Editing Leon Trotsky (section)

== Political stature and conflicts with Stalin==
{{Main|Anti-Stalinist Left|The Stalin School of Falsification|Stalin: An Appraisal of the Man and His Influence}}
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| quote = Had Trotsky won the struggle to succeed Lenin, the character of the Soviet regime would almost certainly have been substantially different, particularly in [[The Permanent Revolution and Results and Prospects|foreign policy]], [[Literature and Revolution|cultural policy]], and the extent of [[Terrorism and Communism#Legacy|terroristic repression]]. Trotsky's failure, however, seems to have been almost inevitable, considering his own qualities and the conditions of authoritarian rule by the Communist Party organization.
| source = —Historian Robert Vincent Daniels, 1993{{sfn|Daniels|1993|pp=945–946}}
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Trotsky lacked the political acumen to succeed against Stalin's machinations.{{sfn|Mccauley|2014|p=59}}<ref name="Hitler and Stalin : parallel lives"/><ref>{{cite book |last1=Magill |first1=Frank N. |title=The 20th Century O–Z: Dictionary of World Biography |date=13 May 2013 |publisher=Routledge |isbn=978-1-136-59369-7 |page=3728|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=xqvpudh8dasC&dq=trotsky+lacked+political&pg=PA3728 |language=en}}</ref> Lenin had encouraged Trotsky to challenge Stalin at the [[12th Congress of the Russian Communist Party (Bolsheviks)|Twelfth Party Congress]] over the [[Georgian Affair (1922)|Georgian Affair]], but Trotsky relented.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Patenaude |first1=Betrand |title="Trotsky and Trotskyism" in The Cambridge History of Communism: Volume 1, World Revolution and Socialism in One Country 1917–1941 |date=21 September 2017 |publisher=Cambridge University Press |isbn=978-1-108-21041-6 |page=199 |language=en}}</ref> Historian [[Martin McCauley (historian)|Martin McCauley]] commented that Trotsky "displayed a lamentable lack of political judgement" on multiple occasions, such as declining Lenin's proposal to become [[Deputy Premier of the Soviet Union|deputy chairman]] of Sovnarkom, failing to build a power base before forming a bloc with Lenin against the [[Orgburo]], and not immediately recognising the ''troika'' established to prevent his succession.{{sfn|Mccauley|2014|p=59}} Biographer [[Joshua Rubenstein]] attributed Trotsky's decision to decline Lenin's proposal to his belief the position had "little authority of its own" and overlapped with other government and party officials.{{sfn|Rubenstein|2011|p=127}} Deutscher believed he underestimated Stalin's cunning, ruthlessness, and tenacity on several occasions.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Deutscher |first1=Isaac |title=The Prophet Outcast: Trotsky 1929–1940 |date=2003 |publisher=Verso |isbn=978-1-85984-451-9 |page=249 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=6JfWUSEacRgC&dq=he+underrated+once+again+Stalin%27s+cunning%2C+tenacity&pg=PA249 |language=en}}</ref>
[[File:SovietDelegatesAtBrestLitovsk.jpg|thumb|left|Trotsky (centre, front row) as [[Minister of Foreign Affairs (Russia)#Russian SFSR (1917–1991)|People's Commissar for Foreign Affairs]] with the Soviet delegation at Brest-Litovsk, 1917–1918]]

