Trotsky: Downfall Of A Revolutionary

by Bertrand M. Patenaude

In Downfall of a Revolutionary, Stanford University lecturer Bertrand M. Patenaude tells the dramatic story of Leon Trotsky's final years in exile in Mexico. Shedding new light on Trotsky’s tumultuous friendship with painter Diego Rivera, his affair with Rivera’s wife Frida Kahlo, and his torment as his family and comrades become victims of the Great Terror, Trotsky : Downfall of a Revolutionary brilliantly illuminates the fateful and dramatic life of one of history’s most famous yet elusive figures.

Genres: History, Biography, Nonfiction, Politics, Russia, Soviet Union, Russian Revolution

370 pages, Hardcover

First published September 14, 2010

Reviews

[Maziyar Yf · Rating 3 out of 5]

تروتسکی زوال یک انقلابی کتابی ایست از برنارد پتنود نویسنده آمریکایی . کتاب او بر سال های آخر زندگی تروتسکی تمرکز کرده ، زمانی که او تبعید خود را در مکزیک می گذراند . از عنوان کتاب این گونه بر می آید که کتاب پتنود قاعدتا باید در مورد زندگی پر ماجرای تروتسکی و در انتها سقوط او ، فرار ، زندگی در تبعید ، تلاش برای متحد کردن مخالفان و ترور او باشد اما نویسنده از بخشهای بسیار مهم زندگی تروتسکی ، از جمله اندیشه های او گذشته و بیشتربه تلاش های ناامیدانه او در پایان کار پرداخته .

در باره تروتسکی
تروتسکی فیلسوف، متفکر، انقلابی، تاریخ‌نگار، روزنامه‌نگار، سیاستمدار نویسنده ، بنیان گذار، سازمان دهنده ارتش سرخ ، نظریه‌پرداز مارکسیست ،و شخص دوم حزب پس از لنین بود. دانش او با افرادی مانند استالین ، خروشچف و برژنف ، افرادی که تا سالهای طولانی دبیرکل حزب کمونیست بودند به هیچ شکل قابل مقایسه نبوده . او به عنوان انسانی فرهیخته ، تا اندازه ای غربی و جهان نگر در مقابل استالین دهقان صفت ، آسیایی نگر و ملی گرا قلمداد می شد که در وقت استراحت در قطاری که او را از جبهه ای به جبهه دیگر می برد کتاب می خواند .
با وجود نقش برجسته تروتسکی در ایجاد کشور سوسیالیستی ، پس از مخالفت او با استالین ، نام ، نقش و عکس های او به دستور استالین و با همتی باورنکردنی حذف شد و تقریبا اعتبار تمامی خدمات او به انقلاب به استالین رسید . تروتسکی حتی در زمان خروشچف و هنگام موج گسترده اعاده حیثیت ها هم در شوروی ، هم درچین و هم در بیشتر جهان کمونیستی مغضوب بود و تا با فروپاشی شوروی در سال ۱۹۹۱، نام و آثار تروتسکی دوباره به تاریخ شوروی بازگشت

کتاب پتنود را باید جدال میان استالین و تروتسکی و تلاش بی وقفه استالین برای حذف رقیب قدر خود دانست ،کتاب او با یک سوقصد ناموفق به جان تروتسکی شروع شده و با سوقصدی دیگر ، این بار موفق پایان می گیرد . آنچه در بین این دو ترور می بینیم تلاش تروتسکی برای گذراندن زندگی خود از راه نوشتن ، سازماندهی تروتسکیستها و تاسیس چهارمین انترناسیونال است .
افزون بر تروتسکی ، کتاب شخصیت های نامدار دیگری هم دارد ، زوج فریدا کالوا و دیه گو ریورا ، نقاش های معروف مکزیک نقش مهمی در کتاب دارند . هنگامی که تروتسکی از بیم جاسوسان و مأموران استالین در اروپا آواره بود، ریورا و فریدا کالو موفق شدند برای او از دولت وقت مکزیک پناهندگی بگیرند . اما دیگر هنرمند و نقاش مکزیکی ، دیوید آلفارو سیکروس نقشی کاملا مخالف با ریورا دارد .
تروتسکی تقریبا به سرعت در میابد که مکزیک جای خوبی برای پناهنده شدن نیست ، این جا با پول تقریبا هر کاری ممکن است ، تقریبا همه به اسلحه دسترسی دارند ، فساد بیداد می کند ، کمونیست و استالینیست های دو آتشه ای دارد که هر کاری از آن ها ساخته است . یکی از این کمونیست ها سیکروس معروف است . او مشکوک به مشارکت در ترور تروتسکی ایست . این که هنرمندی با شهرت جهانی اسلحه به دست گیرد و در طرح ترور شرکت کند کاملا باورنکردنی ایست اما در مکزیک چندان عجیب نیست .

