Stalin's murderous vendetta against Trotsky

·38 min·3 clips

In 1940 Mexico City, an ice axe descends on Leon Trotsky, but what led Stalin to hunt his rival across continents?

Mexico City, August 1940. The episode starts with the murder, but it does not linger there for shock value. Danny Bird and Josh Ireland use that closed study door and raised ice axe to get at the longer fight between Stalin and Trotsky. The story moves back through Trotsky's role in the Russian Revolution, then out into exile across Istanbul, Paris, Norway, and Mexico. That exile is the real engine of the conversation. Trotsky is still writing, arguing, and trying to reach supporters, but he is doing it from farther and farther away. The episode is sharp on that awkward political fact: a voice can become clearer once power is gone, while the audience for it shrinks fast. Trotsky still matters to Stalin, though. The rivalry reaches into family life, friendships, and the people around Trotsky in his last years. Frida Kahlo appears in that world, as does the eventual murderer. Lev, Trotsky's eldest son, carries much of the human cost. The episode works because it treats the famous killing as the end of a messier story about power, obsession, exile, and what happens when a defeated rival keeps speaking.

As heard by us

A grim history of exile, vendetta, and the long reach of Stalin's power.

HistoryExtra traces Joseph Stalin's pursuit of Leon Trotsky from the wreckage of the Bolshevik revolution to Mexico City in August 1940, where a study door closes and an ice axe is raised.

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For when you want Stalin, Trotsky, and one very cold August in Mexico City.

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