June 19, 2023

"Sieva," The Boy Who Lived, Dead at 97


"Sieva," The Boy Who Lived, Dead at 97
Esteban Volkov standing in front of the grave of his grandfather, Leon Trotsky. izquierdadiariomx, Instagram.

Lev Trotsky's grandson and the steward of his legacy, Esteban Volkov, died on June 17 in Mexico. He was 97. Volkov was the last surviving witness of the murder of his grandfather in 1940.

Born in 1926, in Yalta, Ukraine, Vsevolod Platonovich Volkov became an orphan early due to Stalin's persecution. His father was sent to Siberia. His mother committed suicide. Young Vsevolod attended a boarding school in Vienna and then moved to Paris with his uncle, Trotskyite leader Lev Sedov. After Sedov was poisoned, Volkov was brought to Mexico City on the orders of his maternal grandfather, Lev Trotsky. In Mexico, Vsevolod changed his name to "Esteban." His Abuelo called him "Sieva."

While living with Trotsky in Mexico, "Sieva" was wounded in an attack against Trotsky by Stalinist muralist David Alfaro Siqueiros. Three months later, when returning from school, Volkov witnessed the aftermath of his grandfather's murder at the hands of Spanish NKVD agent Ramón Mercader, who had infiltrated Trotsky's inner circle. Volkov told El País"At that moment, I didn't recognize him. His face was bloody, and he emitted strange squeaks and howls."

After the murder, "Sieva" studied chemistry and worked in a lab that helped synthesize the birth control pill. He married Palmira Fernández, who fled the Spanish Civil War, and raised their four daughters where Trotsky died. In 1990, Volkov inaugurated the Museo Casa de León Trotsky (museum of the House of Trotsky), which became a touristic staple of Mexico City. In 2017, Esteban Volkov called out Netflix and the Russian government for reproducing Stalinist rhetoric in a series about his grandfather.

When reflecting on his legacy, Volkov said: "My role is to say what I lived." 

 

 

You Might Also Like

Food, Dance, Poets
  • January 25, 2023

Food, Dance, Poets

In which we review books about food, dance, poetry, and Stalin.
Leon Trotsky
  • September 29, 2001

Leon Trotsky

Table of contents for complete text of Trotsky's "The Lessons of October."
Trotsky on Trotskyites
  • January 15, 2015

Trotsky on Trotskyites

How can you be accused of wanting to restore the bourgeoisie when all you've said is that the current policy isn't anti-bourgeoisie enough? Leon Trotsky responds to the nonsense dominating Soviet courtrooms in the 1930's.  
Like this post? Get a weekly email digest + member-only deals

Some of Our Books

Dostoyevsky Bilingual

Dostoyevsky Bilingual

Bilingual series of short, lesser known, but highly significant works that show the traditional view of Dostoyevsky as a dour, intense, philosophical writer to be unnecessarily one-sided. 
The Little Humpbacked Horse (bilingual)

The Little Humpbacked Horse (bilingual)

A beloved Russian classic about a resourceful Russian peasant, Vanya, and his miracle-working horse, who together undergo various trials, exploits and adventures at the whim of a laughable tsar, told in rich, narrative poetry.
Chekhov Bilingual

Chekhov Bilingual

Some of Chekhov's most beloved stories, with English and accented Russian on facing pages throughout. 
Jews in Service to the Tsar

Jews in Service to the Tsar

Benjamin Disraeli advised, “Read no history: nothing but biography, for that is life without theory.” With Jews in Service to the Tsar, Lev Berdnikov offers us 28 biographies spanning five centuries of Russian Jewish history, and each portrait opens a new window onto the history of Eastern Europe’s Jews, illuminating dark corners and challenging widely-held conceptions about the role of Jews in Russian history.
Tolstoy Bilingual

Tolstoy Bilingual

This compact, yet surprisingly broad look at the life and work of Tolstoy spans from one of his earliest stories to one of his last, looking at works that made him famous and others that made him notorious. 
Okudzhava Bilingual

Okudzhava Bilingual

Poems, songs and autobiographical sketches by Bulat Okudzhava, the king of the Russian bards. 
Moscow and Muscovites

Moscow and Muscovites

Vladimir Gilyarovsky's classic portrait of the Russian capital is one of Russians’ most beloved books. Yet it has never before been translated into English. Until now! It is a spectactular verbal pastiche: conversation, from gutter gibberish to the drawing room; oratory, from illiterates to aristocrats; prose, from boilerplate to Tolstoy; poetry, from earthy humor to Pushkin. 
Driving Down Russia's Spine

Driving Down Russia's Spine

The story of the epic Spine of Russia trip, intertwining fascinating subject profiles with digressions into historical and cultural themes relevant to understanding modern Russia. 
The Latchkey Murders

The Latchkey Murders

Senior Lieutenant Pavel Matyushkin is back on the case in this prequel to the popular mystery Murder at the Dacha, in which a serial killer is on the loose in Khrushchev’s Moscow...
Faith & Humor: Notes from Muscovy

Faith & Humor: Notes from Muscovy

A book that dares to explore the humanity of priests and pilgrims, saints and sinners, Faith & Humor has been both a runaway bestseller in Russia and the focus of heated controversy – as often happens when a thoughtful writer takes on sacred cows. The stories, aphorisms, anecdotes, dialogues and adventures in this volume comprise an encyclopedia of modern Russian Orthodoxy, and thereby of Russian life.
Steppe / Степь (bilingual)

Steppe / Степь (bilingual)

This is the work that made Chekhov, launching his career as a writer and playwright of national and international renown. Retranslated and updated, this new bilingual edition is a super way to improve your Russian.
The Moscow Eccentric

The Moscow Eccentric

Advance reviewers are calling this new translation "a coup" and "a remarkable achievement." This rediscovered gem of a novel by one of Russia's finest writers explores some of the thorniest issues of the early twentieth century.

About Us

Russian Life is a publication of a 30-year-young, award-winning publishing house that creates a bimonthly magazine, books, maps, and other products for Russophiles the world over.

Latest Posts

Our Contacts

Russian Life
73 Main Street, Suite 402
Montpelier VT 05602

802-223-4955