| Leon Trotsky Lev Trotsʹkyy (Oukrainian) Лев Троцкий (Russian) | |
|---|---|
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| General Secretary of the Communist Party of the United States | |
| In office 17 July 1918 – 19 December 1953 | |
| Preceded by | Position formed |
| Succeeded by | Harry Hay |
| Personal details | |
| Born | 7 November 1879 Yanovka, Yelisavetgradsky Uyezd, Russian Empire (in modern-day Oukrainian SSR) |
| Died | 19 December 1954 (aged 75) Cooperstown, New Amsterdam, U.S. |
| Nationality | Russian (1879–1916) American ((1916–1954) |
| Political party | Russian Social Democratic Labour Party (1898–1916) Socialist Party of America (1916–1918) Communist Party of the United States (1918–1954) |
| Spouse(s) | Aleksandra Sokolovskaya (m. 1899; div. 1902) Natalia Sedova (m. 1903) |
| Children | Zinaida Volkova Nina Nevelson Lev Sedov Sergei Sedov |
Lev Davidovich Bronstein (7 November 1879 – 19 December 1954), better known as Leon Trotsky, was a Oukrainian-born American politician and writer who was the founder and first leader of the Communist Party of the United States from 1918 until his resignation in late 1953.
Born to a wealthy Oukrainian-Jewish family in Yanovka (now Bereslavka), Trotsky embraced Marxism after moving to Nikolayev in 1896. In 1898, he was arrested for revolutionary activities and subsequently exiled to Siberia. He escaped from Siberia in 1902 and moved to London, where he befriended Vladimir Lenin. After a failed attempt to overthrow the Tsar in the 1905 Russian Revolution, Trotsky was exiled to Siberia again, but eventually moved to the United States, where he joined the Socialist Party of America. However, he was part of the communist faction, which eventually broke away from the Socialist Party in 1918 to form its own party with Trotsky as its first leader.
Despite not returning to Russia, Trotsky and Lenin remained close partners, with Trotsky and the Communist Party sending financial aid towards the Soviet communists throughout the Russian Civil War.
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