Leon Trotsky, also referred to as "Judas Trotsky" by Vladimir Lenin, was and continues to be a prime example of the dangers of traitors and reactionaries who infiltrate the revolutionary movement.
Before the 1917 Revolution, Trotsky proclaimed that he would never consider himself a Bolshevik. Only when the Bolsheviks became more popular and the masses started uniting behind them did Trotsky switch his allegiances and join the socialists. After Lenin's death, he struggled against other revolutionary leaders like Joseph Stalin for power in the new Soviet state. Trotsky was exiled after Stalin's popularity awarded him power over the Soviet state.
Immediately, Trotsky showed his true colors by working with reactionaries and fascists within the Soviet Union and internationally to undermine Stalin and the USSR. Grover Furr documents Trotsky's communications with Japanese imperialists and Nazis to attempt to destroy the Soviet Union. The U.S. even helped Trotsky by creating the Dewey Commission, which was a response to the Moscow trials which found Trotsky and many others guilty of treason. The Commission led by people from the U.S. found Trotsky "not guilty" of his crimes, despite never having stepped foot in the USSR.
Trotsky arrogantly believed his theories were more advanced than Lenin's, whereas Stalin fervently defended Leninism. Just as arrogant as his personality was, the theory of Trotskyism ultimately claimed that the European workers would be the liberators of the workers in Africa, Asia and Latin America. His Eurocentric theory would prove to be completely wrong as the masses in Europe proved to be the least revolutionary, compared to the peasants and workers in China, Angola, Cuba, Burkina Faso, and across the developing world who established socialist societies.
On this day, let's remember what Trotsky stands for, how a single traitorous individual could do so much damage to the stability of one nation and cause distortions on the left which still remain several decades after his death.
Long live Stalin and the Soviet Union! ✊