Leon Trotsky was a Russian revolutionary and Marxist theorist who played a leading role in the Russian Revolution of 1917. He was one of the first members of the Bolshevik party and was a close associate of Vladimir Lenin. Trotsky was also a key figure in the early Soviet government, serving as People's Commissar for Foreign Affairs and later as the founder and commander of the Red Army. After Lenin's death in 1924, Trotsky was removed from power by Joseph Stalin and eventually exiled from the Soviet Union. He was assassinated in Mexico in 1940.