All language subtitles for Infamous Assassinations s01e05 Leon Trotsky

August the 20th, 1940.

Coyoacan, Mexico City.

Two men enter this house.

The older sits down at this desk to
read.

Suddenly his trusted companion pulls out
a vicious -looking ice pick and buries

it in his skull.

For more than ten years, one of the
world's most notorious revolutionaries

been on the run.

Now an assassin has caught up with him.

October 1920, Moscow.

Leon Trotsky's finest hour, driving his
men on to defeat the enemies who had

seemed about to crush the infant Soviet
regime.

The second most powerful man in the new
Soviet Union, he is the obvious

successor to an exhausted Vladimir
Ilyich Lenin.

But even now he is a marked man.

The colleague who will one day hound him
to death is already planning his first

move.

Leon Trotsky is born in 1889 as Lev
Davidovich Bronstein, son of a wealthy

Jewish farmer in the Ukraine.

While at high school in Nikolaev, he
gets involved in revolutionary anti

-Tsarist activities and becomes a
Marxist.

In January 1898, the 19 -year -old
Bronstein is arrested and spends two

in the St. Peter and Paul Fortress in
St. Petersburg, awaiting trial.

While in prison, he marries Alexandra
Sololowska, a fellow Marxist. And in

both are exiled to Siberia.

There, Bronstein is impressed by
articles by an exiled Marxist, Vladimir

in the London -based Marxist newspaper,
Iskra.

And when in 1902 he escapes using a
false passport under the name of Leon

Trotsky, He heads for the British
capital.

Once there, he joins other Marxist
exiles.

Initially, Trotsky, as he now calls
himself, supports the Menshevik faction,

want a broad -based socialist revolution
against the minority Bolsheviks, led by

Vladimir Lenin, who want an elite group
to lead a working -class revolution.

In 1905, Russia plunges into turmoil
after a disastrous defeat in a war

Japan.

January the 22nd, 1905.

On Bloody Sunday, Tsarist troops
massacre several hundred peaceful

they march on the Winter Palace.

Believing that revolution is near,
Trotsky returns secretly to his

By December, he has been arrested again.

but again escapes in January 1907 while
on the way back to Siberia.

This time he settles in Vienna and finds
a newspaper, Pravda, or Truth.

When World War I breaks out, Trotsky
flees from Vienna to France.

Deported to Spain in 1916 for anti -war
activities, he is then moved on again to

the United States.

As the war which will make Trotsky a
world -famous figure breaks out, the man

who will one day be the instrument of
his death is born in Barcelona.

He is the son of a wealthy father, but a
mother who is an ardent communist.

They soon part, and Ramon Mercado is
brought up by her in France.

In February 1917, military disaster and
economic collapse... lead to the

overthrow of the Tsarist regime and the
establishment of a provisional social

democratic government led by Alexander
Kerensky.

Again convinced that the hour of
revolution has come, Trotsky returns to

as quickly as possible.

Among the other Marxists who also return
are Lenin, who has been living in

neutral Switzerland, and the man who is
to be Trotsky's nemesis, the Georgian

Josef Stalin.

who has been in internal exile in
Siberia.

By October, Trotsky has been elected
chairman of the Petrograd Soviet of

and joins Lenin in planning a coup to
overthrow the provisional government.

November 7, 1917.

Petrograd, Russia.

The storming of the Winter Palace marks
the beginning of Soviet rule.

Trotsky then becomes the effective
number two to Lenin as the Bolsheviks

their grip on government.

Joseph Stalin plays a much smaller part
in the seizure of power. At this stage,

he's seen as a hard worker, but not a
future leader.

In December, Felix Dzerzhinsky founds
the Cheka secret police.

Trotsky becomes People's Commissar for
Foreign Affairs and leads the Soviet

during peace negotiations with the
Germans at Brest -Litovsk.

When these break down, the Germans renew
their offensive and then impose a

punitive treaty which removes the whole
of the Ukraine from Soviet control.

Trotsky resigns as Commissar for Foreign
Affairs but takes control of the armed

forces.

On August 30, 1918, Lenin is shot and
seriously wounded by Fanny Kaplan.

At the suggestion of Josef Stalin, the
Cheka begins a red terror to root out

opposition.

The following year, the Communist
International, or Comintern, is formed

promote the spread of communism around
the world.