کتاب پنتود را این گونه می توان به موضوعات کلیدی تقسیم کرد :
شخصیت و ویژگی های تروتسکی
رابطه تروتسکی با لنین و سپس جوزف استالین
نقش تروتسکی در انقلاب روسیه و سال‌های اولیه اتحاد جماهیر شوروی
تبعید و ترور تروتسکی
میراث تروتسکی به عنوان یک انقلابی و اندیشمند
گرچه پنتود به هریک از موضوعات فوق پرداخته و آن ها را تااندازه ای بسط داده اما تبعید و چگونگی تروتسکی بیشترین حجم کتاب او را شامل شده . تروتسکی پس از تبعید از اتحاد جماهیر شوروی در کشورهای مختلف مانند ترکیه ، فرانسه و نروژ زندگی می کرده. او در نهایت در مکزیک ساکن شد، جایی که به نظر می رسید امنیت دارد اما در حقیقت خطرناکترین کشور برای او بود . در آنجا نیز از سوی استالین تحت تعقیب بود. پتنود نفوذ گام به گام و تدریجی عوامل استالین و بریا ، به مکزیک ، شهر ، خانه و سپس درون خانه تروتسکی را با مهارت نشان داده .
در سال 1940، تروتسکی توسط یک قاتل مزدور به نام رامون مرکادر، که توسط پلیس مخفی شوروی استخدام شده بود، ترور شد. او که با نام مستعار جکسون و به عنوان دوست منشی تروتسکی وارد خانه او شده و اعتماد او و خانواده اش را کسب کرده بود سرانجام از یک لحظه غفلت استفاده کرد و او را با وسیله ای مانند یخ شکن به سختی مجروح کرد . چند روز بعد تروتسکی در اثر شدت جراحات وارده کشته شد

کتاب پنتود با وجود جذاب بودن ، سیمایی ناقص از تروتسکی نشان داده ، آنچه در کتاب او می بینیم پیرمردی درهم شکسته است که بیشتر ناراحت و ویران به سوگ فرزندان و گذشته با شکوه خود نشسته . تروتسکی کتاب پنتود هیچ شباهتی به انقلابی مقتدر و با نفوذی ندارد که با کلام و سخنرانی های پرشور خود ، توده ها را به هیجان و سپس حرکت وا می داشت .
پنتود خواسته یا ناخواسته همدلی خواننده را نسبت به تروتسکی برانگیخته . تروتسکی کتاب او هیچ شباهتی با آن انقلابی متعصب و رادیکال ندارد .

[Jeffrey Keeten · Rating 4 out of 5]

”Trotsky may have looked the part of the Red warlord, yet he had no military background. In fact as war commissar he rarely involved himself in questions of strategy or operations, leaving this to the experts. He reserved for himself the role of supreme agitator, and because he was as ruthless as he was ubiquitous, often resorting to bloodcurdling threats to achieve results, he acquired a reputation for brutality, most of all for his merciless treatment of deserters.”


Young Trotsky

Leon Trotsky born Lev Davidovich Bronshtein could have had the life of Joseph Stalin. He was a fiery, charismatic leader writing and giving many inspirational speeches before and after the “ten days that shook the world”. His mind was suited to figuring out vast global problems, but the details he had to leave to others. Unfortunately the details was what Joseph Stalin was really good at.

It really all started with the death of Lenin and a missed opportunity for Trotsky. He was out of Moscow when the funeral was to be held. ”In ten minutes he could have had a locomotive on the other end of the train and been on his way north to attend the funeral and make a funeral oration that might have crucial, and would certainly have been historic.” The crowd called out to every official that appeared in a great long coat. Trotsky is here. They were only expressing their hope because Trotsky never arrived. This situation was tailor made for him thousands of people assembled wanting to be inspired and we know that only Trotsky with his oratory ability could in the process of immortalize Lenin have the crowd resting in the palm of his hand. ”The smoke from the bonfires merged with the frozen breath of hundreds of thousands of people to produce an icy fog that hung over the square like a smoke sacrifice.”
It was a drama just waiting for the lead actor.


They wanted a Trotsky speech.

”’Stalin is our banner.’ Nikita Khrushchev cried. ‘Stalin is our will, Stalin is our victory.’”

Stalin had a way of tying men to him. It was not just through the use of threats. He was also very persuasive in one on one interactions. He methodically built the party around him one new ally at a time. While Trotsky was at his best when he was in front of crowds, the bigger the better. He was not at his best when dealing with people on a personal level. His family, though he loved them dearly, suffered through tantrums and coldness that left them shaken and feeling miserable. He could be very dismissive of friends and highly critical if they disagreed with him even on minor points. He was a man easy to love, but hard to like. ”In the time of revolutionary storm, he was the very concept of a hero, but in calmer times he could not bring two strong men to his side as friends and hold them there. He could no more build a party than a hen could build a house.”

Trotsky was deported in 1929. He was fortunate that Stalin did not feel comfortable having him killed. That would change.


Frida Kahlo was there to greet Leon and Natalia when they arrived in Mexico

The story of this book really begins with the arrival of Trotsky in Mexico in 1937. Diego Rivera, a famous Mexican muralist, but rather cavalier communist, used his influence to give Trotsky a safe haven in Mexico. From that foreign shore Trotsky watched his family and friends be systematically killed by Stalin. He wasn’t alone. The Moscow show trials eliminated a generation of Bolsheviks and anyone that had ever been associated with them, but Trotsky was a special thorn in Stalin’s side. There was no way he could allow him to live because his pen and his voice were worth a thousand bombs

Alexandra Trotsky’s ex-wife was shot in 1938.
Both sons-in-laws shot in 1936
Olga Kameneva, his sister, shot in 1941
Her two sons, Trotsky’s nephews, shot in 1936
Alexander, his older brother, shot in 1938
Nina, his daughter, died from tuberculosis in 1928.
His grandchildren, in Russia, by his daughter Nina disappeared without a trace.
Lyova, his oldest son, died under mysterious circumstances in 1938
Zina, daughter, killed herself in 1933 after feeling rejected by her father.
Sergei, his youngest son, was shot in 1937.

