Natalia Ivanovna Sedova (April 5, 1882 – January 23, 1962) is best known as the second wife of Leon Trotsky

Leon Trotsky

Leon Trotsky , born Lev Davidovich Bronshtein, was a Russian Marxist revolutionary and theorist, Soviet politician, and the founder and first leader of the Red Army....

, the Russian revolutionary. She was, however, also an active revolutionary in her own right and wrote on cultural matters pertaining to Marxism

Marxism

Marxism is an economic and sociopolitical worldview and method of socioeconomic inquiry that centers upon a materialist interpretation of history, a dialectical view of social change, and an analysis and critique of the development of capitalism. Marxism was pioneered in the early to mid 19th...

. Her father was Ivan Sedov, .

Her life was marked by the same tragedy as that of her lover, as she accompanied him into his final exile from Russia. Her son, Lev Sedov, was an active and leading member of the Bolshevik-Leninist movement that his father led and was almost certainly assassinated as a result of that. Her other son, Sergei Sedov

Sergei Sedov

Sergei Lvovich Sedov was Leon Trotsky's younger son by his second wife, Natalia Sedova, and an engineer. He was killed in the Great Purges.Sedov was a Moscow-based engineer who published works on thermodynamics and diesel engines...

, who was not politically active and remained in Russia, was almost certainly murdered by agents of Joseph Stalin

Joseph Stalin

Joseph Vissarionovich Stalin was the Premier of the Soviet Union from 6 May 1941 to 5 March 1953. He was among the Bolshevik revolutionaries who brought about the October Revolution and had held the position of first General Secretary of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union's Central Committee...

.

After her husband's assassination in 1940, Natalia Sedova remained in Mexico

Mexico

The United Mexican States , commonly known as Mexico , is a federal constitutional republic in North America. It is bordered on the north by the United States; on the south and west by the Pacific Ocean; on the southeast by Guatemala, Belize, and the Caribbean Sea; and on the east by the Gulf of...

 and maintained contact with many exiled revolutionaries. Her best known work in these last years was a biography of Trotsky, which she co-authored with fellow Russian revolutionary Victor Serge

Victor Serge

Victor Serge , born Victor Lvovich Kibalchich , was a Russian revolutionary and writer. Originally an anarchist, he joined the Bolsheviks five months after arriving in Petrograd in January 1919 and later worked for the Comintern as a journalist, editor and translator...

. She was also close to the Spanish

Spain

Spain , officially the Kingdom of Spain languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Spain's official name is as follows:;;;;;;), is a country and member state of the European Union located in southwestern Europe on the Iberian Peninsula...

 revolutionary Grandizo Munis

Grandizo Munis

Grandizo Munis was a Spanish politician.Grandizo first entered revolutionary politics as a member of the Izquierda Comunista de España or Left Communists of Spain...

 who had led the tiny Spanish Seccion Bolchevique-Leninista during the revolutionary events in the 1930s. Under his influence, she came to adopt the position that the USSR

Soviet Union

The Soviet Union , officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics , was a constitutionally socialist state that existed in Eurasia between 1922 and 1991....

 was a state capitalist

State capitalism

The term State capitalism has various meanings, but is usually described as commercial economic activity undertaken by the state with management of the productive forces in a capitalist manner, even if the state is nominally socialist. State capitalism is usually characterized by the dominance or...

 society and that the Fourth International

Fourth International

The Fourth International is the communist international organisation consisting of followers of Leon Trotsky , with the declared dedicated goal of helping the working class bring about socialism...

 founded by Trotsky no longer held to the revolutionary programme of Communism. Therefore, she broke from the FI in 1951.

External links

• Natalia Sedova Trotsky Archive in the Marxists Internet Archive
  Marxists Internet Archive
  Marxists Internet Archive is a volunteer based non-profit organization that maintains a multi-lingual Internet archive of Marxist writers and other similar authors...