'Ice-pick that killed Trotsky' found in Mexico

[emad]

Jo Tuckman in Mexico City
Thursday June 16, 2005
The Guardian

One of the most notorious murder weapons in modern history, the ice-pick that killed Leon Trotsky, appears to have been found, 65 years after it was apparently stolen from the Mexican police.

The daughter of a former secret service agent claims she has the steel mountaineering instrument, which is stained with the blood of the Russian revolutionary.

Exiled by Joseph Stalin, Trotsky lived a relatively settled life in a leafy suburb of Mexico City until his death in 1940.

Trotsky was always fearful of assassination attempts organised by Stalin. He was finally caught off guard by Ramon Mercader, who on August 20 1940 got access to him on the pretext of needing help.
Once in the study, Mercader struck the creator of the Red Army in the head from behind with the shortened pick he had hidden under his clothes.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/russia/article/0,2763,1507575,00.html

[trotsky]

1. At last!

:)

[emad]

2. Thought you might appreciate this one.....

x

[trotsky]

3. LOL, I do, I do.

Except for the last part:

<Ana Alicia Salas> said: "I am looking for some financial benefit. I think something as historically important at this should be worth something, no?"

Considering her father STOLE it, no.

[muriel_volestrangler]

9. Is it certain it was an ice axe, not an ice pick?

An ice axe being what a mountaineer uses, as opposed to an ice pick, which is used for chopping blocks of ice (a common implement wherever refridgerators are not common)?

Most British mountaineers I know useually call their implement an 'ice axe', with the 'pick' just referring to the front point of it (rather than the adze or hammer that the rear has).

[trotsky]

11. Yes, I believe it was an ice axe.

The article on Wikipedia says so, but I can understand the confusion.

[muriel_volestrangler]

13. Thanks, but I don't think Wikipedia is definitive

For instance, the entry for ice pick (ie the ice block cutting tool) says it was one of those that killed him.

I wondered if your interest had been enough to know of a definitive biography or similar. I suppose this news story is as certain as anything can be; but I had always been surprised that a mountaineering axe was hanging around in Mexico in 1940, while an ice pick would have been a common tool there.

[trotsky]

15. My interest in the historical Trotsky is only casual.

I got the nickname "trotsky" in college from a friend who mashed together my first and last names creatively - VERY creatively. It helped that I was liberal, and I do consider myself a socialist of the democratic variety.

But other than that, no, I don't buy into all of Trotskyism or particularly admire the man.

On edit: I share your skepticism of Wikipedia, though for most things I give it the benefit of the doubt.

[Modem Butterfly]

6. Dude! You're DEAD!

G-g-g-g-g-g-g-g-ghost!

[trotsky]

8. YOINKS!

[skooooo]

4. Hot DAMN!

Now we're onto something !!

[NWHarkness]

5. Historically inaccurate

"Exiled by Joseph Stalin, Trotsky lived a relatively settled life in a leafy suburb of Mexico City until his death in 1940."

That gives the impression that he left Russia and went right off to Mexico to enjoy a "settled life", when the truth is, he spent several years traveling from country to country, looking for one that would allow him sanctuary.

[supernova]

10. He spent from time with Frida Kahlo and Diego Rivera

I believe she was the one who got Trotsky into the country.

[Squeech]

12. Exactly

And he wasn't all that settled in Mexico either, as I recall-- he had to move around a fair amount, being uncertain where he'd be safe and who he could trust.

The artists Diego Rivera and Frida Kahlo put him up in Kahlo's house for a while. Rivera considered himself a staunch Communist, but he was expelled from the CP at one point. (Also it is virtually certain that Trotsky and Kahlo had an affair.) For these reasons, there are some people that think Rivera was complicit in the assassination. By any chance, does the icepick have any calla lilies on it?

[KharmaTrain]

7. Was It On Ebay?

I swore I saw that thing on Antiques Road Show...and still in Trotsky's head. The expert said that since the head was attached it had more value

:sarcasm:

[QueenJane94133]

14. ROFL! I love your sense of humor!!