Alexandra Sokolovskaya was a Russian revolutionary, supported the Marxist political movement. It is noted in history as the first wife of the Soviet state and party leader Leo Trotsky.
Alexandra Lvovna Sokolovskaya was born in 1872 in the city of Verkhnedneprovsk, which belonged to the Ekaterinoslav province. Now it is the Dnipropetrovsk region. The family was not rich, but educated, intelligent. Alexandra's father was a populist. Some sources confirm that his name was not Leo, but Leib. By nationality, Sokolovskaya could be Jewish. But these data were not recorded even in documents with a list of victims of repression, where she was listed.
Early life
By education, Alexander Sokolovskaya was a midwife. She strove for useful activities since childhood. To work in this specialty, she had to finish special profile courses at Odessa University. But the girl was always seduced by the social and political life. Already in her youth, she began to conduct revolutionary activities, to which she also attracted her brothers. But the work occupied one of the main places in Alexandra’s life, so the girl decided to graduate from the midwifery school at the maternity hospital in Odessa. Further, her career in this direction hardly developed. Freed from prejudice, Alexandra moved to the city of Nikolaev in 1890 and became:
- convinced revolutionary;
- populist;
- Social Democrat.
Six years later (1896) after these events, the “South Russian Workers' Union” was organized by Sokolovskaya. During these years, she fully supported the Marxist movement, actively shared its principles, worked with young people, and was engaged in propaganda.
Personal life and social activities
Lev Bronstein (Trotsky), who at that time was only 16 years old, also fell into the revolutionary circle formed by Alexandra Sokolovskaya. The girl was 7 years older than him. In the "South Russian Workers' Union", Alexandra was the undoubted leader, the charming Marxist, whom many young people were fascinated by. Regular facial features, a slender figure, magnificent hair attracted other people of the free will. Everyone was a little in love with this girl. Young Bronstein was not overwhelmed by Sasha’s attractiveness, but emphasized that she had “tender eyes and an iron mind”. The deepest devotion to socialism and the complete absence of personal life made Alexander Sokolovskaya inaccessible and surprising. In the circle of revolutionaries, the image of an authoritative person who was strict and unpredictable was entrenched in her. But Leo Bronstein turned out to be an imperious and assertive young man who quickly won the heart of Alexandra.
It is known that a year after meeting their relationship became close, and in 1898 the lovers got married. By introducing her husband to the Marxist trend, Alexandra had no doubt that she had found a reliable ally for many years. At the end of January 1898, Sokolovskaya and Trotsky were arrested. Until 1902, together they were first in prison, and then in exile in Eastern Siberia. It was in the conclusion of Alexander that she became the wife of Leo. They were married by a rabbi according to Jewish customs. In the biography of Sokolovskaya, it is mentioned that her parents agreed to marry off her daughter as a strong-willed young man. But the Bronstein family opposed this alliance. In the state archive of the Nikolaev region the message to the Irkutsk governor from Trotsky's parents was preserved. They asked not to allow a marriage, since Sokolovskaya was older than their son and clearly led him astray. Alexandra was pregnant during this period. She gave birth to her first daughter Zinaida in 1901, and a year later Nina was born.