He had to have many moments when he wondered if it was all really worth it.


Frida Kahlo

Frida Kahlo married to Diego Rivera became very close with the Trotsky family, too close in fact because the result was an affair with Trotsky. ”It is no mystery why Trotsky was attracted to Frida Kahlo. The daughter of a German-Jewish immigrant father and a Mexican mother, at twenty-nine she was a striking and exotic beauty with black hair, audacious almond-shaped eyes beneath batwing eyebrows, and sensuous lips. She was even more attractive than contemporary photographs reveal, to judge by the testimony of the men who made her acquaintance in the late 1930s and were struck by her forceful personality, quick intelligence, and much more.” Despite having a polio withered leg and the what must have been chronic pain from an accident induced shattered pelvis, injured spine, and a crushed foot she was still sensual and sexy.


Diego Rivera sometimes a jokester and sometimes just plain crazy.

Given the fact that her husband was instrumental in convincing Mexico to allow him entry this wasn’t the most prudent course of action. It drove his security team crazy not to mention the stress and strain it created for his loving and devoted wife Natalia. Diego Rivera was also prone to unexpected fits of jealousy which resulted in him waving a pistol and making wild claims about what he would do to the party that offended him. Diego would “embroider or invent out of whole cloth”. Frida frequently defended her husband saying his ”fabrications were products of his ‘tremendous imagination’’ She would also say: ”’I have never heard him tell a single lie that was stupid or banal.’” Well I do have to agree that intelligent, interesting lies are much more entertaining.


Siqueiros Self-Portrait

The first attack on Trotsky in Mexico came from an unlikely source, a muralist painter named David Alfaro Siqueiros. He was considered one of the Big Three of the Mexican muralist movement along with Diego Rivera and Jose Clemente Orozco. He was an ardent communist and a huge supporter of Stalin. Anita Brenner remarked of Siqueiros “that he did not distinguish between his artistic and his political endeavors, passing from one to another without noting a difference between a brush and a gun.” Luckily for Trotsky he proved to be a very inept assassin. Siqueiros along with a group of revolutionaries attacked the Trotsky compound shooting hundreds of bullets through the wooden structure, but hitting nothing. They left without insuring that Trotsky had been killed. This did set off a flurry of accusations that Trotsky had manufactured this attack to elicit sympathy. Given the circumstances and Trotsky’s grand standing personality I’m not surprised. This did encourage more funds from the Trotsky movement in the United States to be sent to strengthen his house and provide more security. Still security was lax because they used too many amateurs to provide protection, loyal communist followers rather than trained professionals, but also because Trotsky insisted that visitors not be subjected to body searches.

Ultimately it made it too easy.


Ramon Mercader aka Jacques Morand aka Frank Jacson

I’m not going to go into how Roman Mercader, GPU (later called the KGB) assassin, wormed his way into the inner Trotsky circle because I don’t want to give away all of Bertrand Patenaude’s wonderful research. Even though I knew the result I was still holding my breathe when the critical moment happened. Mercader was able to hit Trotsky once with the ice pick/axe that he had concealed under his coat before Trotsky, a powerfully built individual, overpowered him and escaped from the room. Trotsky’s guards beat Mercader, but were stopped by Trotsky who wanted him interrogated. Trotsky lasted for more than a day, but the shock and the blood loss ultimately proved to be fatal.

This book concentrates on the Mexico years of Trotsky’s life, but to set the stage Patenaude does give us an overview of the revolution and Trotsky’s life leading up to exile. This proved very beneficial to me because I’m a bit underfed in regards to that era of Russian history. Patenaude also revealed to me Trotsky’s influence on the communist movement in the United States in which fractional disputes split the party into many fragments and by doing so made them fairly ineffective in American politics.

I have often thought that if Trotsky had been able to wrestle control from Stalin that the Russian people would have been better off. I’m not as sure now. I’m afraid that Trotsky might have been as paranoid as Stalin. One of his favorite things to say when he disagreed with someone was to inform them that they should be shot. Still we know how history evolved with Stalin it would be interesting to see where Russia would be today if Trotsky had provided the leadership instead of Stalin. Trotsky was a theoretician, with his head in the clouds most of the time imagining a future that had little resemblance to the present. I wonder just how long he could have hung on to power anyway.



”Trotsky could not disavow the USSR without also repudiating Red October, which would have meant renouncing his life’s work. Instead, as his prospects grew dim and as Stalin’s assassins closed in, he kept reaffirming his absolute faith in the dogma of Marxism and pointing toward a glorious Soviet future. ‘Optimism was all he really had.’”

