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Usual Brit pronunciation is LEN-in. (Same as if you knocked on your mate, Leonard's, door and asked his mum if he was there. )

But my Russian History teacher always used the proper Russian pronunciation, so I have no problems with vika's (kerrect) pronunciation. (And isn't it Ul-YAH-nov?)

As to river Lena, vika, I'd have to see it written in cyrillic before I'd know if it was Lyeh - nya or Lyeh - nah.
(I remember that the "Le" is Lyeh, but can't remember the rest!!).

Incidently, why did L.D.Bronstein choose his pseudonym?


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RhubarbCommando,

Lena is written in cyrillic exactly the same as in latin so it's Lyeh-nah, I think

and Ul-YAH-nov

do you belive in the "Juwish conspiracy" theory? his father's surname was Uljanov, not Bronstein

AFAIK he choose Lenin because his major rival was Volgin aka Martov



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Neither theory nor conspiracy, vika
- Lev Davidovich Bronstein took the name Trotsky at some time after he had first been arrested for dissidence (late C19, probably) He really came to prominance in the 1905 near-revolution, when his great powers of organisation were first brought into prominence and he then went on to serve as left-hand man to Lenin through the November (or October, whichever calendar you follow) Revolution.
He went on to form and lead - with great success - the Red Army throughout the Civil War and the was against the western powers that followed.
He fled to Mexico soon after Lenin's death, where he was assassinated in 1947 edit sorry - that should read 1940! - reputedly on the orders of Comrade Djugashvilli!


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Friend of mine in college subscribed to the political theories of Gospodin Bronstein. He refered to himself as a troskyist rather than, as was more common, a troskyite. When asked the difference between a trotskyist and a trotskyite he said that it was the same as the difference between a socialist and a socialite.


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This is an interesting thing, Faldage.
I have noticed that most adherents to particlar ideologies are refered to as " ... ites" when the referee is being pejorative, and "... ists" when the referee is expressing approval.

Is this a general "rule?" Are there exceptions with which will provide proof?
And what is the position of "...ian?"


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In March 1921, at the Kronstadt Rising when the Red Army under Tukachevsky massacred the sailors (the former heroes of the revolution), left communists in New York were heard to pronounce the name "Lenin, Schnenin" in order to belittle and mock him and undermine his political influence on the Marxist left. The same was tried with Gramsci when people took issue with the full implications of his "ideological hegemony" doctrine.
It is an extremely infantile gesture but all the same quite devestating. The stature of an individual is severely impacted upon by saying their name in a silly voice.

The correct way to pronounce Lenin as an undergraduate drunk on cheap Theakston and politics "with integrity" is "geuughhhhleeeennnnneeeeennnnnn". You try War Communism rather sitting round in your halls of residence listening to Radiohead and then speak about the "sharpening tools of class conflict"....

Maurice had better calm down and have some more rock cakes before he goes home.

Luncheon meat goes down very well with cherryade.

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RhubarbCommando

Lev Davidovich Bronstein took the name Trotsky at some time after he had first been arrested for dissidence
but of course your question was about Trotsky. I don't know why I decided that you were asking about Lenin


#85478 11/04/02 10:17 PM
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In Mexico, Lenin is pronounced leh-NEEN. BTW, this gringa pronounces gringo kerrectlyİ


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vika - your question was about Trotsky. I don't know why I decided that you were asking about Lenin

Mainly because the thread was about Lenin, and I had gone off on a tangent!! (just for a change)

I have been searching a bit since I asked why Leon T chose his pseudonym He took the name in 1902, when he escaped from exile in Siberia (a sentence imposed on him in 1897 for organising the workers in Nikolayev into the Southern Russian Workers Union. But so far, I can't find out what is the significance of the name.

Edit This is a simplified, but reasonably useful, biography, complete with pictures, of Trotsky. Still doesn't explain his pseudo, though! [sigh]
http://www.fbuch.com/leon.htm


#85480 11/05/02 08:17 AM
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Ta-daaaaah!!

I've got it, at last!!
Lev Davidovich Bronstein (Leon Trotsky) was born in Yanovka, Ukraine, as the son of a Jewish farm owner. He studied at Odessa and become an ardent disciple of Karl Marx in his youth. In 1896 Trotsky joined the Social Democrats and two years later he was arrested as a Marxist and exiled to Siberia. Four years later he escaped and reached England by means of a forged passport that used the name of a jailer in Odessa's prison, Trotsky.

source:-
http://www.kirjasto.sci.fi/trotsky.htm



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