His enmity with Stalin developed during the Civil War due to Stalin's disregard for military specialists whom Trotsky considered indispensable. In [[Tsaritsyn]], Stalin ordered several specialists imprisoned on a [[barge]] in the [[Volga River|Volga]]; the floating prison was sunk, and the officers perished.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Brackman |first1=Roman |title=The Secret File of Joseph Stalin: A Hidden Life |date=23 November 2004 |publisher=Routledge |isbn=978-1-135-75840-0 |page=129 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=PY2RAgAAQBAJ&dq=stalin+trotsky+military+specialist&pg=PA129 |language=en}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |last1=Deutscher |first1=Isaac |title=The prophet unarmed: Trotsky, 1921–1929 |date=1959 |location=London; New York |publisher= Oxford University Press |isbn=978-0-19-501094-7 |page=76 |url=https://archive.org/details/prophetunarmedtr0000unse/page/76/mode/1up?q=Tsaritsyn+battles+}}</ref> Another instance was Stalin's disobedience of Trotsky's order to march on Warsaw, contributing to the Red Army's defeat at the [[Battle of Warsaw (1920)|Battle of Warsaw]] in 1920.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Dziewanowski |first1=M. K. |title=Russia in the twentieth century |date=2003 |publisher=Upper Saddle River, N.J. : Prentice Hall |isbn=978-0-13-097852-3 |page=157 |url=https://archive.org/details/russiaintwentiet0000dzie/page/157/mode/1up?view=theater&q=befell+}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |last1=Brackman |first1=Roman |title=The Secret File of Joseph Stalin: A Hidden Life |date=23 November 2004 |publisher=Routledge |isbn=978-1-135-75840-0 |page=135 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=PY2RAgAAQBAJ&dq=trotsky+stalin+battle+of+warsaw&pg=PA135 |language=en}}</ref> Former Politburo secretary [[Boris Bazhanov]] claimed Stalin's antagonism also stemmed from Trotsky's Jewishness and that Stalin refused to obey his military orders during the Civil War.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Bazhanov |first1=Boris |last2=Doyle |first2=David W. |title=Bazhanov and the Damnation of Stalin |date=1990 |publisher=Ohio University Press |isbn=978-0-8214-0948-0 |page=59 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=0_ANAQAAMAAJ |language=en}}</ref> According to Rogovin, Trotsky received hundreds of letters reporting the use of [[antisemitism|antisemitic]] methods during the inter-party struggle between Stalin and the United Opposition.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Rogovin |first1=Vadim Zakharovich |title=Was There an Alternative? Trotskyism: a Look Back Through the Years |date=2021 |publisher=Mehring Books |isbn=978-1-893638-97-6 |pages=440–441 |language=en}}</ref>
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| quote = With all the greater frankness can I state how, in my view, the Soviet government should act in case of a fascist upheaval in Germany. In their place, I would, at the very moment of receiving telegraphic news of this event, sign a mobilisation order calling up several age groups. In the face of a mortal enemy, when the logic of the situation points to inevitable war, it would be irresponsible and unpardonable to give that enemy time to establish himself, to consolidate his positions, to conclude alliances… and to work out the plan to attack.
| source = —Trotsky describing in 1932 the military measures he would have taken, in place of Stalin, to counter the rise of [[Nazi Germany]].{{sfn|Deutscher|2015a|pp=1192–1193}}
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Rubenstein regarded Trotsky's position among Soviet elites as largely dependent on Lenin, adding that he had an outsider image within party circles as he had previously been an "outspoken critic of Lenin".{{sfn|Rubenstein|2011|p=126}} Conversely, Volkogonov stated Trotsky had the support of many party [[intellectual]]s, but this was overshadowed by Stalin's control of the vast party apparatus, including the GPU and party cadres.{{sfnm|1a1=Volkogonov|1y=1996|1p=284}}

Trotsky attributed his political defeat to external, objective conditions rather than Stalin's individual qualities. He argued that failed international insurrections (e.g., [[September Uprising|Bulgaria]] 1923, [[Shanghai massacre|China]] 1927) diminished prospects for [[world socialism]] and demoralised the Russian working class, strengthening internal Soviet bureaucracy.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Trotsky |first1=Leon |title=The Revolution Betrayed: What is the Soviet Union and where is it Going? |date=1991 |publisher=Mehring Books |isbn=978-0-929087-48-1 |pages=85–98 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=hiCYS9Z3lDoC&q=trotsky+defeat+bureaucracy |language=en}}</ref> Russian historian [[Vadim Rogovin]] remarked that Trotsky, in the 1930s, did not abandon hope for revolutionary spread, arguing his prognosis was plausible as many European countries (Germany, France, especially Spain) "went through a period of revolutionary crisis".<ref>{{cite book |last1=Rogovin |first1=Vadim Zakharovich |title=Was There an Alternative? Trotskyism: a Look Back Through the Years |date=2021 |publisher=Mehring Books |isbn=978-1-893638-97-6 |page=381 |language=en}}</ref> However, Daniels contended Trotsky would have been no more prepared than other Bolsheviks to risk [[war]] or lose [[trade]] opportunities, despite his support for world revolution.<ref name="Yale University Press">{{cite book |last1=Daniels |first1=Robert V. |title=The Rise and Fall of Communism in Russia |date=1 October 2008 |publisher=Yale University Press |page=195 |isbn=978-0-300-13493-3 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=27JGzAoMLjoC |language=en}}</ref>