Sherrill Alan K. SPC Margaret Higgins MSgt Robert "Rock" Aldi TSgt Joe C. Maj William W. 'Bill' Price SGT (Join to see) SPC Douglas Bolton MSG Felipe De Leon Brown SP5 Mark Kuzinski Maj Marty Hogan COL Mikel J. Burroughs LTC Greg Henning
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LTC Stephen F.
Leon Trotsky Exile in Turkey - Part 5/6
A film/documentary about Leon Trotsky's exile in Turkey in 1929-1933.
Leon Trotsky Exile in Turkey - Part 5/6
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=38mRNdESPgk
FYI PO1 William "Chip" Nagel PO3 Phyllis Maynard PO3 (Join to see) PO3 Steven Sherrill Alan K. SPC Margaret Higgins MSgt Robert "Rock" Aldi TSgt Joe C. Maj William W. 'Bill' Price SGT (Join to see) SPC Douglas Bolton MSG Felipe De Leon Brown SP5 Mark Kuzinski Maj Marty Hogan COL Mikel J. Burroughs LTC Greg Henning
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=38mRNdESPgk
FYI PO1 William "Chip" Nagel PO3 Phyllis Maynard PO3 (Join to see) PO3 Steven Sherrill Alan K. SPC Margaret Higgins MSgt Robert "Rock" Aldi TSgt Joe C. Maj William W. 'Bill' Price SGT (Join to see) SPC Douglas Bolton MSG Felipe De Leon Brown SP5 Mark Kuzinski Maj Marty Hogan COL Mikel J. Burroughs LTC Greg Henning
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LTC Stephen F.
Leon Trotsky Exile in Turkey - Part 6/6
A film/documentary about Leon Trotsky's exile in Turkey in 1929-1933.
Leon Trotsky Exile in Turkey - Part 6/6
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pySUEEuqQR4
FYI PO1 William "Chip" Nagel PO3 Phyllis Maynard PO3 (Join to see) PO3 Steven Sherrill Alan K. SPC Margaret Higgins MSgt Robert "Rock" Aldi TSgt Joe C. Maj William W. 'Bill' Price SGT (Join to see) SPC Douglas Bolton MSG Felipe De Leon Brown SP5 Mark Kuzinski Maj Marty Hogan COL Mikel J. Burroughs LTC Greg Henning
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pySUEEuqQR4
FYI PO1 William "Chip" Nagel PO3 Phyllis Maynard PO3 (Join to see) PO3 Steven Sherrill Alan K. SPC Margaret Higgins MSgt Robert "Rock" Aldi TSgt Joe C. Maj William W. 'Bill' Price SGT (Join to see) SPC Douglas Bolton MSG Felipe De Leon Brown SP5 Mark Kuzinski Maj Marty Hogan COL Mikel J. Burroughs LTC Greg Henning
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