Ageloff, Sylvia — member of American Section of the Fourth International and an involuntary accomplice in Trotsky’s assassination. Her sister, Ruth Ageloff was one of Trotsky’s secretaries, and later Sylvia got a job in his office as well. In 1937 S. Ageloff was introduced to Ruby Weil, confidant of the Soviet resident agency, who contributed to her meeting with future Trotsky assassin Ramon Mercader in Paris. Soon Mercader and Ageloff were involved in personal relationship. In the spring of 1939 S. Ageloff left Paris and returned to New York, where Mercader arrived some time later with forged passport in the name of Frank Jackson. In January 1940, several months after Mercader’s departure, Sylvia left for Mexico intending to become Trotsky’s secretary. Although S. Ageloff kept introducing Mercader as her fiancй, she had never brought him to Trotsky’s residence until May 1940.

Alfaro Siqueiros, José David (1896–1974) — Mexican artist and political activist. He studied at the Academy of Fine Arts of San Carlos in Mexico City. 1919 to 1922 he was residing in France and Spain, where in 1921 he published the Manifesto Towards Free Revolutionary Art, and in 1922, together with D. Rivera and J.C. Orozco founded the Syndicate of Revolutionary Mexican Painters, Sculptors and Engravers that enjoyed the support of the government. In 1922, he joined the Mexican Communist Party and since 1924 was a member of the MCP Central Committee. Together with D. Rivera he became one of the Mexican Communist leaders, greatly admiring Lenin and Trotsky; however, later he dramatically changed his political views. In 1930 he was jailed; between 1932 and 1936 he was living in the USA. He fought in the Spanish Civil War as a Republican Army military officer. May 24, 1940 he took part in a failed assassination attempt on Trotsky (Operation Horse). Upon Trotsky’s assassination, he was arrested with his associates. In 1960 he was elected a member of the Political Commission of the MCP Central Committee, in the same year he was jailed for his political activities, however, four years later he was released under pressure of international public opinion. Siqueiros repeatedly visited the Soviet Union, was awarded the title of the Honorary Member of the USSR Academy of Arts (1967) and the International Lenin Prize “For strengthening peace between peoples” (1967).

Annenkov, Yuri Pavlovich (Georges Annenkov) (1889–1974) — Russian and French painter, graphic artist, theatre and cinema set designer, writer (under the pen name of Boris Timiryazev). Influenced by Cubo-Futurism, after the Revolution he became a prominent figure of the Russian Avant-Garde art and took part in all artistic activities of the time. Annenkov was a Board member of the Petrograd House of Arts, participated in establishment of the Society of Easel Painters (Obschestvo Stankovistov) in 1921, designed set for the mass theatrical performances The Capture of the Winter Palace and Hymn to Liberated Labour that took place in Petrograd in 1920, served as a reformer of the traditional theatre. He became famous as an outstanding portrait painter: in his graphic works and paintings he was able to capture the whole series of the most prominent figures of Russian culture and art of 1910—1920s, including B. Pasternak, A. Akhmatova, M. Gorki, V. Hodasevich, and also politicians: V. Lenin (whose portrait was awarded first prize at the All-Union competition), A. Lunacharsky, G. Zinoviev, L. Kamenev, K. Radek and others. Several graphic images were dedicated to Leon Trotsky, as well as a monumental pictorial portrait, created in 1923 to mark the opening of an art exhibition in honour of the Fifth anniversary of the Red Army. The portrait was shown at the Venice Biennale in 1924, but later disappeared without a trace when Trotsky was being persecuted. In the same year, Annenkov emigrated to Paris, where he became a well-known theatre and cinema designer having created costumes and sets for more than fifty films, continued to do graphics and easel painting, and wrote several books of memoirs.

Bazhanov, Boris Georgiyevich (1900–1983)—Stalin’s confidential secretary, emigrated from the USSR in 1928. Born in Mohyliv-Podilskyi. Member of the Russian Communist Party (Bolshevik section) since 1919. Since 1922 he had been working in the administrative department of the Central Committee of the RCP (B.) under L. Kaganovich, wrote articles and speeches for the party leaders. In August 1923 he was appointed confidential secretary of J. Stalin. Since 1926 he had been a member of People's Commissariat of Finance and editor of the Financial Gazette. Having organized a business trip to Central Asia, January 1, 1928 he fled to Iran, and then moved to France, hiding from the persecution of the GPU. In 1930, he published his memoirs entitled Memoirs of a Former Secretary of Stalin, which described the features of the Politburo and Stalin's personality.

Boyarchikov, Alexander Ivanovich (1902–1981)—a member of Trotskyist opposition. Born in the town of Vorotynsk, Kaluga province. In 1913 he graduated from the four-year parish school. After the Revolution, in May 1918, he voluntarily joined the Red Army. He worked as a cryptologist in the headquarters of the Workers and Peasants' Red Army, where he met Trotsky. Later he was became member of the Trotskyist opposition. In the autumn of 1926, he participated in a meeting of Trotskyist opposition students with Trotsky in Moscow on Malaya Dmitrovka ulitsa in the building of the Main Concession Committee (Glavkontsesskom). After Trotsky’s arrest Boyarchikov was expelled from the Institute of Journalism, and in 1930—from the party. He was under trial three times (1932, 1936, 1949). The second and third term he was serving in the forced labour camps.

Breton, André (1896–1966)—French poet and prose writer, theorist and founder of surrealism. He graduated from the medical school at the Sorbonne University, but soon took up literary work and made his debut as a poet. He served as a corpsman in the fields of the First World War, where he met the famous poet Guillaume Apollinaire, who subsequently invented the term of surrealism. After his discharge from the army he took an active part in the literary life of Paris, including the controversial Dada manifestations. In 1924 he took lead of a group of young poets and artists self-designated as the surrealists; in the same year he published his first “Manifesto of Surrealism.” In January 1927 he joined the Communist Party, but over time staying in its ranks and especially hiding of Stalinist purges behind a veil of silence weighed heavily upon him. In late 1933, he was expelled from the party. He organized the first International Surrealist exhibition in Paris in 1938, the same year he visited to Mexico, where he founded the International Federation of Independent Revolutionary Art together with Trotsky and David Rivera. In collaboration with Trotsky he wrote a Manifesto for Independent Revolutionary Art; sharply criticized the Moscow Trials of 1936-1938 years. After the outbreak of the Second World War, he was a doctor in the Poitiers military aviation school, but after the defeat of France in 1940 he first went to Marseille and then, in the fear of purges, expatriated to the United States. In exile, he actively supported the anti-Hitler coalition. After the war he returned to France where he organized Paris exhibitions of artists close to surrealism, and engaged in literary pursuits.

