Leon Trotsky is a pseudonym of the communist revolutionary, Lev Davidovich Bronstein. He adopted the name from one of the prison guards when he learned about prison cells during the tsarist regime. Trotsky is considered a founder of the Red Army, which played a key role in the introduction of terror in Russia in the early years of the Bolshevik rule. His other contribution to the development of communism was the introduction of concentration camps, which quickly covered the territory of Soviet Russia. Many opponents of the Bolsheviks were imprisoned there. This was the seed of the future Gulags.
“Terror is a powerful means of policy and one would have to be a hypocrite not to understand this.”
Leon Trocky
After artists Frida Kahlo and Diego Riviera invited Leon Trotsky to Mexico, he lived in their Casa Azul for two years. In 1939, after a brief affair with Frida, the Russian moved with his family to his own house nearby. Sentenced to death by Stalin, he was constantly surrounded by his guards. After failed assassination attempt with machine guns in April 1940 some widows were bricked up, walls that surround the property were raised, watchtower was built, and in Trotsky's room, armed doors were added. However, the second assassination attempt few months later was successful.
Stalin supporter, Spanish Ramon Mercader hid an ice axe with shortened handle under his jacket suspended by string. Gaining Trotsky's trust, he was able to be alone with him in his study when he drove an axe into Trotsky’s skull. After spending 20 years in the Mexican prison, he moved to Russia where Brezhnev awarded Mercader with the Order of Lenin, the Gold Star, and the Hero of the Soviet Union, the USSR highest honor.
The original axe is on display in the International Spy Museum in Washington DC. An Austrian made ice axe holds rusty marks from the blood on its head.
“War, like revolution, is founded upon intimidation. A victorious war, generally speaking, destroys only an insignificant part of the conquered army, intimidating the remainder and breaking their will. The revolution works in the same way: it kills individuals, and intimidates thousands.”
Leon Trocky
Trotsky lied when he wrote these words. The scale was completely different. The Red Army under his leadership did not shoot a few enemies to keep others in check, but carried out mass executions of hundreds of thousands of men, women and children in order to terrorize tens of millions.