[Christopher Saunders · Rating 5 out of 5]

Bertrand M. Patenaude's Trotsky: Downfall of a Revolutionary (also published under the title Stalin's Nemesis) absorbingly chronicles the final years of Leon Trotsky, the fallen Russian Revolutionary who spent his last decade as a "wandering exile" pursued across three continents by Joseph Stalin's GRU agency. The book begins with Trotsky's arrival in Mexico with his wife Natalya in 1937, where he'd been granted asylum by President Lazardo Cardenas in the face of international resistance. The Trotskys soon ensconced themselves in a small compound in Coyoacan, Mexico City, receiving a diverse collection of followers and admirers, from American intellectuals (notably educator John Dewey) and European socialist leaders to Mexican artists Diego Rivera and Frida Kahlo (with whom he had an affair). Even as Stalin's show trials disposed of his remaining allies in the USSR (including one of his sons), Trotsky refused counsel from his prudent followers to lay low. Instead he published a steady stream of invective against the "degenerated worker's state" his arch-rival had established, in speeches, books and political proclamations while attempting to convene a Fourth International to renew the Marxist revolution. Even after a Stalinist hit squad failed to kill Trotsky in May 1940, he responded by increasing his security detail and continuing to rage against his nemesis. Which continued for three more months, until Spanish Stalinist Ramon Mercader came calling with an article and an ax.

While Patenaude is hardly the first writer to cover Trotsky's final years, his book is among the most engaging. He deftly weaves a portrait of Trotsky's personal decline: still as charismatic and arrogant ever, he chafes at his virtual imprisonment, often snaps at his associates (from his long-suffering wife to his assistants, who are constantly chafing at his demands) and picks fights with his ostensible allies. He engages in behavior, from his affair with Kahlo (which entailed no small risk, considering Rivera's violent temperament) to insulting political allies abroad, that seems as self-destructive as his constant poking of Stalin. Despite Stalin's supposed "perversion" of the Revolution, his rigid adherence to dogma baffles and infuriates many of his followers, as when he defends the Soviet invasion of Finland as defense against capitalist encirclement. Patenaude also notes curious sidebars like Trotsky's international followers commissioning a mock trial to clear him of Stalin's charges, or his invitation by the Dies Committee to testify against Stalin (where Trotsky, to those red-baiters' bafflement, planned to launch his call for the Fourth International). Even in exile, and even among his followers, Trotsky remained a combative and divisive figure; his status in power could drastically change, but his fundamental nature never yielded.

But Trotsky's story, even for those unsympathetic towards his politics, can't help evoking pathos: once one of the world's most powerful figures, he's reduced to a hunted man without a home, his family destroyed both by Stalin's agents and circumstance, he and his wife unwelcome almost everywhere, left alone with his small collection of admirers, bodyguards and a collection of animals. Certainly he's more sympathetic than the GRU agents who slowly draw the noose around him, from the Mexican muralist David Siqueiros (who led the team that machine gunned Trotsky's compound in May 1940) to the fanatical Mercader, who survived a long jail term to become a decorated Soviet hero. His murder coincided with the Nazi occupation of France and American crackdowns on Trotskyist unions, which largely destroyed his organized following abroad, restricting Trotsky's influence to ideologues and academics. In that sense Stalin succeeded, though he failed in that Trotsky's image as the Compleat Revolutionary endures to this day, while few venerate his nemesis. After all, it's easier to admire Trotsky's Might-Have-Been than the sordid reality of Stalinism.

[Livewithbooks · Rating 5 out of 5]

به سبب بروز آشوب هایی که  نتیجه جنگ جهانی اول بود امپراتوری تزار روسیه در فوریه 1917  سقوط  و حزب بلشویک در اکتبر همان سال قدرت را بدست می گیرد. انقلابی که به انقلاب کبیر اکتبر مشهور است با نام تروتسکی گره خورده است. تروتسکی که به سخنرانی های آتشینش معروف بود، با شخصیت خستگی ناپذیر و روحیه انقلابی و جنگجویی که داشت توانست خود را بعد از نام لنین بر سر زبان ها بیاندازد.  اما بنیانگذار ارتش سرخ بعد از مرگ لنین و به واسطه های دشمنی هایی که استالین، دبیرکل حزب کمونیست شوروی از پیش با او داشت خائن به کشور و ملت نام گرفت و از حزب و سپس از کشور اخراج شد.
اما این پایان ماجرا نبود. استالین کسی نبود که مخالفانش را به همین راحتی ندید بگیرد. بیشتر آن ها تاوان این مخالفت ها را نه تنها با جان خود که با جان خانواده هایشان نیز پرداختند. تاوانی سنگین که تروتسکی نیز از آن جا نماند.
این سوال مطرح می شود که چرا تروتسکی نتوانست جای لنین را بگیرد و این استالین بود که نه تنها در انقلاب اکتبر در حاشیه بود و نقش کمرنگی داشت که حتی لنین در وصیت نامه خود از برکناری استالین از ریاست حزب  نیز سخن گفته بود، توانست جانشین لنین شود؟
شاید یکی از دلایل که در کتاب هم به آن اشاره شده شخصیت مغرور و افراطی و بلند پروازانه تروتسکی بوده که درست است در آشوب ها و درگیری ها و انقلاب ها می توانست مانند یک قهرمان عمل کند اما در هنگام آرامش و سکون قادر نبود حتی دو نفر دوست برای خود دست و پا کند. در بیشتر موارد باعث ایجاد دو دستگی در حزب می شد.استالین بعد از مرگ لنین قوی تر ظاهر شد. یکی دیگر از دلایل می تواند مربوط به یهودی بودن تروتسکی باشد که به ضررش تمام شد.  و تمام این نکات نشان میدهد چرا تروتسکی در مقابل استالین بازنده بود.
و حالا سوال دیگری که به ذهن می آید این است اگر به جای استالین تروتسکی جانشین لنین می شد چه رخ میداد؟ طبیعتا نمی بایست در روند حاکمیت و رهبری تفاوتی میکرد  اما شاید به سبب روشنفکری  تروتسکی و کمی میانه رو تر بودنش،  محاکمات و سرکوب های  سیاسی شدید  و قتل مخالفان که استالین در دهه 30 آغاز کرده بود و به تصفیه کبیر معروف است رخ نمیداد.  شاید او هم با نازی ها پیمان عدم تجاوز را امضا میکرد و به لهستان حمله میکرد...
یا شاید تروتسکی که به ادبیات علاقه داشت و لقب پرو به معنای قلم از طرف لنین گرفنه بود فضای بازتری را برای نویسندگان رقم میزد نه به مانند استالین که تنها کسانی میتوانستند دست به قلم ببرند که نویسندگان مزد بگیر حکومتی بوده اند. اما و اگرها زیاد است اما چیزی که مشترک است این است که تمامشان به داشتن رهبری نظامی قدرتمند اعتقاد داشتند و این راه را برای استبداد باز میکند.

