A birthday celebrated at Smolny, the headquarters of the October Revolution

On 12 January 2025, I published a Turkish translation of a passage from the foreword of Trotsky’s autobiography, My Life, under the title Leon Trotsky: A Self-Portrait. [*] In the opening paragraph of this passage, Trotsky remarks upon the striking coincidence of his birthday falling on the same day as the October Revolution, writing:

By the time this book is published, I shall have reached my fiftieth birthday. The date coincides with that of the October Revolution. Mystics and Pythagoreans may draw from this what ever conclusions they like. I myself noticed this odd coincidence only three years after the October uprising.

As recounted by Nadezhda A. Joffe in her memoir, Back in Time: My Life, My Fate, My Epoch, it was her father, Adolf Abramovich Joffe, who reminded Trotsky of this interesting coincidence. She describes the moment in vivid detail:

Once my father came home towards morning, tired but happy. He said, "Congratulations, we have taken power." We set off for Smolny. I saw Trotsky, who was so exhausted he was barely able to stand. I remember how my father smiled and said to him, "Congratulations, Lev Davidovich." The latter, obviously thinking that my father was referring to the recent events, replied, "Congratulations to you, too." My father kept on smiling and said, "No, I'm congratulating you personally, Lev Davidovich, on your birthday." Trotsky looked at him with surprise, then slapped his palm against his forehead, began to laugh and said, "I completely forgot! And, I might add, it's not a bad way to celebrate a birthday." (Nadezhda A. Joffe, Back in Time: My Life, My Fate, My Epoch, (trans.) Frederick S. Choate, Labor Publications, 1995, Michigan, pp. 8-9.)

From Nadezhda Joffe's account, we understand that Trotsky's memory was slightly mistaken on this matter. Contrary to his recollection of realising the overlap three years later, it was actually Adolf Abramovich Joffe, Trotsky's long-time comrade and close friend, who drew his attention to it on the very day of the uprising.

Adolf A. Joffe, a leading figure among the Bolsheviks and later the Left Opposition, faced severe political repression as Stalin's bureaucratic dictatorship consolidated power. In 1927, Joffe tragically took his own life in protest against Trotsky’s expulsion from the Bolshevik Party.

Born in 1906, Adolf Joffe's daughter, Nadezhda, followed in her father’s footsteps, becoming an active participant in the revolutionary struggle against Stalinist totalitarianism. In her memoir, Back in Time: My Life, My Fate, My Epoch, she provides a poignant account of the hardships endured by her family and their dedication to revolutionary principles. This book stands out as the sole memoir penned by a member of the Left Opposition during the post-Stalin era of the Soviet Union. Nadezhda Joffe passed away on 18 March 1999 at the age of 92.

[*] The 17th, 18th, and 19th paragraphs of My Life’s foreword.