II.

Early Political Life

Trotsky's political involvement began in 1896 in a circle of Mykolayiv Populists, but he soon converted to Marxism. After a brief stay at Odesa University, he returned to Mykolayiv in 1897 to organize the Southern Russian Workers Union. For this he was arrested, jailed, and exiled.

He escaped from Siberian exile in 1902, fleeing to Europe and adopting the pseudonym Trotsky. Abroad he joined Lenin, L. Martov, Georgy Plekhanov, and other Russian Social-Democrats, who were publishing Iskra (The Spark). By virtue of his flair for polemic and oratorical brilliance, he quickly rose in the party.

At the party's Second Congress in 1903 Trotsky opposed Lenin and the Bolsheviks, siding with the Mensheviks. His characteristic independence, however, kept him from cementing any organizational ties. Alone of the major party leaders, he rushed back to Russia to be an active participant in the 1905 Revolution, where he gained practical experience as chairman of the St Petersburg Soviet of Workers Deputies. Jailed in December 1905 and later exiled to Siberia, Trotsky used his time to reconsider the paradoxes of revolution in backward Russia. He synthesized his thoughts in two books, 1905 and Results and Prospects.