Lev Trotskiy.

Born in 1879 in Yanovka, a village in the Russian Empire now in Ukraine, Lev Trotskiy was named Leiba Davidovich Bronstein. His parents Anna and David Bronstein were Jewish farmers. His sister Olga Kameneva later became a prominent Bolshevik. He became active in revolutionary circles as a young man, leading to his arrest and exile to Siberia, from which he escaped in 1902.

In 1905, Trotsky emerged as a leader of the first Russian Revolution, and in 1917 he helped lead the October Revolution alongside Vladimir Lenin. As commissar for foreign affairs, he negotiated the Treaty of Brest-Litovsk with Germany in 1918. He then founded the Red Army and led it during the Russian Civil War, which resulted in over a million deaths. Trotsky’s 1920 invasion of Poland was repulsed by Józef Piłsudski‘s forces. After Lenin’s death in 1924, Trotsky struggled with Joseph Stalin for power. Stalin stripped him of his positions by 1929 and expelled him from Russia in 1936. He spent his remaining years in exile in Mexico, living with artist Diego Rivera, writing and preaching revolution until his assassination in 1940.

Trotsky had four children: Sergei Sedov, Zinaida Volkova, Lev Sedov, and Nina Nevelson. His sister Olga Kameneva was married to Bolshevik leader Lev Kamenev. In exile, he lived with artist Diego Rivera in Coyoacán, Mexico. His grandson Esteban Volkov settled in Mexico and had four daughters, including Nora Volkow, who later directed the National Institute on Drug Abuse.

Trotsky is remembered as a key theorist and leader of the Russian Revolution and the founder of the Red Army. He was the basis for the character Snowball in George Orwell’s novel Animal Farm 1945. The title of the Oscar-winning film Life Is Beautiful 1997 is based on a note he wrote to his wife before his assassination. He has been portrayed by actors including Richard Burton in The Assassination of Trotsky 1972, Daniel Massey in Stalin 1992, and Geoffrey Rush in Frida 2002. He is mentioned in songs by The Stranglers and Manic Street Preachers. Trotsky was never rehabilitated by the Soviet regime, and remains a controversial figure in communist history.