The Heir Apparent-Leon Trotsky and The Year of Broken Pathways

We are now going back to 1922; a critical time in the new Communist Party's history. You see the Revolution of 1917 had only just happened by a few short years, but Lenin's health had undoubtedly been affected by an assassination attempt in August, 1918 (when he was in his own 48th personal 'Year of Revolution'). He was hit by three bullets and left unconscious. This was later to become manifest in 1922/3, when he suffered a series of three strokes between May 1922 and March 1923.

There is no question that the leader of the Bolsheviks and head of the Soviet State, began to think about who would succeed him. Why should I analyse this? What has this to do with Life Cycles theory and in paricular the 'Year of Broken Pathways'? Well I'm not featuring Vladimir Lenin in this post, I'm featuring his second-in-command, Leon Trotsky. You see Trotsky was entering his 43rd 'Year of Broken Pathways' (in his case:- 7th November, 1922 to 7th November, 1923) at the time the future leadership was reaching a crossroads. Remember that we are looking for major direction change, that would take several years to fully resolve (at least until Trotsky's age 48 'Year of Revolution' in November, 1927). This is what the 'Year of Broken Pathways' means to us all. But what in particular did it mean to Trotsky?

There was no question that Trotsky should have been the natural successor, but he had a strong opponent in the ruthless and cunning Joseph Stalin. Stalin, who had been elevated to the position of Party General Secretary in early 1922, had distanced himself from Trotsky, by forming a troika (a triumvirate with Zinoviev and Kamemev) to keep Trotsky from power. They chose to exploit Trotsky's policy of seeking world communist rule, by appealing to an already revolution-weary populace, that they should just focus on running the Soviet State.

Trotsky wrote an autobiography and I will use this as my guide. Lenin was shocked when he learned of a plot to throw Trotsky out. He then spent much of his time devising a counter-plot to ensure Trotsky succeeded him. In December, 1922 he wrote a will suggesting Stalin be removed as Secretary General. He offered Trotsky an alliance against him. However his final stroke in March, 1923 left Lenin speechless till his death in 1924. Only weeks before Trotsky confirms a conversation with Lenin saying:- "Yes, he does not trust Stalin and wants to come out against him openly, before the entire Party. He is preparing a bomb".

From the moment of the final stroke it was a huge change for Trotsky. The would-be successor and the co-conspirator becomes the hunted. With Lenin sidelined, the Stalin faction moved to take control of the politcal process and cut Trotsky off from decision making. His faction became known as the Left Opposition. After Lenin's death worse was to come. Even though Lenin's Testament came to the surface at the Party's Congress it was defused by the troika and they criticised Trotsky's military leadership in the 1917 Revolution. He became sick and was unable to answer them and in late 1924, they forced him to resign as Red Army Chief.

In 1925 he became effectively unemployed. The troika broke up, with the other two former members gravitating to Trotsky and forming a United Opposition. In 1926 Stalin became increasingly extreme. He started using the Soviet secret police to infiltrate and discredit his opponents. Finally in November, 1927 Trotsky and Zinoviev were expelled from the Communist Party. This brings to an end the several years of uphill struggle that follows the 'Year of Broken Pathways'. It was so for John Lennon (sounds a bit like..) and for Robert the Bruce and Anthony Prince and Diego Maradonna. It will be so for you too.

Don't imagine my quaint theory won't touch your life; it has already. As I begin to write my follow-up book:- "The Life Cycles Revolution" I am getting ready to provide such a weight of evidence that it will be impossible not to accept it. More is to come in the most unique blog ever written. Don't miss it and make sure you read all the posts, they are all linked. Until then:- "May the cycles always bring you good fortune".