In July 1917 Trotsky abandoned his independent cause and joined the Bolshevik Party as a full time member. He became a member of the Bolsheviks’ Central Committee and emerged, along with Lenin, as the most influential opponent of Russia’s new Provisional Government. In contrast to the Mensheviks, who favoured cooperation with the liberals, the Bolsheviks sought to bring down the government and replace it with a so-called “dictatorship of the proletariat”—in other words, a government ruled by the Bolsheviks on behalf of Russia’s industrial workers and peasants. Trotsky was imprisoned for his opposition to the Provisional Government in August but was released on bail in early September and elected chairman of the Executive Committee of the Petrograd Soviet. By this time Lenin was in hiding for various reasons, so Trotsky took over preparations for the Bolsheviks’ seizure of power. In October he led masses of soldiers and workers in the insurrection that brought down the Provisional Government—the second phase of the Russian Revolution.
After the Bolsheviks gained power, Trotsky became commissar of foreign affairs in the new government led by Lenin. Trotsky was a principal figure in negotiations with Germany and the other Central Powers in early 1918. In March of that year, however, Trotsky resigned from his post in protest of the Treaty of Brest-Litovsk, which made severe demands on Russia. Trotsky then became commissar of war and chairman of the Supreme Military Council of Russia. The German People wanted an end to the war, so Trotsky gave it to them, even though the terms of the treaty of Brest-Litosvk were very harsh. However, he did not give in to the demands instantly, he was deliberately stalling in a vain effort that Germany would join the Revolution, but when he saw that this was unlikely he signed the treaty. Both Trotsky and Lenin realized that it would be impossible to create a strong Soviet army without using officers who had experience fighting under the imperial government. From remnants of the imperial army, Trotsky formed an efficient military force known as the Red Army, who would later fight the “White Army” IN the Russian Civil War. Although Trotsky lacked military training, he was a good organizer and easily won the respect and loyalty of his troops. It was largely because of Trotsky’s military leadership that the Bolsheviks won the Russian Civil War. The Red Army had a superb leader in Leon Trotshky. He built up the army from nothing, introducing conscription for men over the age of eighteen. He appointed Tsarist officers and political commissars (fanatical Bolsheviks) to each unit of men to make sure that they carried out their orders correctly. Trotsky was personally very courageous, as he had a special train which took him and his army to the places where the fighting was hardest.
Altogether, he was very important the success of the Bolshevik’s as without him, the revolution may have failed, the negotiations for peace may have failed, and they would probably lost the civil war and communism would have fell.
