I always disliked anything ending in “-ism” especially communism. Having studied and witnessed what it brought to the countries that adopted it. Even so, we cannot ignore its impact on history, nor that of the October 1917 Russian Revolution, which brought down the Romanovs after 300 years of rule. And yet, among the Bolshevik revolutionaries, there was one figure who mesmerized me: Trotsky. Among the leaders of the Russian Revolution, Trotsky undoubtedly holds a special place. A formidable orator and writer and the founder of the Red Army, he played a key role in both the victory of the Russian Revolution and its consolidation of power. But it was his tragic fate that always drew me to him, and I have long sought an answer to one question: how was Stalin able to take the man who, after Lenin, was the number two figure on the Central Committee of the Communist Party, brand him a great traitor and erase his name from the history of the revolution for years? In the book introduction of The Prophet Armed, the historian Isaac Deutscher writes that for nearly thirty years the powerful propaganda machines of Stalinism worked furiously to expunge Trotsky’s name from the history of the revolution , or to leave it there only as a synonym for traitor. “To the present Russian generation, Trotsky’s life story has already become like an ancient Egyptian sepulchre once known to have held the body of a great man and the record of his deeds engraved in gold, yet so plundered by tomb robbers and ghouls that nothing of what it contained can be found.” In November 2017, in an interesting gesture marking the 100 years of the revolution, Russian state television aired an eight-part mini series titled Trotsky which used to be available on Netflix with English subtitles. For someone like me, who has always admired the character of Lev Davidovich Bronstein, the series was a gift. The storyline takes considerable liberties with historical accuracy, but the production quality is excellent. The story opens in Mexico, in the last days of Trotsky’s life, with a superb performance by Konstantin Khabensky. Lev Bronstein is living in exile with his wife, Natalia. Ramon Mercader, an undercover agent of the Soviet secret police, has befriended Trotsky’s secretary so that, at the right moment, he can assassinate the old revolutionary. Under the pretext of an interview, he gains access to Bronstein. During these conversations, Mercader seemingly captivated, or perhaps intimidated, by Trotsky leads the viewer through a series of flashbacks: Trotsky’s youth, his time in prison, his exile in Europe, the Russian Revolution, the founding of the Red Army, the civil war, and his personal and romantic life.