For a time in the 1920s, Leon Trotsky, was second in importance in Soviet
Russia that Lenin himself. Many believed him to be the natural choice to
succeed Lenin. But it was not to be; in Byzantine power struggles that
characterized Soviet policy, Trotsky will prove to be an amateur. His
personality arrogant, contemptuous, and lack of tact and tolerance, would
ensure that few voices were raised in his defense as Stalin put slowly in a
vise. Trotsky was finally removed from his post and forced into internal
exile; it will eventually have to flee the country.
It was a magnificent reversal. Trotsky found his way to Mexico and
tried-pathetically, as he appeared to lead an opposition movement in exile
against Stalin. The communist world in the 1930s was fractured into two
camps: those who have followed the line of the Moscow party and
the "Trotskyists" who have placed their sympathies to exile in Mexico. And
as the shadow of World War loomed in 1930, the situation became unbearable
for Joseph Stalin. As the Kremlin saw Trotsky divided the socialist camp at
a time when it faces existential threats (ie, Germany, Japan and the West
in general). When Stalin's secret also learned that Trotsky wrote a
biography of him, he got angry and became obsessed with eliminating it.
The dirty work was awarded to Pavel A. Sudoplatov, the intelligence
specialist who has worked with Levrenti Beria in a secret division
called "Administration of special tasks. "Sudoplatov later wrote a memoir
called Special Tasks that served as the main source of this article. One
day in March 1939, he was summoned to see Stalin and Beria in the Kremlin.
Stalin made it clear to him that it would work to eliminate Trotsky:
"There are no important political figures in the Trotskyist movement,
except Trotsky himself. If Trotsky is complete, the threat will be
eliminated ", said Stalin, and returned to his seat in front of us. Then,
slowly, he began to talk about his dissatisfaction with the present state
of our intelligence operations, which he was not active enough. Stalin
pointed out that the elimination of Trotsky was initially attributed to
[another agent] in 1937, but he failed to fulfill this important task of
the government.
Sudoplatov therefore had his marching orders; he did not know he was the
man for the job, as he did not speak Spanish and knew nothing about Mexico.
But Stalin beckoned her concerns aside. "It is your duty to work and the
party to find and select the correct and reliable personnel to carry out
the mission. We will provide all the help and support you need. Report
directly to Comrade Beria and nobody else, but full responsibility for the
realization of the mission remains with you. "In this incident, the meeting
ended.
Sudoplatov assembled a team of agents, many of them former communist
fighters in the Spanish Civil War. A first clumsy attempt to kill Trotsky
raking a villa with gunshots had failed, and had made him very careful when
dealing with anyone he did not know. The murderer finally chose was a
charming and handsome businessman named Ramon Mercader; his mother was also
a devoted communist who had fought in Spain. Mercader slowly seeps into the
inner circle of Trotsky by posing as an eccentric who loved being around
the excitement and danger. He also had an affair with a woman named Sylvia
Ageloff, who was well known in the circle of Trotsky. This way he was able
to access his residence.
Ramon Mercader
August 20, 1940, Mercader was able to arrange a private meeting with
Trotsky. Under his coat, he had secreted an ax ice climbing mountains to be
used as a murder weapon. As Trotsky was bent over his desk studying a
Mercader paper has shown him, the assassin took out the ax and struck the
head of Trotsky. According Sudoplatov (that heard the story of Mercader in
person in 1960), Trotsky moved his head at the last moment and the shot was
slightly deflected. Badly wounded, he cried out for help and tried to beat
the killer to the ground.
The murder weapon
Guards poured into the room and Mercader immobilized; he was nearly killed
by the guards, but Trotsky told them to spare his life. The mother of the
murderer, Caridad Mercader, waiting for his son in the getaway car outside
the house; when it does not seem she fled the country. Trotsky died the
next day after suffering serious head injuries. Mercader was arrested by
Mexican police a false name (Frank Jacson); his real identity would not be
known for six years. The only reason his real name became known was because
one of the parents Mercader made western defection to the Soviet Union and
revealed information (Caridad his mother had actually revealed to the
parent, believing the secret was safe).
Mercader said the Mexican police beat for years almost every day; but he
kept his cover story, which was that he had killed Trotsky as a result of a
personal dispute. Mexican authorities would ultimately sentence him to 20
years in prison, almost all of which he served. On its release in 1960, he
first went to Cuba and then to the Soviet Union, where he would be honored
with the highest award, the hero of the country's Soviet Union.
Here ends the macabre history. While no one celebrates the death of
another, it is difficult to find much sympathy for a man like Trotsky, who
was well responsible for unleashing communism in Russia and the world.
Stalin himself was certainly not a hero. But maybe there is crude justice
in the fact that Trotsky was done to death by the same types of fanatics he
himself had created and nurtured during his long and bloody tenure as Army
chief red in the 1920s.
Read more: What we should learn from the Hungarian Communist Revolution of
1919
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