The Stalin school of falsification - Marxists Internet Archive

Stalin School of Falsification
it. It will burst. The party representative in the Navy Committee said just now that the majority of the
sailors are in such a mood that they are ready to go to Smolny[45] and announce that they refuse to wage
a civil war over the question whether the Bolsheviks should have more power or less. This emergency
situation cannot long continue. To prolong it is to bleed to death, without the support of the technical
apparatus.
I was amazed to hear Vladimir Ilyich's remark about negotiating with General Kaledin, [Lenin, as is evident
from the context, said that if we are to enter into negotiations in order to liquidate the evil war, then we ought to negotiate
with Kaledin and not with the Mensheviks. The official editors of the Istpart, as their explanatory remarks show,
completely missed the meaning of this purely Leninist argument. -- L. T.] because, you know, the latter represents a
real force, whereas the Mensheviks represent a mythical one. But this mythical force is capable of
moving troops from the front and of provoking battle near Vinnitsa, and of preventing the Latvian
riflemen from arriving here. We are automatically prevented from achieving anything on the position we
have assumed. We have become very fond of war, as if we were not a workers' party hut a party of the
soldiery, a party of war. It is necessary to create, but we are doing nothing. We continue to polemicize in
the party, and we'll keep on polemicizing, until only one man remains-a dictator. [These words were greeted
by applause (there is further reference to this in Trotsky's speech). The fact is that during tile negotiations for a coalition
government composed of all Soviet parties, the Conciliationists put forward the demand to "conclude" the civil war, and,
in order to attain this, to eliminate Lenin and Trotsky from the government. Sometimes, Lenin alone was mentioned. The
Rights were willing to accept this .-L. T.]
We cannot possibly handle the situation by means of arrests. It is impossible to attack the technical
apparatus, it is too big. The people are reasoning as follows: Our program must be fulfilled, provided the
arms remain in the hands of the workers. We can get a breathing spell on this basis. But we cannot set to
work now, because there is no apparatus. Such a condition cannot long continue. We must show that we
are capable of constructive work, instead of saying only: "Keep on fighting! Keep on fighting!" To clear
our path with bayonets-that will get us nowhere. It is much easier to compel people who are working
badly to do their work better, than to coerce a man to work by force. In the face of all these difficulties I
consider conciliation desirable. None of your arguments relating to the Mensheviks will convince the
masses. I am firmly convinced that it is impermissible to work as we are now working. It is
impermissible from the standpoint of principle, and, moreover, it is impermissible to risk innumerable
lives. Do not sow dissension. There is enough dissension as it is, and the masses are becoming very
restive.
TROTSKY: We are told that we are incapable of building up. In that case we should simply surrender
power to those who were correct in struggling against us. But we have al- ready performed a great labor.
We are told that we cannot sit on bayonets. But neither can we manage without bayonets. We need
bayonets there in order to be able to sit here. One should imagine that the experience we have already
gone through has taught us something. There has been a battle in Moscow. Yes, there was a serious battle
with the Junkers[46] there. But these Junkers owe allegiance neither to the Mensheviks nor the Vikzhel.
Conciliation with the Vikzhel will not do away with the conflict with the Junker detachments of the
bourgeoisie. No. A cruel class struggle will continue to be waged against us in the future as well. When
all these middle-class lice, who are now incapable of taking either side, discover that our Government is
a strong one, they will come to our side, together with the Vikzhel. Owing to the fact that we crushed the
Cossacks of [General] Krasnov beneath Petersburg, we were showered on the very next day with
telegrams of congratulation. The petty bourgeois masses are seeking that force to which they must submit
themselves. Whoever fails to understand this, cannot have the slightest comprehension of anything in the
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