Editing Leon Trotsky (section)

=== 1905 revolution and trial (1905–1906) ===
Anti-government unrest culminated in [[Saint Petersburg]] on 3 January 1905 (O.S.), when a strike began at the [[Putilov Works]]. This escalated into a general strike, with 140,000 strikers in Saint Petersburg by 7 January 1905.{{sfn|Trotsky|1971|p=73}}

On Sunday, 9 January 1905, Father [[Georgi Gapon]] led a procession to the [[Winter Palace]], ostensibly to petition the Tsar. Accounts differ, but the Palace Guard fired on the demonstration, resulting in numerous deaths and injuries. This event, known as [[Bloody Sunday (1905)|Bloody Sunday]], intensified revolutionary fervour. Gapon's own biography suggests a degree of provocation by radicals within the crowd, a claim later echoed by some police records.<ref>Gapon, Georgy. ''The Story of My Life''. Chapman & Hall; 1st THUS edition (1 January 1905)</ref><ref>Smith, Edward Ellis. The Okhrana; The Russian Department of Police; A Bibliography. Hoover Institution, Stanford University, 1967.</ref>
[[File:Leon Trotsky Mugshot.png|thumb|upright=1.3|left|Police mugshots of Trotsky in 1905 after his arrest as a leader of the Saint Petersburg Soviet]]

Following Bloody Sunday, Trotsky secretly returned to Russia in February 1905 via [[Kiev]].{{sfn|Deutscher|2003a|p=117}} He wrote for an underground press in Kiev before moving to Saint Petersburg. There, he worked with Bolsheviks like [[Leonid Krasin]] and the local Menshevik committee, pushing the latter in a more radical direction. A police raid in May forced him to flee to rural [[Grand Duchy of Finland|Finland]], where he further developed his theory of permanent revolution.<ref>{{cite book | author = Leon Trotsky | title = Permanent Revolution | chapter = Results and Prospects | publisher = Pathfinder Press | location = New York | year = 1969 | orig-year = 1929 | pages = 27, 122}}</ref>

On 19 September 1905, typesetters at [[Ivan Sytin]]'s Moscow printing house struck for shorter hours and higher pay. By 24 September, 50 other Moscow printing shops joined. On 2 October, Saint Petersburg typesetters struck in solidarity. On 7 October, railway workers of the [[Moscow–Kazan Railway]] also struck.{{sfn|Trotsky|1971|pp=85–88}} Amidst this turmoil, Trotsky returned to Saint Petersburg on 15 October. He addressed the Saint Petersburg Soviet (Council) of Workers' Deputies at the Technological Institute, with an estimated 200,000 people gathered outside—about half the city's workers.{{sfn|Deutscher|2003a|p=126}}
[[File:TrotskiEnLaFortalezaDePedroYPabloEn1906.png|thumb|upright=.8|Trotsky in prison, awaiting trial, 1906]]

After his return, Trotsky and [[Parvus]] took over the newspaper ''Russian Gazette,'' increasing its circulation to 500,000. Trotsky also co-founded "Nachalo" ("The Beginning") with Parvus, Julius Martov, and other Mensheviks, which became a successful newspaper during the 1905 revolutionary climate in Saint Petersburg.{{sfn|Deutscher|2003a|pp=138–139}}

Before Trotsky's return, Mensheviks had independently conceived of an elected, non-party revolutionary body representing the capital's workers: the first [[Soviet (council)|Soviet]]. By Trotsky's arrival, the [[Saint Petersburg Soviet]] was functioning, headed by [[Georgy Stepanovich Khrustalev-Nosar|Khrustalyev-Nosar]] (Georgy Nosar, alias Pyotr Khrustalyov), a lawyer chosen as a compromise figure.{{sfn|Deutscher|2003a|p=131}} Khrustalyev-Nosar became popular and was the Soviet's public face.{{sfn|Trotsky|1971|p=218}}{{sfn|Deutscher|2003a|p=131}} Trotsky joined the Soviet as "Yanovsky" (after his birthplace) and was elected vice-chairman. He performed much of the practical work and, after Khrustalyev-Nosar's arrest on 26 November 1905, became its chairman. On 2 December, the Soviet issued a proclamation on Tsarist government debts:
{{Blockquote|The autocracy never enjoyed the confidence of the people and was never granted any authority by the people. We have therefore decided not to allow the repayment of such loans as have been made by the Tsarist government when openly engaged in a war with the entire people.<ref>Quoted in Chapter XIV of [http://www.marxists.org/archive/trotsky/works/1930-lif/ch14.htm ''My Life''] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20060414150502/http://www.marxists.org/archive/trotsky/works/1930-lif/ch14.htm |date=14 April 2006}}</ref>}}
The following day, 3 December 1905, government troops surrounded the Soviet, and its deputies were arrested.{{sfn|Trotsky|1971|pp=231–233}} Trotsky and other leaders were tried in 1906 for supporting an armed rebellion. On 4 October 1906, he was convicted and sentenced to internal exile in Siberia.