Bronshtein (Sokolovskaya), Alexandra Lvovna (1872–1938)—Trotsky’s first spouse, who met him in Nikolayev. Alexandra had five brothers and sisters, all of them became revolutionaries. The relationship between Trotsky and Sokolovskaya immediately went wrong: populist Lvov (Trotsky’s pseudonym) regularly attacked Sokolovskaya, who had Marxist views. However, some time later they were married in Moscow transit prison. Marriage actually broke up when Trotsky fled from deportation in 1902. After that, Alexandra Sokolovskaya-Bronshtein periodically lived in Nikolayev, then in exile, taking part in the revolutionary movement. All the while, she maintained correspondence with ex-husband who left her with two daughters, Zinaida and Nina. After the October Revolution Sokolovskaya lived in Petrograd—Leningrad, working for the party. After the death of her daughter Nina, Sokolovskaya took the daughter’s children Lev and Volina for care. Like over all members of the family of Trotsky, clouds thickened over her since 1929, and in 1935 she was sent to the Omsk region, and then to Sevvostlag (North-Eastern Corrective Labour Camps) of NKVD. Alexandra L. Sokolovskaya was shot down on April 29, 1938 in Moscow, where she was sent by prisoner transport in 1937.

Bronshtein, Anna (Annette) Lvovna (nee Zhivotovskaya) (†1910)—the mother of Leon Bronshtein (Trotsky). She was born in an urban middle class family, became the wife of David Bronshtein, since 1879 lived in Yanovka settlement of Elisavetgrad county in Kherson province and dedicated her life to the household. Apart from Leon, she had another seven children, four of whom died in infancy. A. Bronshtein seriously suffered from a hereditary kidney disease. The surgical removal of one of them in Berlin did not bring the expected result, and a few months later she deceased.

Bronshtein, David Leontyevich (1843–1922)—the father of Leon Bronshtein (Trotsky). Prior to the Revolution he was a prominent landholder near Yanovka settlement of Elisavetgrad County in Kherson province. David was one of the few local employers for poor peasants that worked on his mill and brewery. Bronshtein, Sr. in his old age had learned to read and write, so that he was able to read books by his famous son. After the October Revolution he was deprived of all property; during the Civil War he moved through Odessa to his son, who provided him with the position of mill steward in the Moscow suburban state farm. David died in 1922, infected with typhus.

Bukharin, Nikolai Ivanovich (1888–1938)—Soviet party and state leader, economist and theoretician of Marxism, member of the USSR Academy of Sciences in the Department of Arts (Economics) since 1929. He joined the Communist Party in 1906. Arrested for the first time in 1909, subsequent arrests led to his deportation to the Arkhangelsk province, from where he fled to Germany in 1911, took part in the work of foreign Bolshevik authorities and collaborated with newspapers published in Russia. Since the end of 1916 until the February Revolution, he lived in New York, where he was active in the right wing of the Socialist Party. At the VI Congress of the Russian Social Democratic Labour Party (Bolshevik section) in August 1917, he was elected to the Central Committee, being its member up to 1934. In 1918—1919 he was the editor of the Pravda newspaper. During the Brest-Litovsk peace negotiations he advocated the revolutionary war and established the faction of the Left Communists; at the Third Congress of the Communist International (Comintern) defended the view that, since capitalism had exhausted itself, the victory can only be achieved “through a non-stop revolutionary attacking.” 1924 to 1929 he was a member of the Central Committee Politburo of the All-Russian Communist Party (B.). At the end of 1920 he opposed emergency measures during the collectivization and industrialization, which was declared a “left-leaning in the All-Russian CP (B.).” Bukharin was expelled from the Politburo and the Comintern Executive Committee. A few years later, in 1934, Bukharin was appointed to the editor of the Izvestia newspaper and remained in this position until 1937. In 1936, he wrote and edited the text of the new Constitution. As of 1929-1932 he was a member of the Presidium of the USSR Supreme Council of National Economy, then a board member of the People's Commissariat of Heavy Industry (Narkomtyazhprom). He was arrested in February 1937 and sentenced to death during the last of three high-profile Moscow Trials in March 1938.

Van Heijenoort, Jean (1912–1986)—Trotsky’s confidential secretary and bodyguard, who accompanied him in Turkey, France, Norway, and Mexico in the period between 1932 and 1939; French mathematician and political activist. In 1939 he left Trotsky and moved to New York, where he worked with the Socialist Workers Party of the United States and wrote articles for the American Trotskyist media. In 1940 he was elected to the International Secretariat of the Fourth International, but shortly after that he left this position. Seven years later he was expelled from the Socialist Party, and in 1948 Heijenoort decisively gives up Trotskyism. He left the book of memoirs of the years spent with Trotsky (With Trotsky in Exile: From Prinkipo to Coyoakan, 1978).

Well, Roman (real name—Sobolevicius, Abromas, †1962)—Soviet intelligence agent, a native of Lithuania, brother of Ruvelis Sobolevicius. Since the late 1930s he operated in the United States under the name of Robert Soblen (his brother was known as Jack Soble). Arrested in January 1957, along with other members of the Soble-Soblen spy group, was sentenced to life imprisonment. However, achieving a temporary release under a large cash bail, fled to Israel. Being extradited by the Israeli authorities to the Americans, Abromas Sobolevicius committed suicide at London Airport, on the way to New York.

Volkov, Vsevolod Platonovich (Esteban Volkov-Bronshtein) (born 1926)—grandson of Leon Trotsky, son of Zinaida Volkova. Left the Soviet Union with his mother in 1931, after her death he was brought up in a family of Lev Sedov. In 1939, he moved to Mexico and lived with his grandfather, who, according to him, replaced his father for him. While living in Mexico, Vsevolod Volkov took the name of Esteban Volkov-Bronshtein and became a famous chemist under this pseudonym. He is a keeper of the house-museum of Trotsky in Coyoacan, Mexico City.

Volkova (Bronshtein), Zinaida Lvovna (1900–1933)—senior daughter of Trotsky from his marriage to Alexandra Sokolovskaya. She graduated from the Kherson gymnasium, then studied at the Zinoviev Institute, then worked as a teacher. In 1931 she was granted the opportunity to join her father in Turkey, but in 1932 she was deprived from the Soviet citizenship. Committed suicide in 1933 in Berlin, where she had gone for treatment of tuberculosis. She was married twice. Her first husband Zakhar Moglin was sentenced to three years in Solovki prison at the NKVD Special meeting of April 27, 1934 and in November 1937 (or January 1938), he was shot down. Platon Volkov, the second spouse of Z. Bronshtein, was arrested in 1928 and sent into exile, and then shot in Moscow in 1936. From her first marriage Zinaida had daughter Alexandra (A.Z. Moglina), who was arrested in 1949 and deported to Kazakhstan. Vsevolod (Vsevolod (Esteban) Platonovich Volkov), son of the second marriage, was taken to Europe, where he lived with L. Sedov up to Sedov’s death, and then was brought up by L. Trotsky in Mexico.

