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Browse: Home / History and Politics

Why did Joseph Stalin murder Trotsky?

Question by Aggro: Why did Stalin murder Trotsky?
Full explanation as to why? I just need a quick summary so I get the idea.

Answers and Views:

Answer by HouAnswerGuy
Main reason was fear that Trotsky would try and mount some sort of takeover or at least a challenge to Stalin’s power…He also knew many of Stalin’s secrets…Stalin was notorious for his paranoia.

Answer by no
Communist dictators MUST destroy all and any competition once they take over. It happened with every change of power, its just that Trotsky was a bit more noticed than most. The Take over of South Vietnam by the communist north is a more recent example. Almost NONE of the high ranking Viet Cong survived and many of those that somehow did are living in Canada and the United States! It is ironic that they found their freedom in the United States, but not Canada, who supported their war effort in many ways.

Answer by Spellbound
Trotsky was popular among the people and the military – Stalin always feared popular politicians, as they might gain enough supporters who might try to topple him.
Trotsky was naive politically – he thought of policies on the hoof, then tried to get support for them, even if they were against existing policies – this really annoyed Stalin.
Trotsky, having been exiled from the Soviet Union – many Bolsheviks feared that his popularity and support in the army would lead him to try to seize power for himself, like a communist Napoleon – continued to write prolifically about the failings of the Soviet Union and, in particular of Stalin.
One of Trotsky’s most influential books, and possibly the one that caused Stalin to give the order to kill him, was “The Revolution Betrayed”. In this books Trotsky claims that the Napoleon figure who has taken power for himself, and not for the good of the revolution was Stalin.

Answer by Jamez Metcalfe
Why did Stalin kill anyone? To maintain power. Trotsky, despite a decade of exile, still remained a popular figure to some in Russia; and more so around the world. Spellbound is right when he says “The Revolution Betrayed” made up Stalin’s mind about killing off Trotsky.

Let’s not forget, by the time Trotsky was assassinated in 1940, none of the old Bolsheviks were still around. The USSR was a dangerous place to have power as we generally find paranoid megalomaniacs such as Stalin consistently finding threats that don’t exist.

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