By now, forces loyal to the former Tsar
have begun to take control of large

parts of Russia, backed by its former
allies, Britain, France, and the United

States.

For the next two years, civil war rages.

Trotsky takes the lead in organizing a
Red Army and defeating the pro -Tsarist

White Army.

Allied with Dzerzhinsky, he uses
increasingly savage measures to save the

Bolshevik regime, and begins a feud with
Yossi Stalin, who has become the

leading commissar in southern Russia.

With the defeat of the last white
Russian forces in late 1920, Trotsky is

charge of rebuilding the Soviet
transportation system.

He disagrees with Lenin over the need to
build socialism in one country, before

trying to ferment communist revolutions
in other countries.

Stalin uses this opportunity to
undermine Trotsky's position as Lenin's

successor.

In March 1921, Trotsky supervises the
suppression of a mutiny at the naval

at Kronstadt.

It is the last major rising against the
Bolshevik government.

But the devastation caused by the civil
war means that the Soviet Union is now

facing widespread famine.

In desperation, Lenin introduces a new
economic policy allowing limited private

ownership in an attempt to rally the
peasants and landowners and increase

production.

Trotsky is frequently away from Moscow,
supervising the vital rebuilding of the

railway system.

He fails to appreciate the steady rise
of his arch -enemy Stalin.

who, in April 1922, becomes General
Secretary of the Central Committee of

Communist Party, the spider at the
centre of the web of Soviet state

Thus, when on May 26, 1922, Lenin
suffers the first of a series of strokes

leave him increasingly sidelined, Stalin
is in prime position to start edging

Trotsky out.

He forms an alliance with Grigory
Zinoviev, and Lev Kamenev, and when, on

10th, 1923, Lenin's third stroke
effectively removes him from power, this

effectively controls the government and
party apparatus.

Trotsky, however, is still in control of
the armed forces, so the situation is

evenly balanced.

January 21st, 1924.

Moscow.

When Lenin dies, Trotsky is far away in
the Caucasus.

He misses the funeral because Stalin
tells him an incorrect date.

For the rest of the year, Trotsky
remains the most prominent and popular

Bolshevik leader, but he is becoming
increasingly isolated.

Stalin has adopted Lenin's belief that
the regime must concentrate on building

socialism in one country, and this gives
him an ideological base from which to

attack. Trotsky's desire for permanent
revolution internationally.

By January 1925, Trotsky has been forced
to resign as Commissar for War.

He has given a series of ever more
unimportant jobs and is increasingly

the leader of opposition to Stalin.

Then, in October 1926, Trotsky loses his
seat on the Politburo, the core of the

Soviet government.

Stalin starts using the secret police,
now called the NKVD, against his

opponents, but still does not dare
strike directly at Trotsky.

A year later, Stalin makes his move.

Trotsky and Zinoviev are expelled from
the Central Committee, and then on

November 12, 1927, from the Communist
Party altogether.

Barely three months later, in January
1928, Trotsky is exiled to Alma -Ata in

Kazakhstan with his wife Natalia Sedova
and son Leon Sedov.

Stalin now adopts much more extreme
policies.

The first five -year plan for rapid
industrialization, the compulsory

collectivization of agriculture, and
forcible dispossession of major

the kulaks.

By February 1929, He's feeling secure
enough to have Trotsky deported from the

Soviet Union to Turkey.

He settles near Istanbul and begins to
write and speak out against Stalin,

helped by Natalia and Leon Sedov.

Soon Stalin realizes that letting his
greatest critic go abroad and become a

focus for communists opposed to his
rules has been a mistake.

He begins trying to infiltrate Trotsky's
immediate entourage.

In 1933, Trotsky is offered asylum in
France by the socialist government of

Edouard Deladier.

In that same year, the pressure on
Stalin's regime increases when the

anti -Bolshevik Adolf Hitler becomes
Chancellor of Germany.

He makes no secret of his determination
to rebuild the military power of

Russia's former enemy.

During 1935, a change of government in
France obliges Trotsky to move to

In the same year, Ramón Mercado emerges
from obscurity when he is arrested in

Barcelona and accused of setting up a
communist cell.

He is released in 1936 when the Popular
Front wins a democratic election.

Meanwhile, the threat of Trotsky's life
is becoming more direct.

In Moscow, Stalin begins mass purges and
show trials of his most prominent

enemies.

