Trotsky: Evaluating the Way he Faced Challenges.

One of the more distinct and unique parts of the Modern History HSC course is the paper in which students are required to write about the personality they have studied. This paper is divided into two sections; Part A, a question that requires something in the way of a retell about the personality's life (a response where most students can demonstrate their knowledge of the content they've studied) and Part B, a question where the personality itself must be analysed (a more historiographical question in which students must take a position on the personality in relation to the question). For this blog, I want to focus on Part B.

2015's Part B question was:

It is the way an individual faces challenges that shapes them and their achievements.

To what extent is this statement accurate in relation to the personality you have studied and their role in history?

When looking at a question like this, the student is best off identifying the key terms that will direct them in their response. In this case, it's 'challenges', 'shapes' and 'achievements'. In other words: Look at the challenges that the personality faced, and how did these challenges affect their ability to achieve?
 

The challenge of teaching the personality is that you need to cover all your bases in terms of content, and then also provide a range of interpretations for this personality so that students can make some informed decisions about how they are going to evaluate the historical figure. 

Like all good comrades, the personality that I teach is Leon Trotsky (his colleague Alexandra Kollontai looks interesting but I don't know enough about her yet to feel confident teaching her).

I've put together a little reader of about eight different short evaluations of Trotsky (with thanks to fellow Australian History teachers Jonathan Dallimore, Kath Driver, Anne Gripton and Lianne Fisher), with the idea that students can unpack each one into some dot points and then, once they've done all eight, rank them in order of how much they agree. 

A step further from this is that they could do a practice essay by using one of these evaluations as a thesis. If you have some of those particularly eager students I think it would be really effective to get them to do this twice, with a completely separate quote each time. 

Without further delay, here are the evaluations themselves:

Michael Lynch, author, 1990...

Trotsky was a complex personality. He was one of those figures in history who may be described as having been their own worst enemy. Despite his many gifts and intellectual brilliance, he had serious weaknesses that undermined his chances of success. At times he suffered from diffidence and lack of judgment.

Anne Gripton, teacher, 2016

Trotsky's biggest mistake was to underestimate Stalin in both the Civil War and the leadership struggle. While Trotsky's performance itself in the Civil War was good, and undoubtedly contributed significantly to Bolshevik success, he alienated a lot of people which undermined him later on. Also, Trotsky's absolute and unswerving loyalty to the revolution made his response to many challenges inflexible and, to be honest, really frustrating!

Kath Driver, teacher, 2016

I think Trotsky's biggest mistake was to make assumptions based on his position as a theorist and Civil War leader rather than working to garner support. He faced an obvious challenge in exile and personally I think this is where he gained his biggest victory - by rewriting history, positioning himself as the keeper of true communist tradition, and through his writings posthumously convincing historians like Deutscher that he would have been the better alternative to Stalin.

 Tariq Ali, journalist, 1980

He was the only one of Stalin's opponents who grasped what was happening in Russia and who, as a result of his knowledge, decided to fight. Trotsky's struggle in exile was the only antiobiotic which might have rid the international workers' movement of this disease. Trotsky's legacy is the unfinished struggle: for proletarian democracy, for genuine social revolution in the 'Third World', for internationalism. 

 Lianne Fisher, teacher, 2016

...He was also not particularly popular with his peers and this did him no favours either. He should have worked harder to be a people's person. Although the position of War Commissar made him unpopular and he was seen as being cruel and calculated, setting him apart from virtually everyone.

Richard Pipes, academic, 1994

Trotsky's role in the November Revolution has been exaggerated by his admirers. Trotsky's methods in the Civil War were more brutal than those of the Tsarist regime, and his defeat by Stalin had nothing ennobling about it. He lost because he was outsmarted in a sordid struggle for political power. Trotsky's campaign against Stalin was the result of base motives rather than high ideals, he merely wanted revenge, and was willing to destroy the Party in order to achieve it.

Jonathon Dallimore, teacher, 2016

His strategy at Brest-Litovsk was an utter failure and, ultimately, incredibly costly both to the Socialist Republic and to his own position. Perhaps how an individual responds to challenges is sometimes not as important as the challenges themselves. The support base Stalin had in his formal positions far outweighed anything Trotsky could muster at the political centre. Something similar could be said for Alexandra Kollontai; she dealt with some challenges in the best possible manner but the obstacles were simply too great and once she slipped from a position of strength it was almost impossible for her to return to any position of great influence.

Isaac Deutscher, journalist, 1953

Trotsky was a revolutionary hero - a man of principle who represented the interests of the working class, and Lenin's true heir. Trotsky refrained from attacking Stalin because he felt secure... It seemed to Trotsky almost a bad joke that Stalin, the wilful and sly but shabby and inarticulate man in the background, should be his rival.

The presence of a few History teachers in this mix demonstrates the democratic nature of history itself - anyone who has done their reading and thinking should be able to engage with these debates about historical personalities. In the case of Trotsky, there is a lot to consider when talking about notions of success and failure, and hopefully some of these quotes go some way in assisting our HSC students to construct a position of their own in relation to his role in history.

Click and save Evaluating Trotsky for the student version of this resource.