[Chris Chapman · Rating 4 out of 5]

[I have not covered up all possible spoilers here. For example, if you don't know how Trotsky died, and don't want to, read no further].

I thought this book about Trotsky's three years in Mexico, leading up to his assassination, was fascinating. As my knowledge about Trotsky was very sketchy (and my knowledge of the Russian revolution in general only marginally better) I really appreciated that the book uses those three years as a springboard to explore his life and legacy in general, covering his time as commander in chief of the Red Army, his role in the Kronstadt uprising, the ups and downs of his relationship with Natalia, and many other things. The choice of a more detailed focus on these three years makes a lot of sense, given that it includes the assassination (and an earlier failed one, organised by muralist David Siqueiros who certainly comes across as a colourful figure), Trotsky's affair with Frida Kahlo, the Dewey Commission (an attempt at an impartial evaluation of the Moscow show-trial of Trotsky) and fascinating debates about the relationship between art and revolution.

The book forced me to reassess Frida Kahlo for whom I previously had nothing but admiration. According to Patenaude, both Kahlo and Diego Rivera, after Trotsky's death, executed an extraordinary political U-turn and became committed Stalinists, even well into the 1950s when many intellectuals and artists were appalled by his excesses. Patenaude describes how the Casa Azul, Rivera and Kahlo's house where Trotsky lived until he felt that Rivera's agitation against the Mexican President would compromise his asylum, was turned into a museum, managed by the couple, but with no mention at all of Trotsky's time there. A bust of Stalin was even placed in Trotsky's bedroom. It should be remembered that Stalin organised not only Trotsky's assassination, but that of pretty much all of his family. Of course Trotsky was no angel – Kronstadt being the main exhibit for the prosecution – but I think there is little doubt that he was a genuine political idealist, whether you agree with his politics or not, compared to Stalin who was simply a power-hungry psychopath and one of the 20th century's greatest mass murderers.

But it seems that the couple's desire to be accepted back into the Mexican Communist Party was the driving force here. In Patenaude's account, Rivera is more engaged in actual national-level political activity than Kahlo, but Kahlo did paint this – her last painting in fact – in the votive style:


It's also surprising given that, in 1940, Rivera painted Pan-American Unity, a mural in which Stalin features holding the blood-stained ice-pick that Ramón Mercader used to kill “The Old Man” (lower panel just to the right of centre, Stalin with Hitler and Mussolini in some kind of ghostly tree).

But then Patenaude does recount that Rivera was lacking in sophisticated political analysis. We learn that André Breton only gave him a co-writing credit on the “Manifesto for an Independent Revolutionary Art” out of friendship.

[Michał Hołda · Rating 1 out of 5]

Sorry but left wing I do not digest very well, and its biography that is much better writing than whatever that they has had committed.

I can can mention that he was defeated by Stalin and has to write biography on Stalin, that he hated to write and whenever he could he has been writing about Lenin, and that he did loved.

On exile, there was assassination that took place, as Russian thought of him as a traitor ever since he wrote on Stalin, things against such.

He was on exile, just as Red Dany was on exile from France because of his behavior at French Riots of 1968.

He was a student leader during the unrest of May 1968 in France and was also known during that time as Dany le Rouge (French for "Danny the Red", because of both his politics and the color of his hair). He was co-president of the group European Greens–European Free Alliance in the European Parliament.

1968 year of Hue City battle of Vietnam War, war that French thought decade earlier.

The French entered Vietnam in 1858 under the pretext of protecting French missionaries. ... In 1880 they took Central Vietnam - Annam and in 1885 North Vietnam - Tonkin. In 1887, they formed the Indochina union, i.e. French Indochina, from the protectorates of Annam, Tonkin and Cambodia and the Cochinchina colony.

[Derek · Rating 4 out of 5]

Another great Trotsky biography. His years in Mexico are as fascinating as almost any other period of his life of unrivaled physical and intellectual adventure.

[Laila Collman · Rating 4 out of 5]

This biography focuses on the final years of Trotsky's life in exile in Mexico, leading up to (spoiler) his assassination, while flashing back to significant periods that clarify the personal and political development of one of the most controversial figures of the Russian revolution. Extremely detailed in its account of events, I read this as a more factual companion piece while watching the similarly-structured Russian mini-series about Trotsky that came out in 2017 in honor of the 100 year anniversary of the revolution.