Trotsky is tried in absentia as a
traitor alongside Kamenev and Zinoviev

condemned to death.

They are both executed and a price put
on Trotsky's head.

While Stalin's great terror is
convulsing Moscow, civil war begins in

General Francisco Franco begins a revolt
against the democratically elected

government.

The civil war intensifies as Hitler and
Mussolini send weapons and troops to

help Franco.

In response, the Republican government
appeals first to France and Britain, and

after they reject it, to the Soviet
Union.

Weapons and advisers are sent by Stalin.

Mercada is among the thousands who flock
to support the Republican cause.

And through his communist connections,
he is soon involved with the Soviet

advisers.

In 1937, under pressure from the Soviet
government, Norwegian Foreign Minister

Trygve Lie has Trotsky put under house
arrest and then deported to Mexico.

He is warmly welcomed by Mexican
President Lazaro Cardenas and stays at

with the left -wing painter Diego
Rivera.

Shortly after his arrival in Mexico,
Trotsky founds the Fourth International

a revolutionary and internationalist
alternative to the Stalinist Comintern.

This act is seen by Stalin as a direct
attack and is probably the moment when

decides that Trotsky must be
assassinated.

In the NKVD headquarters of the Lubyanka
in Moscow, planning begins.

During 1937, while Trotsky is stepping
up his criticism of Stalin, Mercado is

wounded during fighting near Madrid.

When he recovers, he's sent in December
to Moscow for training as an NKVD

hitman. He is given the codename Gnome.

To carry out the death sentence passed
on Trotsky, Mercado, with his fluent

Spanish and French, is selected by the
NKVD to infiltrate Trotsky's entourage

a possible assassin.

Sylvia Agaloff, a 28 -year -old New York
Trotskyist who has undertaken courier

work for Trotsky, is identified as the
way he will get close to his target.

In July 1938, Agaloff visits Paris for
the formal setting up of the Fourth

International.

There she is picked up by Mercado.

posing as a wealthy young Belgian
playboy and journalist, and begins an

with him.

By the end of 1938, the purges halt.

Nikolai Yezhov is replaced as head of
the NKVD by Lavrentiy Beria, and then

liquidated.

But the hunt for Trotsky goes on, and
Beria proves an implacable enemy.

The net begins to close when Trotsky's
son Leon Fedor dies mysteriously in

after a routine operation for
appendicitis.

In 1939, Trotsky quarrels with Rivera
and moves into his own house in the

City suburb of Coyoacan.

It is guarded by the Mexican police and
by supporters, particularly young

communist sympathizers from the U .S.

In February 1939, Sylvia Agalof returns
to New York.

Roman Mercado follows her just after
World War II breaks out.

He is using a false Canadian passport in
the name of Frank Jackson.

Meanwhile, Trotsky signs a contract with
a New York publisher to write a

biography of Stalin.

In this, he will literally reveal where
all the bodies are buried.

The plot to assassinate him moves into a
higher gear.

October 6, 1939.

Mercado leaves New York and enters
Mexico overland at the Laredo border

six days later.

He links up with David Alfaro Figueros,
an arch -Stalinist Mexican painter who

is already working with NKVD agents on a
plan to kill Trotsky.

In January 1940, Sylvia Agalof joins
Mercado in Mexico City.

Through her, he begins to visit
Trotsky's house frequently.

becoming friendly with the guard.

While Mercader is infiltrating Trotsky's
fortress as Robert Jackson, the NKVD

agents decide to try a more direct
approach, the assault they have been

with David Sigieros.

On the night of May 24, 1940, they
approach the house disguised as police

army and overcome the police guard
outside.

The door is opened by Robert Sheldon
Hart, a young American acting as one of

Trotsky's secretaries, possibly
deliberately, possibly because he was

the uniforms.

The assailants riddle Trotsky's bedroom
with gunfire, but he and Natalia escape

by hiding under their bed.

Only his grandson, Esteban, who is
sleeping nearby, is grazed on the leg by

bullet.

The gunmen escape by stealing two cars.

Sheldon Hart goes with them, apparently
willingly.

The Mexican police, led by the head of
the Secret Service, General Sanchez

Salazar, at first think that the attack
was faked by Trotsky, but they soon

realize that it was organized by the
NKVD.

During the investigation, Salazar raids
a deserted farmhouse in the Desert of

the Lions, about 12 miles from Mexico
City.

