The rebellious and outspoken Lev Davidovitch Bronstein,…

The rebellious and outspoken Lev Davidovitch Bronstein, now eighteen, takes the name Leon Trotsky and becomes a professional revolutionary in 1897.

Trotsky had became involved in revolutionary activities in 1896 after moving to the harbor town of Nikolayev (now Mykolaiv) on the Ukrainian coast of the Black Sea.

At first a narodnik (revolutionary agrarian socialist populist), he initially opposed Marxism but was won over to Marxism later that year by his future first wife, Aleksandra Sokolovskaya.

Instead of pursuing a mathematics degree, Trotsky helps organize the South Russian Workers' Union in Nikolayev in early 1897.

Using the name 'Lvov', he writes and prints leaflets and proclamations, distributes revolutionary pamphlets, and popularizes socialist ideas among industrial workers and revolutionary students.