Disclaimer: I'm not going to pretend to know too much about Trotsky and his history and I'm certainly not going to come to the defense of Trotskyists, we all know they're the last breed of leftists this world needs. And I'm sure we're well aware of Trotsky's personal failings, of him being an annoying, know-it-all contrarian douche.
But at the end of the day, Trotsky was a revolutionary to the bone and one of the most influential in modern human history. One could say he is one of the founding fathers of the Soviet Union. As misguided as he may have been, he dedicated his life to communism in the Soviet Union. And yet, his name was tarnished and maligned in the Soviet History books. Stalin intense hatred of Trotsky drove him to murder the man. Trotky's assassin, Ramon Mercader, was awarded the title of the Hero of the Soviet Union. I mean, damn dude, that's a bit much, right? And throughout all of Khrushev's dumbass de-Stalinization efforts, Trotsky was one of the few Soviets whose name was never rehabilitated.
All I'm asking is are we too harsh on Trotsky and do we judge him too harshly based on the actions of his followers? Do you think Lenin would agree with Stalin's treatment of Trotsky and with communist history's treatment of him?
Trotsky fucked over things for himself
Trotsky had alienated the party so badly by 1925 that Kamenev and Zinoviev (old Bolsheviks and Lenin's pals) were trying to get rid of him and by 1927 (When Trotsky was thrown out of the party) they openly called for shooting him ,to which Stalin replied “Why make a martyr out of Trotsky who will soon be defeated anyway. We better not start chopping heads or we wont know where it will end” (referencing the french revolution). Stalin only started chopping heads when the opposition started doing actual assassinations like killing Sergei Kirov
In 1940 when all the communists in Ukraine were pro Soviet he was writing articles on the “independence of Ukraine” when those calling for independence were bourgeois nationalists and fascists and would later go on to collaborate with nazis and up their own SS divisions. This is despite knowing that Hitler called for conquerinUkraine for Lebensraum . Trotsky basically saw himself as a Napolean Bonaparte that should rule all by himself and the party wouldnt even let him be a normal member after 1927 let alone lead them. In the year of his expulsion(1927) he set up the Opposition. At the party congress 724,000 members voted for the Stalin led party platform and 4000 voted for the Trotskys opposition program
Beyond his accomplishments in the revolution and Civil war, in order for Trotsky to ever be treated kindly by the Bolsheviks and history he basically needed to be an entirely different person making entirely different decisions. He could have been a top-level Bolshevik for the rest of his life and have massive impact on the future of the Soviet Union but he alienated everyone, no one liked him and blamed everything Stalin and continued being a contrarian and often reactionary in his stances after he was exiled
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