Voroshilov, Kliment Efremovich (1881–1969)—Soviet military commander, statesman, and party leader, participant of the Civil War, one of the first Marshals of the Soviet Union. In 1903 he joined the RSDLP, Bolshevik. 1908 to 1917 worked for the Communist Party in Baku, St. Petersburg, and Tsaritsyn. During the Civil War he was a member of the Revolutionary Military Council of the Southern Front and participated in the defense of Tsaritsyn together with Stalin. Trotsky later wrote about it, “The high and front command received daily complaints on Tsaritsyn. One cannot achieve compliance, it is impossible to understand what they do, and one cannot even get a response to the inquiry. <...> I asked Voroshilov a question, what he thinks of the orders of the front and the high command? He bared his soul to me, “Tsaritsyn considers necessary to perform only those orders which they acknowledge to be correct.” It was too much. I told him if he did not oblige to follow orders and operational tasks precisely and unconditionally, I would immediately transfer him escorted to Moscow for a tribunal.” As a result, Voroshilov was transferred to the Ukraine, where he had not achieved any success in command. However, in the years of Stalin's rule Voroshilov found his fame as a military genius, and he himself laid the foundation for the myth of Stalin as the chief commander of the Civil War. However, the Winter War against Finland and the beginning of World War II showed the complete inability of Voroshilov to carry on command of the troops.

Goldman, Albert (1897–1960)—Chicago lawyer. Coming from a Jewish working-class family, he became a lawyer in 1925. At the end of the 1920s he joined the Communist Party, but was soon expelled from its ranks for his criticism of the Soviet Union, which he visited in 1930. Later in 1933, A. Goldman joined the Communist League of America, leaving the Communist Party to join the Socialist Party, where he took the Trotskyist side. He was Trotsky’s attorney during the meetings of the Dewey Commission. In May of 1946 he left the SWP and joined the Schechtman Labour Party, but in 1948 returned into the Socialist Party. Some time later A. Goldman renounced Marxism completely.

Deutsch, Lev Grigorievich (Leo Deutsch) (1855–1941)—leader of the international and Russian socialist movement, one of the leaders of the Mensheviks. Back in the 1870s he was involved in the populist movement, “going to the people”, was a member of the organizations Land and Freedom (Zemlya I Volya) and Black Repartition (Chyornyi Peredel). In exile, along with P.B. Axelrod and G.V. Plekhanov organized the first Russian Marxist group Liberation of Labour. In 1884 he was arrested and deported from Germany to Russia, where he was sentenced to 13 years in forced labour camp and settlement in Eastern Siberia; in 1901 he fled to Europe, where he participated in the activities of the RSDLP, later becoming one of the leaders of the Mensheviks. As Trotsky recalled, Leo Deutsch, who treated him “very well”, “stood up” for him before Lenin who received many demands for the return of Trotsky in Russia. Deutsch himself was arrested having arrived in Russia in 1906, but fled again. He finally returned to Russia after the February Revolution. The October Revolution was viewed by him negatively; which is why Leo Deutsch gave up all his political affairs and worked mainly in literary activities.

Dewey, John (1859–1952)—American philosopher, a representative of pragmatism, educator. He graduated from the University of Vermont, was a professor at the Michigan, Chicago, and Columbia universities. He was among those who established the New School for Social Research in New York; also managed the League of Independent Political Action. John Dewey was actively involved in human rights work, was a member of the humanist societies that emerged in the United States. He visited the Soviet Union in 1928. In 1937, despite the fact that he did not feel inclined to the communist ideology, he headed a commission for the Moscow trials investigation, created at the insistence of Trotsky. In April 1937, the Commission held a hearing in Mexico and published the results of its investigation in the book titled Not Guilty, proving that the accusations made against Trotsky and Lev Sedov were fraudulent. After this event, John Dewey was recognized as a Trotskyist in the Soviet Union, which led to the seizure of his scientific works from the libraries of the country.

Ziv, Grigory Abramovich (†1954)—member of the revolutionary Social and Democratic movement, Trotsky’s friend of youth and one of his first biographers. As a student, he met Bronshtein in Nikolayev, where they organized a revolutionary circle. Ziv was close to Trotsky for many years—during his first arrest and Siberian exile, while working for the Council of Workers' Deputies in St. Petersburg, and in the period between the Revolutions of 1905 and 1917. After the October Revolution, he emigrated to the United States. His book Trotsky. Characteristics (For Personal Memory) was published in 1921 in New York. The book contained many uncomplimentary remarks about the main character, but Trotsky never had any objection against it.

Zinoviev, Grigory Yevseevich (born Ovsei-Gershon Aronovich Radomyslsky, 1882–1936)—Soviet party activist and statesman. He participated in the organized revolutionary movement since 1901, the same year he became a member of the RSDLP. In 1902 he emigrated to Berlin, then lived in Paris and Bern, where in 1903 he met V. Lenin. Later he became one of the closest people to the leader of the party and for a long time remained his resident representative at the European socialist organizations. He spent many years in exile. On his return in April 1917 he began active politics. Together with Kamenev he opposed the armed seizure of power, but supported Lenin on the question of a separate peace with Germany. He occupied the position of Secretary of the Communist International Executive Committee 1919 to 1926. Zinoviev cooperated with Stalin against Trotsky, but then, on behalf of the “new opposition” opposed the Stalinist group. For this he was expelled from the Politburo, removed from office of the ECCI Chairman and even expelled from the party. Until the end of 1934 his position was unstable, for he joined the party from time to time, then was forced to leave again. December 16, 1934, Zinoviev was arrested and soon sentenced to ten years in prison with regard to the case of the “Moscow Centre.” He stayed in the Verkhneuralsk political isolator. August 24, 1936 Zinoviev was sentenced to supreme penalty with regard to the case of the “United Anti-Soviet Trotskyist Centre.”

Ioffe, Adolph Abramovich (1883–1927)—member of the revolutionary movement in Russia, the Soviet diplomat and party activist. 1903 to 1904 he studied medicine in Berlin, there was introduced to revolutionary activity. He took part in the Revolution of 1905, was a member of the Foreign Bureau of the RSDLP Central Committee. In 1906 he was deported to Siberia, from where he fled first to Berlin, then to Vienna, where he met Trotsky and worked with him on the Viennese Pravda. After the October Revolution Ioffe joined the People's Commissariat for Foreign Affairs and was the chairman of the Soviet delegation during the peace negotiations with Germany at Brest-Litovsk. Ioffe displayed attachment to Trotsky, and for this reason, in 1923 he is a member of the Left Opposition. In the last months of his life Ioffe seriously suffered from polyneuritis, which was one of the reasons for his suicide. The day before passing away Ioffe wrote a suicide letter to Trotsky in which he described himself as follows, “<...>, and now, looking back at the life I have lived, of which I have spent 27 years in the ranks of our party, I think, I have the right to say that all my conscious experience remained true to my philosophy, that is, all my life had meaning, because I lived it working and fighting for the good of mankind.”