[Jeff Lanter · Rating 4 out of 5]

I picked this up knowing nothing about Trotsky, but hoping to learn more about the Revolutionary. I think that changed what I enjoyed in this book versus someone who is well-versed in the man and his philosophy. It took me a little while to get him figured out. Trotsky was a very serious and intellectual person. While he deserves a great deal of credit for some things, he also had flaws as a person and especially as a politician. All of these become clearer as I read through the book. Downfall of a Revolutionary focuses exclusively on his last years in Mexico and they are an interesting period of his life. While this is a historical book, there are elements of espionage that add a great deal of suspense to the narrative. I knew Stalin was bad, but this book hints at how vicious he truly was. When I started reading, I couldn't decide if I liked Trotsky enough to feel any pathos towards him and his inevitable death. Some of this may have been from the author's interesting writing style of telling an important an event and then going back and fully explaining the implications. By the end that had totally changed. If nothing else, he was a man of principle and he suffered many tragedies in his final years. And that is something to respect.

[John David · Rating 4 out of 5]

Beyond being vaguely associated with the Russian Revolution, the name of Leon Trotsky seems to get lost in the mix. Everyone knows it, but might also conclude it was of lesser importance because he never led the Communist Party whereas Stalin and Lenin both did. Trotsky’s legacy comes from the ideological bulwark that he provided against what he perceived to be Stalin’s increasing bureaucracy and brutality. In less than three years from 1925, Trotsky was removed from a series of positions including Commissar for Military and Naval Affairs, then expelled from the Communist Party, then exiled from Russia altogether. But none of this deterred him.

He was a thorn in Stalin’s back while he was in the Party, and he would continue to be one for the rest of his life. For his constant interference in party politics, and to satisfy himself until he caught Trotsky himself, Stalin very likely saw to the deaths of two of Trotsky’s children. He was certainly responsible for the arrest and shooting of Sergei, and very likely responsible for the death of Lyeva, his other son, who died as the result of a botched operation for appendicitis. Trotsky’s two daughters, Nina and Zinaida, also died before he did, but from tuberculosis and suicide respectively.

After losing the battle to succeed Lenin after his death in 1924, Stalin exiled Trotsky to Turkey where he stayed until he moved to France in 1933 and finally to Norway in 1935. In August of 1936, the first of the infamous Moscow show trials were held, which accused Communist Party members of the most outrageous of crimes, including the attempted assassination of Stalin himself. Trotsky, in absentia, was made out to be the brains of many of these crimes. Because of the mounting international pressures associated with these trials, Norway was soon forced to expel Trotsky as well. The leftist, sympathetic President of Mexico, Lazaro Cardenas, invited Leon Trotsky to stay in Mexico as a measure of personal solidarity. Trotsky and his wife Natalia arrived in Mexico in January, 1937. This is where the book begins, tracking Trotsky’s life through 1940 when one of Stalin’s many henchmen finally track him down and assassinate him.

When the Trotskys arrived in Mexico, the artist Diego Rivera who had long called himself a Trotskyite and his wife Frida Kahlo, invited them to stay at their home (the Casa Azul) in Coyoacan, just outside of Mexico City. Not only did Rivera display political empathy toward his friend’s ideas, but also went out of his way to provide funds for Trotsky, eventually deciding to sell his paintings (and even mortgaged his house) in order to provide him with the retinue of security that he required. Despite Rivera’s generosity, Trotsky and Frida had an affair which lasted for several months. While Diego never found out, Natalia did, and it almost ended their 34-year marriage.

Just a few months after the arrival of the Trotsky in Mexico, the Dewey Commission, headed by none other than famous American pragmatist philosopher and educational innovator John Dewey, was held at the Casa Azul. The purpose of the Dewey Commission was to investigate the methods used in the Moscow show trials. Needless to say, the Commission found Trotsky not guilty, and that the case against him had not been proved. Of course, this did little to satisfy Stalin, whose authority was inherently undermined by the Dewey Commission and who still wanted to see Trotsky dead.

In May, 1940, Trotsky survived an attempted assassination plotted by a NKVD agent and Rivera’s major artistic opponent, David Alfaro Siquieros. Trotsky and Natalia survived virtually unscathed in their bedroom, but their grandson was shot. Having moved out of the Casa Azul because of increasing personality and political differences with Rivera (Rivera never was a Trotskyite or even a Communist at all, but a rank populist), Trotsky knew that he had to turn his new house into a fortress to protect himself from attack. But on August 20, 1940, half a world away, Stalin tried again. This time, he enlisted the help of Ramon Mercader, a Spanish Catalan Communist. Mercader managed to gain access to Trotsky’s new house and struck him in the head with an ice pick several times. Trotsky died the next day from his injuries. After spending twenty years in prison, Mercader was rewarded for his efforts by Stalin by being given both the Order of Lenin and the being recognized as a “Hero of the Soviet Union.”

[Daniel Kukwa · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book threatens to collapse under the weight of the multitude of topics and personalities covered in this end of days tale. Luckily, it all manages to hold together and presents a damning case of how theory and polemics end up meaning nothing in a realpolitik world. Compelling, if incredibly dense...and dear Trotsky is left a delusional, sad figure.

