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 was a revolutionary without a doubt, and contributed massively to the Russian Revolution. In 1905 (the precursor to 1917) he was one of the main leaders of the St. Petersburg Soviet. In 1917 he defected to the Bolsheviks when realized that they were right about the material conditions being ripe for a second revolution, overthrowing bourgeoisie democracy and was trusted by Lenin et al. He went on to lead the Red Army, turning a rag-tag force of demoralized soldiers into an efficient military capable of defeating the White Guards and the entire Allied powers of WWI, as well as negotiating a favorable peace with Germany to end Russia's involvement in WWI. To deny him any of these things is crazy, he is an integral part of the Soviet Union's establishment. Plus, his massive book on the history of the Russian Revolution is great.
That said, he actions later in life, growing more megalomaniac-like and being convinced he alone should rule the Soviet Union, that the revolution was "betrayed" by the very people who carried it out, etc etc are Not Great and are not harsh enough imo. He actively fermented dissent, assassinations, and the like in the Soviet Union. He alienated basically all his supporters.
I was under the impression that it was a pretty bad deal for Russia, but maybe the best they could hope for given the circumstances
It was a bad deal out of context, in context the fact that they negotiated a peace at all was incredible. Petrograd was like days from falling to the Germans. Also Trotsky did technically resign his post and refused to sign but he got them there lol #justtrotskythings