Trotsky and the Russian Revolution

193 Pages·2014·1.5 MB·English

by  Geoffrey Swain

Trotsky and the Russian Revolution
Supporters of Stalin saw Trotsky as a traitor and renegade. Trotsky’s own
supporters saw him as the only true Leninist. In Trotsky and the Russian
Revolution, Geoffrey Swain restores Trotsky to his real and central role in the
Russian Revolution. In this succinct and comprehensive study, Swain contests
that:
(cid:116)(cid:1) In the years between 1903 and 1917, it was the ideas of Trotsky, rather
than Lenin, which shaped the nascent Bolshevik Party and prepared it for
the overthrow of the Tsar.
(cid:116)(cid:1) During the autumn of 1917 workers supported Trotsky’s idea of an
insurrection carried out by the Soviet, rather than Lenin’s demand for
a Party-orchestrated coup d’état.
(cid:116)(cid:1) During the Russian Civil War, Trotsky persuaded a sceptical Lenin that
the only way to victory was through the employment of officers trained in
the Tsar’s army.
As well as examining Trotsky’s critique of Stalin’s Russia in the 1930s, this
volume probes deeper to explore the ideas which drove Trotsky forward
during his years of influence over Russia’s revolutionary politics, discussing
such key concepts as how to construct a revolutionary party, how to stage a
successful insurrection, how to fight a revolutionary war, and how to build
a socialist state.
Geoffrey Swain is the Alec Nove Chair in Russian and East European
Studies at the University of Glasgow, UK. He has written extensively on the
modern history of Russia and Eastern Europe, including biographies of the
dissident communists Trotsky (2006) and Tito (2011).
Introduction to the series
History is the narrative constructed by historians from traces left by the past.
Historical enquiry is often driven by contemporary issues and, in conse-
quence, historical narratives are constantly reconsidered, reconstructed and
reshaped. The fact that different historians have different perspectives on
issues means that there is often controversy and no universally agreed ver-
sion of past events. Seminar Studies was designed to bridge the gap between
current research and debate, and the broad, popular general surveys that
often date rapidly.
The volumes in the series are written by historians who are not only familiar
with the latest research and current debates concerning their topic, but who
have themselves contributed to our understanding of the subject. The books
are intended to provide the reader with a clear introduction to a major topic
in history. They provide both a narrative of events and a critical analysis of
contemporary interpretations. They include the kinds of tools generally
omitted from specialist monographs: a chronology of events, a glossary of
terms and brief biographies of ‘who’s who’. They also include bibliographical
essays in order to guide students to the literature on various aspects of the
subject. Students and teachers alike will find that the selection of documents
will stimulate the discussion and offer insight into the raw materials used by
historians in their attempt to understand the past.
Clive Emsley and Gordon Martel
Series Editors
Trotsky and the Russian Revolution
Geoffrey Swain
First published 2014
by Routledge
2 Park Square, Milton Park, Abingdon, Oxon OX14 4RN
and by Routledge
711 Third Avenue, New York, NY 10017
Routledge is an imprint of the Taylor & Francis Group, an informa business
© 2014 Geoffrey Swain
The right of Geoffrey Swain to be identified as author of this work has been asserted by him
in accordance with sections 77 and 78 of the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988.
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reprinted or reproduced or utilised in any
form or by any electronic, mechanical, or other means, now known or hereafter invented,
including photocopying and recording, or in any information storage or retrieval system,
without permission in writing from the publishers.
Trademark notice: Product or corporate names may be trademarks or registered trademarks,
and are used only for identification and explanation without intent to infringe.
British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data
A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library
Library of Congress Cataloging in Publication Data
Swain, Geoff, author.
Trotsky and the Russian revolution / Geoffrey Swain.
pages; cm. – (Seminar studies in history)
Includes bibliographical references.
1. Trotsky, Leon, 1879–1940. 2. Soviet Union – History – Revolution, 1917–21.
3. Rossiiskaia kommunisticheskaia partiia (bol?shevikov) I. Title. II. Series: Seminar
studies in history.
DK254.T6S935 2014
947.084092–dc23
[B]
2013031878
ISBN: 978-0-415-73667-1 (hbk)
ISBN: 978-1-447-90144-0 (pbk)
ISBN: 978-1-315-81715-6 (ebk)
Typeset in 10/13.5pt ITC Berkeley
by Graphicraft Limited, Hong Kong
Contents