The body of Sheldon Hart, shot through
the head, is found buried.

After this, the wall is heightened and
watchtowers built around Trotsky's home.

Now Mercado, alias Jackson, is told that
he is the man who will get through

Trotsky's defenses and kill him.

June the 12th, New York.

Mercado visits the city to be briefed on
the assassination.

While there, he sees Sylvia Agalof, but
leaves on July 1st, saying that he is

going straight back to Mexico City.

Mysteriously, he does not contact Sylvia
again until the end of July, saying

that he had been ill in Puebla, a town
about 50 miles south of Mexico City.

At the beginning of August, Sylvia
rejoins him in Mexico.

They stay at the Hotel Monejo on the
Paseo.

During the next three weeks, Mercado
visits Trotsky's house five times.

And on August the 8th, he and Sylvia
have tea with Mr. and Mrs. Trotsky.

August the 17th, 1940, Coyoacan.

Mercado sees Trotsky to show him an
article he has written.

They agree to meet again three days
later to discuss it.

The trap is now set.

August 20th, 1940.

Coyoacan.

Trotsky spends most of the day writing
in his study.

In the afternoon, after tea, he goes out
to feed the hens and rabbits he keeps

as pets.

At about five o 'clock, Mercado arrives
by car and is let in by the guards.

He goes to greet Trotsky.

They go into the study so that Trotsky
can read the article.

As Trotsky sits at this desk with his
back to his companion, Mercada pulls out

an ice pick and strikes him on the head
with it.

Although severely wounded, Trotsky
screams and leaps to his feet to grapple

Mercada.

Mrs. Trotsky and the guards race in.

Bleeding severely, Trotsky cries out,
Don't kill him. Make him talk.

The guards beat Mercada to his knees
with their pistol butts and hold him

the police arrive, as well as the ice
pick, Mercado is found to have an

automatic pistol and a dagger with a 12
-inch blade.

Meanwhile, Trotsky collapses and is
rushed to hospital, bleeding heavily but

still breathing.

Mercado is also taken to the same
hospital and then on to prison.

All he says is, they've got something on
me. They're keeping my mother as a

prisoner.

In the ambulance, he produces an already
typed confession.

In this, Jackson, as the police are
calling him, claims to be Jacques

Belgian born in Tehran in 1904, the son
of a diplomat.

At first an enthusiastic Trotskyist, he
claims he is so disillusioned by

Trotsky's close links with Americans
that he decides to kill him.

General Salazar soon disproves all this.

There is no record of a Jacques Monarch.

When Sophie Agaloff confronts Mercado,
alias Jackson, she denounces him as a

Soviet agent.

His fake passport is identified as
coming from a Canadian who had died

on the Republican side in Spain.

The curious spelling of his alias,
Jackson, without a K, is due to the

carelessness of the NKVD forger who
doctored it.

Trotsky is operated on immediately and
seems to be responding well.

but the next evening he relapses into
unconsciousness and dies suddenly.

His body lies in state for five days,
during which over a quarter of a million

people file past to pay their respects.

Then he is cremated and his ashes
interred under this simple memorial in

garden of his home in Coyoacan.

After lengthy psychological tests and
questioning, Jackson is put on trial.

and sentenced to 20 years in 1943.

He continues to refuse to talk and
cannot be broken.

But then, in 1950, the mystery begins to
unravel.

In Madrid, Jackson's fingerprints are
matched with those of Ramón Mercada, who

had disappeared at the end of the
Spanish Civil War.

Mercada spends 20 years in prison.

Stalin secretly awards him the Order of
Lenin.

May 6, 1960.

He is released from prison and goes
first to Fidel Castro's Cuba and then on

Czechoslovakia.

In 1961, Mercado goes to Moscow. He is
declared a hero of the Soviet Union, one

of only 21 non -Soviet citizens ever to
receive this honor.

Mercado dies in Cuba in 1978.

To the end, he remains loyal to Stalin,
the master for whom he carried out a

ruthless crime.

Stalin is remembered today as one of the
worst mass murderers in history, a

monster for whom Trotsky was only one of
millions he had slaughtered.

But Stalin was right to be frightened of
his great opponent.

Today, he is reviled. But Trotsky... is
still revered by many as the man who

might have led the Soviet Union into a
less dreadful future.