When the first revolution of 1917 happened in March, Trotsky found himself somewhat away from the action, living in New York. Trotsky finally made it back to Russia in May. He rejoined the Petrograd Soviet (as it was now called), and rose spectacularly through it’s ranks by gaining public popularity through his many speeches. Although Trotsky had always been associated with the Mensheviks, he swapped sides and became a Bolshevik at this stage, most likely due to pressure from Lenin. As a Bolshevik he now had much more support within the Petrograd Soviet, as it was mostly made up of Bolsheviks, and he was consequently elected chairman.
Through July the intense protests against the war supported by the Bolsheviks subsided. This was as Alexander Kerensky, a member of the Provisional Government gave evidence to show that Lenin had been helped by the Germans. Public approval of the Bolsheviks slumped dramatically, and Lenin fled to Finland. This left Trotsky as the most senior member of the Bolsheviks party. Trotsky carried on with his many speeches, drumming up as much support for the Bolsheviks as possible. He also formed the Red Guard from loyal Bolsheviks in September, ready to defend against a rebel army leader, Kornilov, and troops which he had gathered from enemies of the Provisional Government and Bolsheviks. Although there was no fighting, as Kornilov’s men refused to fight the Bolsheviks, the Red Guard still remained as an image of the domination of the Bolsheviks over the Soviets in most Russian cities and towns
On the night of 6th November 1917, Trotsky led the Red Guard troops that took over strategic points of Petrograd, without much opposition. In the morning Trotsky then led them into the Winter Palace, and overthrew the Provisional Government.
Now that the Bolsheviks had some grasp on power, Trotsky was assigned to the peace negotiations with Germany. Lenin wanted him to string these out for as long as possible, as he thought (or hoped) that a similar communist revolution would soon break out in Germany. Unfortunately this did not happen, and the German army pressed further and further into Russia, forcing the Bolsheviks to accept the severe treaty of Brest-Litvosk, in March 1918. This treaty saw Russia lose an enormous amount of land, land which contained most of it’s industry, which was a massive blow to the Bolshevik regime.
The Bolshevik’s success and policies had obviously created many enemies (when free elections were held in 1918, the Bolsheviks had nowhere near a majority). Towards the end of 1918 these factions collected together to form a formidable anti- Bolshevik force. Known as the ‘Whites’ (opposite to the Bolshevik ‘Reds’), they consisted of a variety of different people, including Social Revolutionaries, supporters of the Tsar, Mensheviks, and foreign troops, whose governments’ were opposed to communism. The Bolsheviks would have to act quickly and decisively if they were to save themselves from annihilation, as the Whites spread quickly west. This is the point when Trotsky made arguably his most significant contribution to the Bolsheviks. As Comissar for War, Trotsky was in charge of getting together an army to oppose the Whites. He did this rapidly and to great effect, creating a Red Army of over 300,000 men, many of them were conscripts. However, the army was in short supply of officers to command it. Trotsky turned to the old officers of the Tsar’s army, and he ‘encouraged’ them to stay loyal to the Bolsheviks by holding their families hostage whilst the war was fought. This proved to work extremely well, and with harsh discipline, the Red Army was a worthy opponent to the Whites.
The Bolsheviks ensured that people did not help the Whites by ordering the Cheka (secret police) to shoot or hang any anti- Bolsheviks. This brutal oppression became known as the Red Terror, and ensured that the people were loyal to their Bolshevik leaders. Trotsky found that he had a natural talent for military strategies, and through his leadership, and strict discipline, the Reds began to turn the tide of the war. The last White army was defeated in 1920, and the Bolsheviks were finally in firm control of Russia. Trotsky was seen as a hero for his brilliant leadership.
Trotsky contributed a great amount to the success of the Bolshevik revolution in Russia, but even more after they seized power, in the effort to gain control. Without him, the Bolsheviks were likely never to have got into power in the first place, let enough long enough to build the communist state of which they dreamed.