Kahlo, Frida (1907–1954)—Mexican artist. Being bedridden for a long time after severe polio and a car accident, she was deeply studying painting and became famous for her self-portraits. In 1929 she married Diego Rivera, who was twenty years older than her. They spent the period between 1931 and 1934 in the United States, where was hosted a large exhibition of works by Rivera at the Museum of Modern Art in New York. Frida Kahlo met L. Trotsky and N. Sedova in the port of Tampico, Mexico in January 1937. It was known that the relationship between Frida Kahlo and Trotsky for some time remained romantic. Her art works at exhibitions were highly appreciated by V. Kandinsky and P. Picasso, and one of the paintings was even purchased by the Louvre. In 1953 her first solo exhibition took place in her homeland, in Mexico, where she was brought by her admirers on the bed, for she no longer had the opportunity to move by herself. A few months later, she died of pneumonia.

Kamenev, Lev Borisovich (born Rosenfeld, 1883–1936)—Soviet party activist and statesman, Bolshevik. In 1901 he entered the Law Department of the Moscow University. Joined a student social-democratic group; was preparing a strike of railway men in Tiflis. He conducted propaganda among workers in Moscow. At the V Congress of the RSDLP in 1907, Kamenev joined the Central Committee (CC) of the party. During the October Revolution on October 25 (November 7—old calendar) 1917, he was elected chairman of the Central Executive Committee, but left that position on 4 (17) November 1917, demanding to establish a homogeneous socialist government (the coalition government of the Bolsheviks with the Mensheviks and Socialist-Revolutionaries). In November 1917 Kamenev joined the delegation sent to Brest-Litovsk for the execution of the Separate Peace Treaty with Germany. After Lenin's death in February 1924, he became the chairman of the Council of Labour and Defence of the USSR (until 1926). At the end of 1922, together with G. Zinoviev and J. Stalin formed a “triumvirate” against L. Trotsky, which, in turn, gave rise to the creation of the left opposition group in the Russian Communist Party (B.). However, in 1925, together with Zinoviev and N. Krupskaya Kamenev stood in opposition to Stalin and Bukharin who was gradually becoming more powerful, was one of the leaders of the so-called “new” or “Leningrad”, and since 1926—the united opposition. In August 1936, Kamenev was taken as a defendant in the first Moscow trial with regard to the “United Anti-Soviet Trotskyist Centre.” August 24 he was sentenced to death and shot the next day.

Klement, Rudolph (†1938)—Secretary of Trotsky, who actively participated in the preparation of the Constituent Congress of the Fourth International. In 1938 he was brutally murdered by the NKVD, as he had important information about the activities of the Trotskyists in many countries and knew the name of the NKVD agent, acting within the Trotskyist movement. Murder of Rudolf Klement was accompanied with a provocative letter written on his behalf to Trotsky and his associates, stating his intention to commit suicide, caused by disappointment in Trotsky who allegedly collaborated with the Nazis.

Konikow, Antoinette (1869–1946)—American feminist, physician, political activist oriented on Leon Trotsky’s ideas, one of the founders of the Communist Party of the United States, and later (in 1928)—of the Communist League of the United States. She was born in Odessa, the daughter of Theodore and Rosa Buchholz. After graduating from gymnasium she continued her education at the University of Zurich, where she met Moses Konikov and married him. In 1893 Konikov moved to America. Antoinette was a practicing physician, but since her young years, political activity was also an important part of her life. In 1926 she visited the Soviet Union as an expert on birth control. After this visit she was disappointed in the official line of the Soviet leadership and became a supporter of the opposition of Trotsky, who she later supported within the international communist movement for the rest of his life.

Krylenko, Nikolai Vasilyevich (1885–1938)—a revolutionary, Soviet politician, People's Commissar of Justice of the RSFSR and the USSR, a member of the RSDLP since 1904, a member of the Petrograd Council since 1905. Emigrated in 1914, and the following year was sent to the Central Committee in Russia for illegal work. In November 1917 he was appointed the Commander in Chief. Since 1918 he managed the revolutionary tribunals. 1922 to 1931 Krylenko held the positions of Chairman of the Supreme Tribunal under the Central Executive Committee, the Prosecutor of the RSFSR, USSR. In 1931, he was appointed the RSFSR Peoples’ Commissar of Justice, and in 1936—the USSR People's Commissar of Justice. In January 1938 he was arrested on charges of belonging to an anti-Soviet organization. He was shot in July 1938.

Lenin, Vladimir Ilyich (born Ulyanov, 1870–1924)—a revolutionary, the main facilitator and ideologist of the October Revolution and the first head of the Soviet state. Born into a family of the inspector of schools, who became a hereditary nobleman. His older brother Alexander was executed in 1887 for taking part in the assassination attempt of Tsar Alexander III. In 1887 Vladimir Ulyanov entered the Law Department of the Kazan University, was expelled in December, and deported for his participation in the student movement. In 1895 Lenin took part in the creation of the St. Petersburg League of Struggle for the Emancipation of the Working Class, and then was arrested. In 1897 he was exiled for three years in Shushenskoe settlement in Yenisei province. In 1900 he went abroad with G. Plekhanov and others, and began to publish the newspaper Iskra. He is one of the founders of the Russian Social-Democratic Labour Party. At the II Congress of the RSDLP in 1903, Lenin headed the internal faction Bolshevik within the party. Since 1905 he lived in St. Petersburg, and in December 1907 went abroad. He was the leader of the October uprising in Petrograd. At the II All-Russian Congress of Soviets he was elected the Chairman of the Council of People's Commissars (CPC) and the Council of Workers 'and Peasants' Defence. In 1922 Lenin fell gravely ill and since December did not participate in political activities.

Lunacharsky, Anatoly Vasilyevich (1875–1933)—Soviet politician and statesman, essayist, writer, academician of the USSR Academy of Sciences (1930). Born in Poltava in the family of a state councillor in deed. In 1892 he joined the student's illegal Marxist organization. He studied at the University of Zurich, was close to the Emancipation of Labour group. Since 1895 was the member of the RSDLP. Several times he was arrested and exiled. After his release, he lived in Geneva, developed friendly bonds with V. Lenin. In August 1917 he headed a faction of the Bolsheviks in the Petrograd City Duma. In autumn of the same year he became a member of the Provisional Council of the Russian Republic. After the October Revolution he became a Peoples’ Commissar of Education (until 1929). During the Civil War he served as a representative of the Revolutionary Military Council of the front-line areas. A. Lunacharsky was not involved in the inner-struggle, but eventually joined the “winners”, even though, according to Trotsky, he “remained an alien figure in their ranks up to the end.” In 1929, Lunacharsky lost his position of the Peoples’ Commissar of Education and was appointed the Chairman of the Academic Committee of the USSR Central Executive Committee. Since 1933 he was involved in diplomatic work, acting as an authorized representative of the USSR in Spain and the deputy head of the Soviet delegation at the Disarmament Conference of the League of Nations. He deceased on his way to Spain in December 1933.