[Mickey Mantle · Rating 4 out of 5]

I enjoyed it. Trotsky's life in exile.
I came away from reading this thinking the Old Man was full of himself, a prisoner of the terror which he was an original player, and got what was coming to him.

[Gale Jake · Rating 3 out of 5]

A book worth reading to look at some of the specific Trotsky incidents in the overall history of USSR. It rides along on a barely recognizable continuum through the book, but many sections are very confusing chronologically. Car beyond the typical flashback. In one chapter an individual is killed, a couple chapters later he is alive then dead again later on. The book advances in time but the out of sequence events lay a rugged framework over a thin foundation. Huge numbers of major and minor political figures and much intrigue keep it interesting, some non-fiction can have as many schemes as fiction, this story does.

Living in Mexico City in the 80's, and visiting Trotsky's and Diego Rivera's homes made the Mexico setting interesting to me. I'm about 3/4 through, will report more and finalize my rating when complete.

To truly understand this book would require reading several general Russian revolution and Stalin era books, biographies of some of the key players, some Mexican history from the period as well as a bit of Mexican culture.

Not an ideal book to read without some fundamental background books, as it assumes some knowledge of many of the events that are mentioned only in passing. I was undereducated in understanding some sections of the book.

[RYD · Rating 4 out of 5]

The second of three recent Trotsky biographies that I bought, this book focuses on his prisoner-like final years in Mexico. It is very well written and does a good job of weaving from Coyoacan to other signature moments of his life. Trotsky's legacy is a difficult one for me. It is clear his dream for human redemption was flawed indeed, yet his humanity was also very clear.

I underlined this passage, about a postscript to a will he wrote not long before he was assassinated:

"As he wrote these lines, seated at his desk in his study, he looked over to his left, out through the French windows and into the patio, where he saw [his wife] Natalia approaching. The scene inspired him to close on a lyrical note: 'Natasha has just come up to the window from the courtyard and opened it wider so that the air might enter more freely into my room. I can see the bright green strip of grass beneath the wall, and the clear blue sky above the wall, and sunlight is everywhere. Life is beautiful. Let the future generations cleanse it of evil, oppression, and violence, and enjoy it to the full.'"

[Erez Davidi · Rating 4 out of 5]

“Trotsky: Downfall of a Revolutionary” is an interesting account of Trotsky’s last few years of life while in exile in Mexico. This book offers a good combination of all the ingredients that make a good biography; it offers glimpses into Trotsky’s daily life, his character, a deeper discussion of his political philosophy and a bigger picture overview to provide context. Since I am not very familiar with Trotsky’s life, perhaps this wasn’t the best choice for me, because this biography chiefly focuses on the last few years of his life. Nevertheless, I did learn quite a bit in spite of my unfamiliarity with the subject.

[Mike Oberholtzer · Rating 4 out of 5]

As a novice to modern Russian history, I felt Patenaude produced a work that was not only entertaining, but explained itself well enough to stand on it's own. His use of the more distant past intermingled with Trotsky's final few years acted as a storytelling device that gave incredible continuity and insight into some of the behaviors and actions of the former war commissar.

I have no qualms about recommending this to anyone interested in the Old Man.

[Bhaskar Sunkara · Rating 4 out of 5]

Well-researched, well-written (reads like a novel)... very surprising coming from a Hoover Institute guy.

Garbles a few facets of Trotsky's thought and misrepresents Lenin, but Patenaude's intentions are honest.

There hasn't been a better account of the Old Man's final years, "The Prophet Outcast" included.

[David Schwinghammer · Rating 3 out of 5]

When Lenin died, there were two candidates to replace him as “dictator of the proletariat”: General Secretary of the Communist party Josef Stalin and Leon Trotsky, general of the red army during the Russian Civil War.

As secretary general, Stalin had more supporters who were heads of local districts throughout Russia. Trotsky wasn’t the type to make personal connections. Stalin portrayed him as disloyal to the party and had him deported first to Sweden and then to Spain. Neither country wanted a wild revolutionary in their country, and he was deported once more to Coyoacan in Mexico, which is where he lived during most of this book.

Trotsky wasn’t the revolutionary Stalin portrayed him as. For instance he supported the Russian invasion of Finland on the basis of the USSR supporting a workers government there.

Trotsky spends most of his time in Mexico dodging bullets. The Russian secret police, the NKVD, was still after him. Somehow he managed to survive two machine gun attacks.

While in Mexico Trotsky had some famous supporters, in addition to the Mexican government which provided guards and security. Artists Frida Kahlo and Diego Rivera provided occasional lodging and money. Trotsky had an affair with Frida.

There were also Trotskyites in Mexico and New York city. Some of them broke with him because he generally supported Russian expansion. He sincerely believed the USSR could raise up workers throughout the world.

There was a problem with Trotsky’s close guards. The NKVD was constantly trying to infiltrate the guards close to Trotsky. And this led to Trotsky’s demise.

[Nora Rawn · Rating 4 out of 5]

I was interested in learning more about Trotsky's life and time in exile after visiting his home in Mexico City and passing his place of residence in Turkey. This turned out to be the ideal read; it goes into depth but isn't too dry, and the overlap with artistic movements of the time (Diego and Kahlo, as well as Andre Breton) was an interesting additional layer. Also compelling is watching the background noise of the looming and then active World War as it is effectively ignored for internecine squabbles. This gave me some much-needed context on the activities in Spain (which I'd otherwise only glimpsed by way of Orwell) during the Spanish Civil War and a better sense of US Marxist leanings in the decades before the red scare.

