How Stalin Defeated Trotsky: From Lenin’s Funeral to Assassination in Mexico (1924–1940)The episode opens with the 1940 assassination of Leon Trotsky in Mexico City by Ramon Mercader, a Soviet agent acting for Stalin, after Mercader gains access to Trotsky’s compound as “Frank Jackson” and strikes him with an ice axe. It then traces the political road to that moment from Lenin’s death: Trotsky missing Lenin’s funeral amid confusion over dates, Stalin’s major funeral speech elevating “Leninism,” and Lenin’s testament warning about Stalin’s power being contained within the party. The script explains the Triumvirate alliance of Stalin, Zinoviev, and Kamenev against Trotsky, the anti-“Trotskyism” propaganda campaign, Trotsky’s loss of the Red Army command, removal from the Politburo and Central Committee, expulsion from the party, internal exile, and eventual deportation abroad, culminating in Trotsky’s continued writing in Mexico and Stalin’s determination to silence him.00:00 Assassination In Coyoacan04:17 Stalin And Trotsky06:01 Missing Lenins Funeral09:37 Stalins Leninism Speech10:49 Lenins Testament Revealed13:02 Triumvirate Vs Trotsky22:04 Trotskyism Smear Campaign25:34 Losing The Red Army30:33 United Opposition Forms33:28 Expelled And Exiled38:10 Chased Across Exile41:12 Back To The Beginning41:29 Next Episode Tease