Editing Leon Trotsky (section)

===Lenin's succession===
{{Quote box|width=25em|align=left|bgcolor=|quote=Comrade Trotsky, on the other hand, as his struggle against the C.C. on the question of the People's Commissariat of Communications has already proved, is distinguished not only by outstanding ability. He is personally perhaps the most capable man in the present C.C., but he has displayed excessive self-assurance and shown excessive preoccupation with the purely administrative side of the work.|source=—Lenin's Testament, 1923{{sfn|Lewin|2005|p=80}}<ref>{{cite book |last1=Kuromiya |first1=Hiroaki |title=Stalin |date=16 August 2013 |publisher=Routledge |isbn=978-1-317-86780-7 |page=60 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=BRV4AAAAQBAJ&dq=Comrade+Trotsky,+on+the+other+hand,+as+his+struggle+against+the+C.C.+on+the+question+of+the+People%27s+Commissariat+of+Communications+has+already+proved,+is+distinguished+not+only+by+outstanding+ability.+He+is+personally+perhaps+the+most+capable+man+in+the+present+C.C.,+but+he+has+displayed+excessive+self-assurance+and+shown+excessive+preoccupation+with+the+purely+administrative+side+of+the+work.&pg=PA60 |language=en}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |last1=Lenin |first1=Vladimir Ilʹich |title=Selected Works in Three Volumes |date=1970 |publisher=Progress Publishers |isbn=978-0-7178-0300-2 |page=682 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Gh4KAQAAIAAJ&q=Comrade+Trotsky,+on+the+other+hand,+as+his+struggle+against+the+C.C.+on+the+question+of+the+People%27s+Commissariat+of+Communications+has+already+proved,+is+distinguished+not+only+by+outstanding+ability.+He+is+personally+perhaps+the+most+capable+man+in+the+present+C.C.,+but+he+has+displayed+excessive+self-assurance+and+shown+excessive+preoccupation+with+the+purely+administrative+side+of+the+work. |language=en}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |last1=Moss |first1=Walter G. |title=A History Of Russia Volume 2: Since 1855 |date=1 October 2004 |publisher=Anthem Press |isbn=978-0-85728-739-7 |pages=237–238 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=yMwdWFtgV0QC&dq=Comrade+Trotsky,+on+the+other+hand,+as+his+struggle+against+the+C.C.+on+the+question+of+the+People%27s+Commissariat+of+Communications+has+already+proved,+is+distinguished+not+only+by+outstanding+ability.+He+is+personally+perhaps+the+most+capable+man+in+the+present+C.C.,+but+he+has+displayed+excessive+self-assurance+and+shown+excessive+preoccupation+with+the+purely+administrative+side+of+the+work.&pg=PA238 |language=en}}</ref> Most historians consider the document an accurate reflection of Lenin's views.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Suny |first1=Ronald |title=Red Flag Wounded |date=25 August 2020 |publisher=Verso Books |isbn=978-1-78873-074-7 |page=59 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=I4XzDwAAQBAJ&dq=Few+other+scholars+doubt+the+authorship+of+the+document,+which+accurately+reflected+Lenin%E2%80%99s+views,+nor+was+it+questioned+at+the+time+it+was+written+and+debated+in+high+party+circles.+Kotkin%E2%80%99s+interpretation,+fascinating+as+it+is,+relies+on+conjecture+rather+than+evidence&pg=PA59 |language=en}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |last1=Edele |first1=Mark |title=Debates on Stalinism |date=11 June 2020 |publisher=Manchester University Press |isbn=978-1-5261-4895-7 |pages=137–239 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=1-rqDwAAQBAJ&dq=lenin+testament+forgery&pg=PT126 |language=en}}</ref>}}
Trotsky was generally viewed as Lenin's choice as a successor in 1923.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Deutscher |first1=Isaac |title=The Prophet Unarmed: Trotsky 1921-1929 |date=2003 |publisher=Verso |isbn=978-1-85984-446-5 |pages=77–78 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=mgubj5z1XUcC&dq=lenin+choice+successor+trotsky&pg=PA78 |language=en}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |last1=Schapiro |first1=Leonard |title=The Government and Politics of the Soviet Union |date=1967 |publisher=Hutchinson |page=48 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=kHwKAAAAMAAJ |language=en}}</ref> He had been nominated as Lenin's deputy in 1922 and 1923 and was expected to assume responsibility over the [[Supreme Soviet of the National Economy|Council of National Economy]] or [[Gosplan]].<ref>{{cite book |last1=Getty |first1=J. Arch |title=Practicing Stalinism: Bolsheviks, Boyars, and the Persistence of Tradition |date=27 August 2013 |publisher=Yale University Press |isbn=978-0-300-16929-4 |page=53 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=RaYzAAAAQBAJ&dq=Lenin+Trotsky+chairman+gosplan+1923&pg=PA53 |language=en}}</ref> Lenin and Trotsky were the only Soviet leaders elected honorary presidents of the [[Communist International]].{{sfn|Deutscher|2015a|pp=605}} Before the 1921 [[Ban on factions in the Communist Party of the Soviet Union|factional ban]], Trotsky had considerable support among party activists and Central Committee members against Lenin's narrow majority. His supporters also controlled the Orgburo and Party Secretariat before Stalin's appointment as General Secretary.<ref>{{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=162 |isbn=978-0-300-13493-3 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=27JGzAoMLjoC |language=en}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |last1=Reiman|first1=Michal |title=Trotsky and the struggle for "Lenin's heritage". Brotherstone, Terence; Dukes, Paul,(eds) |date=1992 |publisher=Edinburgh University Press |isbn=978-0-7486-0317-6 |pages=42–52}}</ref> McCauley states Lenin planned to retire and arranged for Trotsky to speak on his behalf as his natural successor, which triggered the ''troika's'' formation.{{sfn|Mccauley|2014|p=52}} Historian [[Orlando Figes]] highlighted the increasing alignment between Lenin and Trotsky in 1923, citing Lenin's testament (critical of Stalin and bureaucracy) and their shared positions on [[Foreign trade of the Soviet Union|foreign trade]], party reform, and the [[Georgian Affair (1922)|Georgian affair]].<ref>{{cite book |last1=Figes |first1=Orlando |title=A people's tragedy: a history of the Russian Revolution |date=1997 |location=New York, NY |publisher= Viking |isbn=978-0-670-85916-0 |pages=796–801 |url=https://archive.org/details/peoplestragedyhi00fige/page/796/mode/2up}}</ref>