List of plates viii
Chronology ix
Who’s who xi
Glossary xiv
INTRODUCTION 1
Trotsky in history 1
What is Leninism, what is Trotskyism? 4
1 DEVELOPING A WORLD VIEW 7
Upbringing: from rebel to Marxist 7
Battling with Lenin 11
Living revolution 15
Results and Prospects 20
2 THE TRIUMPH OF THE ‘WORKER INTELLECTUAL’ 27
The party divided 27
Pravda, the voice of the worker intellectual 29
Hope abandoned, hope restored 34
3 LIVING THE REVOLUTION 40
Ending the quarrel with Lenin 40
Checking adventurism, combating reaction 43
Insurrection 46
Results and Prospects in action 51
4 DEFENDING THE REVOLUTION 60
Peasant distrust 60
Building an army 61
Stalin and military specialists 64
Peasants during wartime 69
From command crisis to victory 73
vi TROTSKY AND THE RUSSIAN REVOLUTION
5 BUILDING A WORKERS’ ECONOMY 80
Labour armies 80
War with Poland 82
The Trade Union controversy 84
Planning proposals 86
Planning progress 90
Bureaucratic obstruction of planning 92
6 COMBATING THERMIDOR 97
Deviationist 97
Planning resumed 100
Opposition 104
Towards exile 108
7 CONCLUSION 115
DOCUMENTS
119
1 Report of the Siberian Delegation (1903) 120
2 Our Political Tasks (1904) 121
3 Results and Prospects (1906) 123
4 Pravda no. 2 (17–30 December 1908) 126
5 Pravda no. 16 (24 September 1910) 126
6 Pravda nos. 18–19 (29 January/11 February 1911) 127
7 History of the Russian Revolution (1932) 127
8 Speech to the Soviet Executive (8 December 1917) 128
9 Statement by Trotsky at the Brest-Litovsk Peace Conference
on Russia’s withdrawal from the war (28 January 1918) 128
10 Trotsky to Lenin and Sklyanskii (Trotsky’s deputy) (7–9 August 1918) 130
11 Trotsky to Lenin (13 August 1918) 131
12 Trotsky to Lenin (23 August 1918) 131
13 Trotsky to Sverdlov and Lenin (4 October 1918) 131
14 Trotsky to Lenin (13 October 1918) 132
15 Trotsky to the Central Committee (25 December 1918) 132
16 Trotsky to the Central Committee (after 25 March 1919) 133
17 A Letter to the Middle Peasants (6 February 1919) 135
18 Criminal Demagogy (17 July 1919) 136
19 Trotsky to the Central Committee (telegram, 17 February 1920) 138
20 Report to the Third Congress of Trade Unions (9 April 1920) 138
21 Trotsky to the Central Committee plenum (7 August 1921) 141
Contents vii
22 Memorandum to the Politburo on the Party’s involvement
in the economy (10 March 1922) 142
23 Trotsky to the Politburo of the Central Committee (21 April 1922) 144
24 Trotsky to the Deputy Chairman of the Council of People’s
Commissars and Politburo (23 August 1922) 145
25 Trotsky to the Politburo concerning Stalin’s letter about Gosplan
and the Council of Labour and Defence (15 January 1923) 146
26 Trotsky’s report to the Twelfth Congress of the Russian
Communist Party (17–25 April 1923) 147
27 The New Course – Bureaucratism and the Revolution (December 1923) 150
28 My Life (1930) 152
29 Declaration of the Thirteen (14 July 1926) 153
BIBLIOGRAPHY 155
INDEX 160
List of plates
Plate 1 Leader Leon Trotsky seated with his Bolshevik Party comrades, 1920s
Plate 2 Leon Trotsky talking to a young man, 1925
Plate 3 Marxist revolutionary Natalia Sedova (1882–1962), the second wife of
Leon Trotsky, c. 1910
Plate 4 Leon Trotsky arriving for peace negotiations with the Germans, Brest-
Litovsk, 27 December 1917
Plate 5 Portrait of Leon Trotsky as Commissar of War, c. 1920
Plate 6 Leon Trotsky arrives at Petrograd (St Petersburg) railway station, 1921
Plate 7 Leon Trotsky addressing soldiers of the Red Army at the time of the
Russian Revolution, 1917
Plate 8 Leon Trotsky with Natalia Sedova at Sukhumi on the Black Sea, 1924
Chronology
1879 Born
1896 Starts revolutionary activity in Southern Workers’ Union
1898 First arrest, followed by exile to Siberia
1902 Escapes from exile, moves to London and meets Lenin
1903 Attends Second Congress of the Russian Social Democratic Labour Party (RSDLP)
1905 Revolutionary activity in St Petersburg, briefly President of Petersburg Soviet
1906 Trial for membership of Petersburg Soviet, writes Results and Prospects
1907 Escapes second Siberian exile, attends Fifth Congress of the RSDLP
1908 Settles in Vienna, launches Pravda
1912 Organises Vienna Conference of RSDLP
1912–14 War correspondent during Balkan Wars
1914–16 Moves to Paris, writes for Our Word
1917
January Arrives in New York
February Tsar overthrown
May Returns to Petrograd
summer Negotiates merger with Bolshevik Party
September President of the Petrograd Soviet
October Organises the October Revolution through the Military Revolutionary
Committee of the Petrograd Soviet
1918
January As Commissar of Foreign Affairs, heads Russian delegation to Brest-Litovsk
peace negotiations
March As Commissar of War starts to construct the Red Army
August Travels to Sviyazhsk to halt the Red Army’s retreat and plan for reconquest
of Kazan, achieved September
1918–19 Constantly on move to weak areas of the Red Army’s deployment