Why by 1929 Trotsky has lost his position in the Soviet leadership?

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1. Spellbound says

   Trotsky was a maverick, disagreeing with both Menshevik and Bolshevik factions and only joining Lenin and the Bolsheviks in October 1917, it was this constant disagreement – even with his closest allies that would see him sidelined, exiled and eventually murdered.

   Before and during the October Revolution Trotsky was the chairman of the the Military Revolutionary Committee of the Petrograd Soviet. It was this organisation that, under Lenin's direction, that staged the takeover of the state known as the October Revolution.

   As the Revolution descended into Civil War, Trotsky was given the task of organising the Bolshevik Red Army to fight the anti-Bolshevik forces, the Whites and other groups hostile to the Bolshevik takeover – including the UK, USA, France and Japanese who took over ports around the country trying to force Russia back into WWI – and later to try to depose the new regime.
   After the Civil War he was considered one of the front runners for the role of leading the country after the death of Lenin – but he fell foul of the master manipulator (who hated his popularity, his organisational skills and was wary that the army may be loyal to him – Stalin), and of his own ego – he alienated many key supporters, many of whom were deeply concerned about Stalin. He was the leader of the Left Opposition, and because of this Stalin had him exiled from the Soviet Union in 1929.
   Trotsky wrote a number of books, articles and pamphlets decrying what had happened to the revolution and proposed alternative policies for the country – leading to the branch of communism known as Trotskyism. Stalin took action against him, and, in 1940, in Mexico, he was stabbed to death.

   His birth name was Leiba, not Lev or Leon.
   He took the name Trotsky from one of his gaolers.
   He had four children, two each by his two wives: Nina and Zinaida by Aleksandra
   and Lev and Sergei by his second wife – Natal’ia

   See: http://www.bbc.co.uk/history/historic_figures/tro…
   For an in depth examination of his life, works and ideas see: http://www.trotsky.net/

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2. spiffer1 says

   As I recall Trotsky was more 'hot headed' than Stalin.
   He could see through Stalin and made it known but his anger got the best of him.
   Stalin was more even-tempered and just kept plotting at working to neutralize and then eliminate Trotsky from the inner circle and then the whole circle.
   Maybe Stalin had learned how to work around someone trying to undermine his leadership because of how he had managed to do what Trotsky was doing, himself, while Lenin was in the leadership role.
   He managed to turn the tables on Lenin and wrest control and he knew how to work in the opposite way to keep Trotsky at bay and then dispose of him.

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