Mercader, Ramón (1913–1978)—a member of the Communist Party of Spain, the agent of the NKVD. Also known under the names of Jacques Mornard, Frank Jacson, and Ramon Ivanovich Lopez (in the USSR). He became a member of the revolutionary movement rather early; took part in the Spanish Civil War of 1936-1939. With the assistance of his mother, the Soviet intelligence agent Maria Caridad Mercader, in February 1937 he was recruited by the NKVD Major-General Nahum Eitingon, who subsequently leaded the Operation Duck to eliminate Trotsky. In 1939 Ramon Mercader moved to New York, where he got close with Silvia Ageloff, who started to enter Trotsky's environment. In October of the same year he arrived in Mexico City, where in March 1940 he crossed the threshold of Trotsky’s house for the first time. August 20, 1940 Mercader came to the villa on the pretext that he wanted to show his new article to Trotsky, and deals a fatal blow to his head with a bergstock. Upon his arrest, he refused to give evidence and spent the next twenty years in a Mexican prison. Upon his release, he moved to live in the USSR, where in May 1960 he was awarded the title of Hero of the Soviet Union. Up until the mid-1970s he was a member of the Institute of Marxism-Leninism in Moscow. Then, at the invitation of Fidel Castro he moved to Cuba, where worked as an adviser of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. After Mercader’s death in 1978, his ashes were taken to Moscow and buried under the name of Ramon Ivanovich Lopez.

Naville, Pierre (1903–1993)—French poet and surrealism theorist, sociologist. Together with André Breton he actively collaborated with surrealist painters; in 1924 he founded the Bureau of Surrealist Research. After the publication of his work titled The Revolution and Intellectuals (La Rйvolution et les Intellectuels, 1926) joined the French Communist Party in 1927 and paid a visit to Trotsky in Moscow as part of a special delegation. Having returned a staunch supporter of the left-wing opposition, Pierre Naville became one of the leaders of the French Trotskyist movement; he was expelled from the PCF. In the early 1930s he founded the Trotskyist Communist League, and in 1936 stood at the origins of the International Labour Party. He supported the creation of the Fourth International in 1938, but in 1939, drifting away from the Trotskyist movement, he returned to the academic environment, wrote the memoirs of years of political activity, as well as memoirs Trotsky Vivant (1962). In the 1950-1960s he cooperated with the Union of the Socialist Left and the United Socialist Party.

Nevelson (Bronshtein), Nina Lvovna (1902–1928)—Trotsky's youngest daughter from his marriage to Alexandra Sokolovskaya. Nina Bronshtein was born while her parents were in Siberian exile. She was brought up in Nikolayev at her mother's brother and sister’s place. Then she lived in Moscow in marriage to Mark (Mann) Nevelson, and to this marriage she had son Lev and daughter Volina. The husband was arrested and exiled in 1928 as a member of the opposition. Nina Nevelson died in 1928 of tuberculosis. For Trotsky, she was not only his daughter, but also a passionate “opinion ally”. After the death of their mother, Lev and Volina lived with their grandmother Sokolovsky in Leningrad until her arrest in 1934, then Lev moved to Saratov, studied at the Saratov University. In 1941 he was convicted of anti-Soviet activities and shot. The fate of Volina is unknown.

Parvus, Alexander Lvovich (born Israel Lazarevich Gelfand, 1867–1924)—member of the Russian and German Social Democratic movement, Marxist theorist, writer, doctor of philosophy. One of the first five Russian Marxists who were part of Emancipation of Labour group; also was a member of the Social Democratic Party of Germany. Acquaintance with Trotsky occurred at the beginning of the 1900s in the editor’s office of Iskra newspaper, founded by Lenin. When the Revolution began in 1905, Parvus arrived in St. Petersburg, where he became a member of the Petrograd Council Executive Committee. Together with Trotsky, they published and edited the Russian Gazette. At the same time, in the introduction to Trotsky’s pamphlet Until the 9th of January, he stated the basic ideas of the theory of “permanent revolution,” later developed by Trotsky. After the defeat of the Revolution in 1906 Parvus was arrested and exiled to Turukhansky Region, but escaped on the way (with the pre-fabricated documents) and returned to Germany, where he became a member of the Central Committee of the German Social Democratic Party. After the October revolution, Parvus had expected that Lenin would invite him to manage the Russian finances, but that did not happen—officially he was considered a traitor to the Socialists, who escaped to the bourgeoisie. The Bolsheviks often used this fact as an argument against accusations of German funding usage. Trotsky wrote in his memoirs, “After October Parvus tried to get close to us, and for this purpose he even began to publish a small newspaper in Russian somewhere in Scandinavia, under the title From Beyond (Izvne) or something... I remember how much we laughed about the clumsy attempts of a “former” person to take the Russian Revolution under his hand. “We have to instruct Pravda to give him a good beating...”—this is roughly how Lenin responded to Parvus’s attempt.”

Radek, Karl Bernhardovich (born Sobelsohn, 1885–1939)—leader of the international Social Democratic movement, Soviet politician, party publicist. Having become acquainted with Lenin during World War I, after the February Revolution of 1917 he became a member of the Foreign Mission of the RSDLP in Stockholm and one of the main mediators in the relocation of Lenin in Russia. After the October Revolution he served as the responsible officer of the People's Commissariat of Foreign Affairs of the RSFSR. As one of the leaders of the Left Communist group who opposed the signing of the treaty with Germany, he was involved in the peace negotiations in Brest-Litovsk. In 1918, after the German revolution, he took part in the organization of the First Congress of the Communist Party of Germany and actually became one of its leaders after the murder of Rosa Luxemburg and Karl Liebknecht. In the period between 1919 and 1924 he was a member of the Central Committee of the CPSU (B.), since 1920—member of the Presidium of the Comintern Executive Committee and its Secretary. In 1927, among 75 active supporters of Trotsky he was expelled from the party on the XV Congress of the CPSU (B.) and sent to the Ishim, then to Tomsk. In 1928, along with Rakovsky, by order of the opposition, he opposed Trotsky's exile to Astrakhan (which was changed to Alma-Ata). After an appeal to the Central Committee in 1929 with a letter in which he acknowledged the inconsistency of his views, Radek was restored in the party. Between 1932 and 1936 he served as head of the Bureau of International Information of the Central Committee of the CPSU (B.), was a member of the Constitutional Commission of the CEC of the USSR in 1935 and participated in the drafting of the Constitution in 1936. Arrested in October 1936, he was one of the main participants in the process of the “Parallel Anti-Soviet Trotskyist Centre” of January 1937. Execution was replaced with ten years in prison. On May 19th, 1939 K. Radek was beaten to death by his cell mates in Verkhneuralsk.