The narrative moves somewhat back and forth in time as it covers the Mexico period from several different angles, and it could possibly have been shorter with a more clear chronology, but it gives both a sense of the personalities involved and the larger history behind them. While Patenaude is at the Hoover Institute, I found it to be a fair portrait of Trotsky and the camps of Trotsykites and Stalinists as they were torn apart by the show trials.

[Dan · Rating 4 out of 5]

I lived in Mexico for over two years, and had the chance to visit La Casa Azul, Trotsky’s Coyoacán house, and Diego and Frida’s San Angel studios where Friday had an affair with Trotsky.

The book Trotsky: Downfall of a Revolutionary is full of colorful and extremely flawed people that I had learned about in Mexico, but this time I got the full story, especially about Trotsky, a ruthless leader during the Russian Revolution. His glory days were behind him when he arrived in Mexico, the only country in the world willing to give him asylum, and only because Diego Rivera and Frida Kahlo convinced Mexico’s president.

The book is full of flashbacks as well as stories from his 3+ years in Mexico where he lived in fear, and where he received news of his children being jailed and eventually killed. He was also very unfaithful to his wife throughout their marriage.

I learned all about the power struggle in the USSR, but that was the part that interested me the least. Still, I enjoyed the book a lot.

[Simon Chipps · Rating 4 out of 5]

52 Book Club: Told in non chronological order
4.25 stars

This is an area of history I have read a number of books about, and yet I would say the book did grab me despite being familiar with the story.

From a historical perspective the book deals with the links to the "Old Man's" followers in America in greater detail than I had read before. I also appreciated how it showed how Trotsky's brilliance was caged within a zealot's blinkered adherence to Marxist dogma, whilst not adopting a hatchet job style prose style that often turns me off. The overall tone of the book was sympathetic to the tragedy of the situation and the romance of the character, whilst critical of his character flaws and his role in historical extremes.

[P.S. Carrillo · Rating 5 out of 5]

Terrific account of Trotsky's life as seen through his last three years of exile in Mexico. Trotsky's role in revolutionary history is immense and undeniable. A brilliant unbending mind that could not give up the idea that Marxist Revolution was the ideal even though he could see how Stalin had turned Russia into a totalitarian nightmare. Netflix has a Russian produced miniseries titled Trotsky that closely resembles the framework of this book. Read the book first, then watch the miniseries.

[Steven · Rating 4 out of 5]

Good story of Trotsky's final years in Mexico. The book starts there, so if one is interested in his role in the October Revolution, this isn't the book. However, it does contain interesting detail about his restricted life in Mexico, the left's conflicted feelings about the Soviet government under Stalin, and the factionalism within the Trotskyist movement outside the ussr.
And the final few chapters covering the increasing threats to and ultimate assassination of Trotsky (hope that's not a spoiler!) read like a good spy novel.
I liked this book.

[Hafiz Sheriff · Rating 5 out of 5]

What a great book this was! It was fascinating reading about one of the greatest men Trotsky in this world. Our world would have been very different if Trotsky had taken over Russia instead of the monster Stalin. Stalin killed almost 30 million Russians during his reign. He had a brilliant mind, and it was because of him that the Russian revolution was a success. He is the one single handedly who got the Red Army going. But finally in the power struggle he lost to that brutal man Stalin.

[Sir Mullo]

Excellent account of Trotters in Mexico leading up to his final days. While you feel for the man in this account and all the trials he and his wife had to go through, you must remember that he, in all probability, would have caused equal chaos if he had the reigns of power. Only one moment in his life but captured well by Patenaude for this reader.

[Darrick Mowrey · Rating 5 out of 5]

Trotsky is the most manipulative man of all time. I disagree with his idealistic politics and processes. He has a way to convince people to do crazy things. The way he writes is persuasive then you realize wait. That's not right.
It is a good book to read about the dangers of propaganda and manipulation. We should always keep an eye out for those who are manipulative.

[Paulo Reimann · Rating 5 out of 5]

Excellent

The book portraits Lev Davidovitch Trotsky latest years with tremendous depth and action. Mix of adventure, thriller and reality. I like to say, Trotsky brings romantism to the russian revolution and the youth of several late boomers.

[Paweł · Rating 4 out of 5]

Dobrze się czyta. Interesujący jest opis działań Stalina w celu unicestwienia tytułowego bohatera. Trochę brakowało mi (albo było jej za mało) historii samej rewolucji i udziału w niej Trockiego. Ciekawe, że nawet sam Gorbaczow nie zrehabilitował Trockiego w czasie pierestrojki!

[Duester · Rating 5 out of 5]

Absolutely fantastic use of thematic analysis in a partial biography. And yes, I know, it's a Hoover Institute guy - but that's exactly why this is compelling. The reviews castigating the author for that do not adequately appreciate just how much early neocons respected this man.

[Harry Tear · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was one other potential direction the Soviet union may have gone until Trotsky was snuffed out. It was a beautifully researched book, and perfectly set the tone of the pincers gradually moving in, slowly stifling all of Trotsky's options.