Editing Leon Trotsky (section)

==== 1919 ====
[[File:Trotsky con la guardia roja.jpg|thumb|Trotsky addressing soldiers during the Polish–Soviet War]]
Throughout late 1918 and early 1919, Trotsky's leadership faced attacks, including veiled accusations in Stalin-inspired newspaper articles and a direct attack by the Military Opposition at the [[8th Congress of the Russian Communist Party (Bolsheviks)|VIIIth Party Congress]] in March 1919. He weathered them, being elected one of five full members of the first [[Politburo]] after the Congress. But he later wrote:<ref name="Life XXXVI" />
{{Blockquote|It is no wonder that my military work created so many enemies for me. I did not look to the side, I elbowed away those who interfered with military success, or in the haste of the work trod on the toes of the unheeding and was too busy even to apologize. Some people remember such things. The dissatisfied and those whose feelings had been hurt found their way to Stalin or Zinoviev, for these two also nourished hurts.}}
In mid-1919, the Red Army had grown from 800,000 to 3,000,000 and fought on sixteen fronts, providing an opportunity for challenges to Trotsky's leadership.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.newstatesman.com/international-politics/2010/03/trotsky-stalin-russian-lenin|title=Lost leaders: Leon Trotsky|work=The New Statesman|location=UK|access-date=22 April 2010|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100423073037/http://www.newstatesman.com/international-politics/2010/03/trotsky-stalin-russian-lenin|archive-date=23 April 2010|url-status=live}}</ref> At the 3–4 July Central Committee meeting, after a heated exchange, the majority supported Kamenev and [[Ivar Smilga|Smilga]] against Vācietis and Trotsky. Trotsky's plan was rejected, and he was criticized for alleged leadership shortcomings, many personal. Stalin used this to pressure Lenin<ref name="My Life">Chapter XXXVII of [http://www.marxists.org/archive/trotsky/works/1930-lif/ch37.htm ''My Life''] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20060420212156/http://www.marxists.org/archive/trotsky/works/1930-lif/ch37.htm |date=20 April 2006}}</ref> to dismiss Trotsky.

Significant changes were made to Red Army leadership. Trotsky was temporarily sent to the Southern Front, while Smilga informally coordinated work in Moscow. Most non-day-to-day Revolutionary Military Council members were relieved of duties on 8 July, and new members, including Smilga, were added. The same day, Vācietis was arrested by the Cheka on suspicion of an anti-Soviet plot and replaced by [[Sergey Kamenev (commander)|Sergey Kamenev]]. After weeks in the south, Trotsky returned to Moscow and resumed control. A year later, Smilga and [[Mikhail Tukhachevsky|Tukhachevsky]] were defeated at the [[Battle of Warsaw (1920)|Battle of Warsaw]], but Trotsky's refusal to retaliate against Smilga earned his friendship and later support during 1920s intra-Party battles.<ref>Isai Abramovich's [http://lib.ru/MEMUARY/ABRAMOWICH/abramowich1.txt memoirs] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20060226084149/http://lib.ru/MEMUARY/ABRAMOWICH/abramowich1.txt |date=26 February 2006}} re: the Smilga episode. Abramovich (1900–1985), a friend of Smilga's, was one of the few Trotskyists who survived the Great Purges and returned from Stalin's camps in the late 1950s.</ref>

By October 1919, the government faced its worst crisis: Denikin's troops approached [[Tula, Russia|Tula]] and Moscow from the south, and General [[Nikolay Yudenich]]'s troops approached Petrograd from the west. Lenin decided Petrograd had to be abandoned to defend Moscow. Trotsky argued<ref>[http://www.marxists.org/archive/trotsky/works/1930-lif/ch35.htm ''My Life'' (Chapter XXXV)] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20060420212115/http://www.marxists.org/archive/trotsky/works/1930-lif/ch35.htm |date=20 April 2006}}, marxists.org; accessed 31 January 2018.</ref> Petrograd needed to be defended, partly to prevent [[Estonia]] and Finland from intervening. In a rare reversal, Trotsky, supported by Stalin and Zinoviev, prevailed against Lenin in the Central Committee.