Leon Trotsky

From Fourth International, vol.6 No.8, August 1945, pp.236-237.
Transcribed, marked up & formatted by Einde O’Callaghan for ETOL.

An Explanation

Reproduction of a Soviet painting which shows Leon Trotsky (depicted as the raging red lion) in the act of destroying the counter-revolution (depicted, in part, as the dead eagles of Czarism). Note the silk hat of the bourgeoisie among the welter of Czarist insignia. The post-sign reads “Counter-Revolution.” The name of the artist is Deni. In Lenin’s lifetime, the propaganda departments of the Soviet government, of the Russian Bolshevik Party and of the Communist International frequently used this and similar representations of Trotsky in order to symbolize the revolution’s triumph in the Civil War of 1918-21. It was thought to be of especial importance to the youth. The colored print, of which our cut is a copy, was bound in as a supplement to the April 1922 issue of Molodaya Gvardia (Youth Guard), one of the early theoretical and cultural magazines of the Russian Communist youth movement.

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Last updated on 10.9.2008