Politics

The grandson of Leon Trotsky who was the last witness to his murder in Mexico in 1940 died

Published

2 years ago

June 21, 2023

The Mexican newspaper “La Hornada” announced the news, referring to statements made by his family and friends in social networks

Vsevolod volkov, grandson of Lev Trotsky, one of the organizers in 1917 of the October Revolution, died in Mexico at the age 97, reported the Mexican newspaper “Hornada”, citing statements made by his family and close friends on social media.

Volkov was born in 1926 in the former Soviet Union. In 1939, he moved to Mexico with his grandfather, Leon Trotsky. He studied chemistry. “Hornada” reports that in 1990, the grandson converted the family home in Mexico’s capital into a house museum of Trotsky. The newspaper reports that Volkov was one of the last witnesses to the assassination in Mexico in 1940 of Trotsky.

Leon Trotsky lost a power struggle in the Leon Trotskyof Russia shortly before Lenin died in 1924. In November 1927, he was thrown out of the party. In 1929, he was thrown out of the former Soviet Union. TASS says that Trotsky lost his Soviet citizenship in 1932.

Trotsky was granted political asylum in Mexico in 1937. From there, he criticized Stalin’s policy. Soon, it became clear that the Soviet intelligence was preparing his assassination. Trotsky survived the first assassination on May 24, 1940. On August 20, 40, Ramon Mercader – a pro Stalinist Spanish communist introduced to his immediate environment in the 1930s – came to visit Trotsky and managed to murder him at his home in Mexico City.

Trotsky was aware that he had become a permanent target for Stalin and that he’d be hunted with a vengeance. He was right when he predicted that he would be the target of more attempts to kill him. Trotsky did not expect that a strange man named Ramon Mercader who lived under the pseudonym Jacques Mornard, and was dating Trotsky’s secretary Sylvia Ageloff would be the person to kill him. Mercader pretended that he sympathized with Trotsky and supported his views in order to not appear suspicious or to raise any cause for alarm.

Trotsky returned to his daily routine on August 20, 1940. He was writing about politics and enjoying the nature. Mercader asked to meet him that evening so he could show him an article on Max Shachtman and James Burnham. Trotsky agreed, although Natalia notes he would rather have stayed in the backyard, feeding the rabbits, or left alone. Trotsky always thought Mercader was a bit off, and irritating. Natalia took the two men into Trotsky’s office and left them. She thought it strange that Mercader wore a raincoat during the summer. She asked him why he wore it with rainboots and he answered curtly (and for Natalia absurdly), “because there might be rain”. No one knew that the murder weapon was hidden underneath the raincoat, an ice axe. In a few minutes, a terrifying and piercing cry could be heard in the next room.

Photo: Leon Trotsky, photographed c.1918. Rijksmuseum.

Author

Petar Gramatikov

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Politics

MSCA awards €608.6 million for doctoral programmes

Published

6 hours ago

April 3, 2025

Mike Vulpo

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The European Commission has announced the results of the 2024 Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions (MSCA) Doctoral Networks call.

The Commission will fund a total of 149 excellent doctoral programmes with €608.6 million to train over 1800 doctoral candidates in and outside academia.

€536.9 million will be awarded to 133 standard Doctoral programmes, to train PhD candidates and develop their skills.

Funding includes also €26 million for 8 Industrial Doctoral programmes to train PhD candidates and develop their skills outside academia, including in industry and business. Doctoral candidates will also benefit from joint industry-academia supervision.

An additional €33 million will be allocated to 8 Joint Doctoral programmes, which promote joint selection, training and supervision leading to joint or multiple doctoral degrees.

The European Research Executive Agency (REA) received 1,417 applications for this call. This means a success rate of 10.6 %.

Close collaboration beyond academia

These doctoral programmes are implemented by international partnerships, involving 9335 organisations in 130 countries in the EU, Horizon Europe associated countries and beyond. 4725 of these are private for-profit entities.

Selected projects are coordinated by organisations in 18 countries.

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Mike Vulpo

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Politics

36 000 free EU travel passes for 18-year-olds

Published

6 hours ago

April 3, 2025

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