STATE AND LEGAL VIEWS OF LEV DAVYDOVICH TROTSKY AND THEIR ROLE IN THE FORMATION OF SOVIET STATEHOOD (October 1917 – early 1920s)

At the time of strengthening of the Russian statehood, there is an urgent need to consider how the historical experience of the functioning of state and legal institutions during the «transition» period of Soviet Russia was conceptualized by one of its leaders – Lev Davidovich Trotsky. Precisely in the period of the Civil War in Russia, when various political forces were engaged in the fierce ideological struggle, Trotsky’s modification of the Leninist concept of the dictatorship of the proletariat with the emphasis on the ideas of «revolutionary expediency» and the criticism of democracy had a huge impact on the Soviet state formation. State and legal views of L. D. Tro­tsky had laid down the foundations for understanding the state and legal institutions and, thereby, highly influenced the development of Soviet jurisprudence of the 1920s – early 1930s.