Prior to the 1917 revolution, the leader of the Bolsheviks, Vladimir Ilich Lenin, was forced to flee Russia after he took part in the revolution in 1905. This meant the Bolsheviks needed a new leader while Lenin was in exile. Trotsky took up this role, and kept the Bolshevik party going until Lenin returned from France and Switzerland. Without a leader while Lenin was away, the Bolsheviks would not have been ready for the revolution that brought them to power.
Trotsky also wrote and published two Bolshevik newspapers. These were an efficient way to persuade people of the Bolshevik ideas, and gain support. Trotsky was a skilful writer, and wrote some of Lenin’s speeches, which was also a very important method to convey the Bolshevik views.
When the 1917 revolution arrived, Trotsky came up with the plan to seize power, and chose the targets to capture. On the night of the 6th November, he led the Red Guards to take control of post offices, bridges, the State Bank, the roads, train stations and Winter Palace. This meant that the Red Guards (and Trotsky) practically had control of Petrograd by the next day. This put them in a very powerful position.
The Red Guards captured these targets without much opposition, however the Petrograd garrison and the Kronstadt naval garrison could have defeated the army, as they were more powerful. Trotsky was given the job to persuade them not to overthrow the Bolsheviks. He convinced them that they should not oppose the Bolshevik revolution, and even persuaded a few to support it. This was an important moment for Trotsky, as if this persuasion had failed, the revolution would have been stopped.
After the Revolution, when the Bolsheviks had taken control, Trotsky still contributed to their success. He was the man in charge of negotiating the peace agreement with Germany. The Treaty of Brest-Litovsk meant that Russia lost 34% of its population, and 32% of its farming land, but it also got Russia out of the Great War and showed that the Bolsheviks were keeping their word. One of their most famous campaign slogans was “Peace, Bread and Land”. By signing the Treaty of Brest-Litovsk with Germany, they were delivering the first third of their promise to Russia.
After proving himself as a great and tactful leader during the Bolshevik revolution Trotsky was made chairman of the supreme war council. His main task was to create quickly, a skilled army out of workers and peasants that had to equal the ability of the White Armies. At first, men were reluctant to fight. Trotsky, however, knowing how starving most of Russia was, made sure that the soldiers were well fed. This made it more appealing for men to join. He then proceeded to make it compulsory for men to join the Red Army. He enforced conscription on men age 18 to 40 into the army and threatened to shoot those who refused to obey.
To keep his promise of keeping the Red Army well fed, Trotsky organised the Red Terror, which was developed to get grain supplies. Any workers or peasants, who opposed, either by refusing to grow the grain, or by refusing to give it to the armies, were killed. This consequence made sure that the army had food, and Trotsky had kept his word.
However, what the Red Army lacked and desperately needed, was experienced officers. Trotsky's solution was to give former officers of the Tsar's army a stark choice. Either they joined the Red Army, or they died. In most cases, these officers would even find their family taken hostage in order to ensure that they did, as Trotsky wanted. This was a ruthless tactic Trotsky used, but it worked. Trotsky helped the army to be determined, and ended up directing them to defeat the five White Armies during the Civil War.
In conclusion, although Lenin is generally seen as the main contributor to the outstanding rise of the Bolsheviks to the leaders of Russia, he was aided in his leadership. Without Trotsky, the Bolsheviks were unlikely to have got into power, let alone long enough to build the communist state of which they dreamed. Trotsky was an outstanding personality, and intelligent enough to be the backbone of the Bolsheviks.
Mikhail Uritsky, a Bolshevik activist in 1917 said, “Now the great revolution has come, one feels that however intelligent Lenin may be he begins to fade beside the genius of Trotsky.” Mikhail Uritsky, obviously, realised that Lenin was not the only powerful force in the Bolshevik party. Lenin was the face of the Bolshevik party, and the main public speaker, so he probably was responsible for more recruits and supporters than Trotsky, but without Trotsky the Red Guards would have been defeated during the 1917 revolution, and the Treaty of Brest-Litovsk may never have been signed which would have lost the Bolsheviks the support they needed. Trotsky was a significant part of the Bolshevik party, and although they may still have got to power without him, he made sure they did it with as little trouble as possible.