Rakovsky, Christian Georgievich (born Stanchev, 1873–1941)—Soviet statesman and politician, one of the most “international” figures in the European revolutionary movement. Bulgarian-born and Romanian citizen, he got a medical education in Montpellier (France); since 1889 actively participated in the Social-Democratic movement in Bulgaria, Germany, Russia, Romania, Switzerland and France. In 1917 he joined the ranks of the RSDLP (b). In the period between 1918 and 1927 he was a member of the Party Central Committee, member of the All-Russian Central Executive Committee and Central Executive Committee of the USSR. Since 1918 he had been the Chairman of the Supreme Board for Fighting off Counter-Revolution in the Ukraine. In January 1919 at the request of Lenin he participated in a meeting of the Soviet government of Ukraine, which unanimously elected him as the Chairman. Up until July 1923 he acted as the Chairman of the CPC of Ukraine, the Head of the Emergency Sanitary Commission, the Ukrainian Economic Council, and the Special Commission on Fuel and Food. The next few years were devoted to the diplomatic service—in 1923 Rakovsky was sent as an authorized representative (ambassador) to the United Kingdom; between 1925 and 1927 he represented the interests of the Soviet Union in France. Having been removed from his position due to the diplomatic conflict, Rakovsky, as one of the leaders of the Trotskyist opposition, was expelled from the party by decision of the XV Congress of the CPSU (B.) in December 1927 and deported to Astrakhan, where he maintained active correspondence with Trotsky, who had been deported to Alma-Ata, and managed the centers of opposition to the South Volga and the Crimea. After his public penitential in 1934, he returned from deportation, was restored in the party, got the positions of Chief of Educational Institutions Directorate under the RSFSR People's Commissariat of Health and of Chairman of the All-Union Red Cross Society. However, in January 1937 he was arrested again, and in March 1938 sentenced to twenty years in prison in connection with the case of “Anti-Soviet Trostkyist Centre.” September 11, 1941, Rakovsky was shot in prison by an in absentia sentence.

Reisner, Larisa Mikhailovna (1895–1926)—revolutionary, writer and journalist. She was born in the city of Lublin (Poland), a native of a German family. In St. Petersburg she graduated from the Neuropsychiatric Institute. Together with her father, a famous lawyer Mikhail Andreyevich Reisner, 1915 to 1916 she published the anti-war magazine Rudin. She took an active part in the revolutionary events in Petrograd February to October 1917. In 1918 she joined the Bolshevik Party. She was married to F. Raskolnikov, who at the time occupied the position of Trotsky’s deputy official on Naval Affairs. In December 1918 she was appointed a Commissioner of the General Staff of the Navy of the Russian Federation. June 1919 to mid-1920s she took part in military activities as part of the Volga-Caspian Military Flotilla. In March, 1921 she left for Afghanistan with her husband, who was a member of the Soviet mission in the country. After the break up with her husband she was engaged in journalism, and visited Germany. During this period she became closer to Karl Radek, and, subsequently, with Trotsky and the opposition. She unexpectedly died of typhoid in 1926.

Rivera, Diego (1886–1957)—Mexican artist, political activist. In his youth, he took lessons in drawing and painting at the Art Academy of San Carlos in Mexico City. Having received a scholarship for excellence, he went to Europe, where he lived until 1921, studying painting in Spain, France, and Italy. He was fond of Cubism, was close to Pablo Picasso. In 1922 Diego Rivera was a member of the Mexican Communist Party and five years later visited the Soviet Union, where he lived for several months. At the time he became a founding member of the October association and took part in the celebration of the 10th anniversary of the October Revolution. Together with his spouse Frida Kahlo he was an admirer of Trotsky and joyfully accepted decision of the Mexican President Cardenas to grant him political asylum. Since January 1937 until the spring of 1939 the Trotsky’s family lived in a so-called Blue House, kindly provided by Kahlo and Rivera. Staying in the Soviet Union during the fervor of the campaign against Trotsky, Diego Rivera sharply rejected all the accusations against Leon. However, as the Mexican Communist Party supported Stalin, Rivera left its ranks. In 1939, Trotsky, by prior arrangement with Rivera, published some of his materials under his name. Over time, Rivera began to speak more radically to the press, and his sharp criticism of President Cardenas led to the rupture of relations with Trotsky. The assassination of Trotsky made Rivera leave Mexico and temporarily move to San Francisco. He was restored in the Mexican Communist Party only after the Second World War, having proved that he no longer stood on the positions of Trotskyism. In 1955-1956 he visited the Soviet Union again.

Rosenthal, Gerard (born 1908)—French writer who joined the Surrealism, Trotskyist. For many years he was Trotsky’s lawyer, as written in his book Avocat de Trotsky (1975).

Rosmer, Alfred (born Griot, 1877–1964)—French Trotskyist syndicalist. He was born in the United States to a working class family, who emigrated from France after the destruction of the Commune. Initially sympathetic to anarchism, then to syndicalism. He was and remained one of the most consistent and loyal admirers of Trotsky, despite the fact that it was for the support of Trotskyism that he took a lot of struggle. During the First World War he kept an anti-military position. He accepted the October Revolution in 1917, and after the formation of the Communist International in 1919 he took part in its work. At the Second Congress he was elected to the Executive Committee and the Presidium of the ECCI, was one of the leaders of the Red International of Trade Unions. He visited Moscow in 1920, where he lived for a few months. In the same year, together with his wife Margaret Rosmer he became one of the founders of the French Communist Party. 1924 to 1925 he acquired an anti-Stalinist position, for which he was soon excluded from the ranks of the CPF and became an active member of the Left Opposition. Together with Pierre Monatte, who was also expelled from the party, he issued the first syndicalist magazine of La Rйvolution Prolйtarienne and together with his associates published the La Vйritй newspaper. In 1931 Rosmer has a conflict with Trotsky on the question of tactics, but in the mid-1930s their relationship was restored. Rosmer became one of the founders of the Fourth International in 1938 and provided his house in a suburb of Paris for the Founding Congress. During the Second World War he lived in the United States, then returned to his homeland. He left his memoirs on the events of the period of 1920-1924 years. (Moscow after Lenin, 1953).