Soviet historian Victor Danilov believed Lenin's proposed appointment of Trotsky as deputy "would have made him [[order of succession|in effect Lenin's successor]]". Danilov cited Politburo Secretary Bazhanov's notes of Trotsky's concluding speech in 1923, where Trotsky explained declining the deputy position due to concerns his "Jewish origins" could accentuate antisemitic attitudes towards the Soviet Union.<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Danilov |first1=Victor |last2=Porter |first2=Cathy |title=We Are Starting to Learn about Trotsky |journal=History Workshop |date=1990 |issue=29 |pages=136–146 |jstor=4288968 |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/4288968 |issn=0309-2984}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |last1=Daniels |first1=Robert V. |title=The Rise and Fall of Communism in Russia |date=1 October 2008 |publisher=Yale University Press |isbn=978-0-300-13493-3 |page=438 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=27JGzAoMLjoC&dq=Victor+Danilov+Trotsky&pg=PA438 |language=en}}</ref> McCauley stated Trotsky would "almost certainly" have become successor had Lenin died after his first stroke in 1922.{{sfn|Mccauley|2014|p=51}} Deutscher noted Zinoviev was Lenin's closest disciple from 1907 to 1917, but Zinoviev's opposition to the October Revolution strained his relations with Lenin.<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 |pages=78–79 |url=https://archive.org/details/prophetunarmedtr0000unse/page/76/mode/1up?q=Tsaritsyn+battles+}}</ref>

Opponents like [[Winston Churchill]] argued "Lenin [had] indeed regarded Trotsky as his political heir" and sought to protect him before his 1924 death. In ''[[My Life (Leon Trotsky autobiography)|My Life]]'', Trotsky maintained Lenin intended him as successor as Chairman of the Council of People's Commissars, beginning with his proposed appointment as deputy. He explained this process would have started after their 1923 alliance with a [[Central Control Commission of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union|commission]] to mitigate [[bureaucracy|state bureaucracy]], facilitating his party succession.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Trotsky |first1=Leon |title=My Life: An Attempt at an Autobiography |date=5 April 2012 |publisher=Courier Corporation |isbn=978-0-486-12340-0 |page=479 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=F4fqc7eZbjUC&dq=as+would+allow+me+to+become+lenin%27s+deputy+and+as+he+intended+his+successor+to+the+post+of+chairman+of+the+soviet+of+people%27s+commissaries&pg=PA479 |language=en}}</ref>