The Germans paid Lenin to overthrow the tsar and, later, the provisional government. Without German financial backing the bolsheviks were nothing
A lot of finance for the Bolsheviks also came from certain quaters of Wall Street.
In fact, Trotsky lived in the Bronx while editing Novy Mir, a newspaper there, and Trotsky’s kids went to the local public schools.
Trotsky’s real name was Lev David Lev Bronshtein.