Rykov, Alexei Ivanovich (1881–1938) – Soviet politician and statesman. He was a member of the Central Committee 1905 to 1934 (not full time). After the Revolution he held important government positions: People's Commissar of Internal Affairs of the RSFSR, Chairman of the Supreme Economic Council of the RSFSR, Chairman of the Council of People's Commissars and the Council of Labour and Defence. In 1926-1928 he supported Stalin against his political opponents—Trotsky, Zinoviev and Kamenev. But then he fell out of favour during the struggle against the “right” together with N. Bukharin and M. Tomsky. In 1938 he was sentenced to death by decision of the Third Moscow show trial.

Sverdlov, Yakov Mikhailovich (born Sverdlov, Joshua-Solomon Movshevich or Sverdlov, Yankel Miraimovich, 1885–1919)—a revolutionary, Russian politician and statesman. He was born in Nizhny Novgorod, since his youth was engaged in clandestine work. Led the revolutionary struggle in Ekaterinburg, headed the Ekaterinburg Council of Workers' Deputies. After the Revolution, Sverdlov became the chairman of the All-Russian Central Executive Committee (CEC) and was one of the most prominent persons of the country, but in the years before the Revolution he was not popular within the RSDLP. This was due to the fact that Sverdlov, unlike many prominent revolutionaries, did not spend the years before the Revolution in exile. Thus, in the obituary dedicated to him, Trotsky pointed out that he only met Sverdlov in 1917, despite the fact that Sverdlov was a member of the RSDLP since 1901. In 1913 he was deported to Siberia, to Turukhansk Region together with Stalin. Sverdlov's death still causes some controversy among historians, however, according to the official version he died from Spaniard on his way from Kharkiv to Moscow.

Sedov, Lev Lvovich (Leon) (1906–1938)—the eldest son of the marriage of Trotsky and Natalia Sedova. Most of his childhood he spent in Europe and the U.S., then (in May 1917), he moved to Petrograd, where he began to attend school. It is known that together with him studied sons of other prominent political figures of the era: Kerensky and Kamenev, and also the future composer D. Shostakovich. Lev Sedov was brought up out of his father's house, but he accompanied his parents in exile in Alma-Ata, and later in Turkey. During his stay in Paris in 1929 Sedov was the editor and publisher of the Bulletin of the Opposition, studied at the Sorbonne University in the Department of Physics and Mathematics. He died in 1938 after surgery in a Russian clinic in Paris, where he was taken with an attack of appendicitis. The circumstances of the death were unclear; it is possible that it was the result of a planned medical murder. In memory of his son, Trotsky published an obituary booklet Leon Sedov. Son. Friend. Fighter, in which he directly accused Stalin and the NKVD of his son’s death.

Sedov, Sergei Lvovich (1908–1937)—the second son of Leon Trotsky and Natalia Sedova. He spent his childhood with his parents in exile. Unlike his older brother, Sergei was not into politics, and, as later recalled his father, he “kind of out of direct opposition to [his brother] turned his back on politics since he was12—he did gymnastics, enjoyed the circus, even wanted to become a circus performer.” Later this interest was replaced by a thrust passion for technology. Sergei Sedov graduated from the Moscow Institute of Mechanics and became engaged in scientific work and teaching. In March 1935 he was arrested by the NKVD. It is believed that a warrant for his arrest had been personally endorsed by the People's Commissar of Internal Affairs, G. Yagoda. For a long time the fate of S. Sedov was unknown to his family that was in Paris. Trotsky wrote, “Now we are waiting for news about Sergei—especially N.[atalia], her inner life passes in this standby. But it is hard to get reliable news.” In July or August of 1935 Sergei was deported to Krasnoyarsk for a period of five years. Then he was re-arrested in 1936, sentenced to five years in the camps, and sent to Uhtinsky-Pechora Forced Labour Camp. A year later he returned to Krasnoyarsk for re-investigation and sentenced to death by a new trial, then shot in Krasnoyarsk in 1937. Sergei Sedov was married to O. Grenber (marriage broke up in 1934), then to G. Rubinstein. Their daughter, Yulia Axelrod, who was born after the father's arrest, currently resides in Israel.

Sedova, Natalia Ivanovna (1882–1962)—the second wife of Leon Trotsky. She studied at the Institute of Kharkov, later was expelled for libertinism, and moved to Paris. At the Sorbonne University she attended a course on Art History. Entering the Iskra Leninist group in 1902, she met Trotsky. In 1906 a son Lev was born unto them, and some time later, in Vienna—the second son, Sergei (1908). Together with Trotsky, she returned to Russia in 1917. After the October Revolution she worked in the People's Commissariat of Education, headed the department for the protection of museums and monuments of art and antiquities. In 1928 she followed Trotsky in deportation to Alma-Ata and in exile abroad. Natalia Sedova was a devoted companion and helpmate of Trotsky, and performed some duties as his secretary. After Trotsky's assassination in 1940, she continued to live at his home in Mexico City, bringing up Trotsky’s grandson Seva (Esteban Volkov-Bronshtein). She died in Paris, buried in Coyoacan, next to her husband.

Senin, Adolph (born Ruvelis Sobolevicius)—Soviet intelligence agent, a native of Lithuania. Together with Abromas Sobolevicius, his brother, was involved in the intelligence activities of the Trotskyists in Europe and the USSR, tracking the relations between Trotsky and his Soviet supporters. In 1929 the Soboleviciuses joined the left-wing opposition, and in the same year Ruvelis was expelled from the CPG (Communist Party of Germany). Recruited by the GPU (State Political Directorate) in 1931, he met L. Sedov in Berlin in the late 1920s—early 1930s; then he visited Trotsky in Prinkipo in 1931, and the next year—In Copenhagen. Ruvelis reported all contacts with Trotsky and Sedov in detail to the GPU. In 1933 he went to the Soviet Union, where he worked in the Baku Worker newspaper. A year later, along with his family was forwarded to the United States, where he acted under the pseudonym of Jack Soble. His brother Abromas Sobolevicius worked there under the name of Robert Soblen. Since the late 1930s he received copies of Trotsky's letters and of Fourth International documents, which he transferred to the Soviet secret service. In 1943 he came into contact with Soviet residents Zubilin, Chaliapin, and Khudenko who reported further information on individuals inclined to Trotskyism. With the assistance of the NKVD Ruvelis formed a small spy group of ten people, which operated within the American Trotskyist movement. In the 1940s he served as a link between the Centre and the famous NKVD agent Zborowski who worked in the United States. In 1957 he was arrested together with other members of the Soble-Soblen spy group by the FBI that followed them since the late 1940s.

Sokolovsky, Ilya Lvovich (born 1875)—the brother of Leon Trotsky’s first wife, Alexandra Sokolovskaya. In the early twentieth century he was a Menshevik, like Trotsky. It is believed that it was Sokolovsky who helped Trotsky to escape from Siberia. He suffered for his political views both before the Revolution and after it. He was arrested three times by the Tsarist police, in 1924 was deported to Central Asia; first sentenced to three years of imprisonment, and in 1926 the term of serving was extended. In July 1941 he was arrested by the NKVD on the Kirovograd Region and sentenced to exile in Kazakhstan.

Stalin (Dzhugashvili), Iosif Vissarionovich (Joseph) (1879—1953—member of the Russian revolutionary movement, Soviet politician, since the late 1920s—the sole ruler of the Soviet state, who established a totalitarian regime in the country, accompanied by purges. Trotsky's main rival in the political confrontation of the 1920s, later becoming his personal enemy and the initiator of his murder. Since his youth he participated in the preparation of strikes and illegal work. Member of Tiflis, Batum and Baku Committees of the RSDLP (Russian Social-Democratic Labour Party), facilitator of strikes and demonstrations. Many times was under arrest and in exile. Since 1903 became a Bolshevik. In 1907 he was a delegate at the V Party Congress held in London, where he crossed paths with Trotsky, but it remained unnoticed for the latter. According to the report submitted by Stalin in Baku Committee of the RSDLP, Trotsky had already caused him irritation. 1913 to 1917 was in exile in Kureyka settlement in Turuhansky Region. After the February Revolution he returned to Petrograd. During the events of 1917 he did not display any activity. After the victory of the October Revolution, Stalin joined the Council of People's Commissars (CPC) as People's Commissar for Nationalities. November 29, Stalin became a member of the Bureau of the Central Committee of the RSDLP (B.), which also includes Lenin, Trotsky and Sverdlov. Stalin first came into open confrontation with Trotsky during the Civil War. Stalin took over the defense of Tsaritsyn (Volgograd), encouraging the guerrilla tactics and ignoring the experience of military experts, which angered the Trotsky as Chairman of the Revolutionary Military Council. Due to Lenin’s reconciliatory policy there was no open conflict. At the Plenum of the Central Committee of the RCP (B.) on April 3, 1922, Stalin was elected to the Politburo and the Central Committee of the Organizing Bureau of the RCP (B.), and took the position of General Secretary of the RCP (B.) Central Committee. Initially this position only meant directing the party apparatus, while Lenin as the Chairman of the CPC of the RSFSR formally remained the leader of the party and the government. In the struggle for power that unfolded after the death of Lenin, Stalin united with other Politburo members (first with Zinoviev and Kamenev against Trotsky, then with Rykov, Bukharin and Tomsky against united opposition of Trotsky, Zinoviev, and Kamenev), while acquiring more and more personal power. Trotsky as one of the most obvious candidates for political inheritance of power after Lenin's death represented the greatest danger for Stalin. After the suppression of opposition movements and Trotsky’s exile from the Soviet Union, Stalin acquired the sole power in the state. During the show trials of 1936-1938, initiated by Stalin and aimed at the destruction of his potential political opponents, Trotsky was presented by the prosecutors and the Soviet propaganda as objectified evil behind all the alleged political conspiracy. Operation to destroy Trotsky was initiated by Stalin himself. Trotsky’s last fundamental work was the biography of Stalin—the text in which he tried to understand the logic of the man’s way to power. The book remained unfinished due to the death of the author.

Frankel, Jan (1906—1984)—political activist, member of the International Communist League Secretariat, 1937 to 1939—a member of the Socialist Labour Party of the USA, a supporter of Trotsky and one of his secretaries. He was born in Austria-Hungary, the territory which became Czechoslovakia in 1919. As a student, he joined the Communist Party of Czechoslovakia. In 1927 he joined the circle of leftist dissidents in Prague. Since 1930 he was working closely with Trotsky, periodically performing the duties of his secretary and interpreter. In 1932 he organized Trotsky’s trip to Copenhagen and accompanied him. He was responsible for management of the work of the International Left Opposition in Central Europe, stopping in Germany, France, Czech Republic, and Switzerland from time to time. In 1937 he went to Mexico and worked as an assistant of Trotsky. In the 1940s he withdrew from the political activity, changed his name and lived in the U.S. without going back to the ideas of youth.

Khrustalyov-Nosar, Georgy Stepanovich (1877–1919)—Russian political and social activist. The name of Khrustalyov-Nosar was almost country-famous at the beginning of the revolutionary events of 1905, and the peak of his fame came in October-November of the same year. Khrustalyov-Nosar became the first chairman of the Soviet of Workers' Deputies and directed it until his arrest on November 26, 1905. In this position he was replaced by Trotsky. Then Khrustalyov-Nosar emigrated and returned to Russia in the beginning of the war, supporting the military activity, but was soon arrested for his escape of March 1907. He was released only after the February Revolution. During the Civil War he supported Skoropadsky and Petlyura leading the fighting in the Ukraine against the Red Army. G. Khrustalyov-Nosar was shot for his anti-Soviet activities in 1919.

Schachtman, Max (1904–1972)—American Trotskyist political activist and theoretician of Marxism. In 1905 emigrated to New York with his family. Since 1922 he was a member of Workers’ Council, which later became part of the Communist Party of the USA. Being among the Trotskyist dissidents who had been expelled from the Communist Party in 1928, Schachtman and his supporters organized a group that soon became the Communist League of America around The Militant newspaper. Being responsible for the external relations of the organization, Schachtman channeled his energy to popularize the ideas of Trotsky. In the early 1940s he developed the idea of the Third Camp, different from both Stalinism and capitalism, for he considered both regimes equal obstacles on the road to socialism.

Sheridan, Claire (1885–1970)—British journalist, sculptor, and writer. Born Claire Frewen, she grew up in a family of Anglo-Irish writer and politician Moreton Frewen and was a maternal cousin to Winston Churchill. In 1910 she married son of the famous playwright Richard Brinsley Sheridan—Wilfrid, who was killed in France in 1915. The first creative experience of Claire Sheridan can be considered a headstone that she created for her daughter Elizabeth, who died of meningitis in infancy. For Mrs. Sheridan, who was quite a recognized sculptor in London, a chance acquaintance with the guests of the capital Krasin and Kamenev, which led to her travel to Soviet Russia, was life-changing. A passionate desire to paint a portrait of Lenin was stronger than threats of London government, and in 1920 Claire Sheridan arrived in Moscow, where she made sculptures of Zinoviev, Dzerzhinsky, Lenin, who didn’t impress her too much, and Trotsky, a meeting with whom she, on the contrary, would repeatedly recall in the future. Jean Van Heijenoort, Trotsky's secretary, mentioned later their personal relationship. In 1921 Claire Sheridan went to the U.S., where she devoted herself to journalism and became a correspondent for the New York World newspaper. The desire to produce a new material about Soviet Russia in 1923 again led her to Moscow, where she encountered hostility, being treated like a foreign spy. However, two years later she returned to the Soviet Union to take a trip on a motorcycle. Later she lived in French Algeria and in the Indian reservations in North America, and in 1960 became a nun of the Franciscan order. She left a few books, including one on her travel to Soviet Russia.