The Stalin school of falsification - Marxists Internet Archive
The Stalin school of falsification - Marxists Internet Archive
The Stalin school of falsification - Marxists Internet Archive
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<strong>Stalin</strong> School <strong>of</strong> Falscification - Chapter 12<br />
Leon Trotsky's<br />
THE STALIN SCHOOL OF<br />
FALSIFICATION<br />
Transcribed for the Trotsky <strong>Internet</strong> <strong>Archive</strong>, now a sub-archive <strong>of</strong> the Marxist writers' <strong>Internet</strong> <strong>Archive</strong> by David Walters<br />
in 1997<br />
How the October Insurrection Actually Took Place<br />
THE SCHEMA <strong>of</strong> the October overturn in the <strong>of</strong>ficial delinea tion has undergone, as is well known,<br />
interminable changes in obedience to the political needs <strong>of</strong> the ruling group. <strong>The</strong> final version now set<br />
forth may be briefly forinulated in the follow ing words: Lenin demanded that the insurrection be<br />
expedited in every possible way. Zinoviev and Kamenev came out against the insurrection. Trotsky<br />
sought to defer the question <strong>of</strong> the insurrection to the Congress <strong>of</strong> the Soviets on October 25 (November<br />
7). Lenin implacably fought against the "consti tutional illusions" <strong>of</strong> Trotsky, who placed the question <strong>of</strong><br />
the material seizure <strong>of</strong> power in dependence upon the Congress <strong>of</strong> the Soviets. <strong>The</strong> Central Committee,<br />
under the leadership <strong>of</strong> <strong>Stalin</strong>, supported the position <strong>of</strong> Lenin, and only thus was the October victory<br />
assured.<br />
<strong>The</strong> exposition <strong>of</strong> the actual course <strong>of</strong> events in my History <strong>of</strong> the Russia Revolution did not leave, I<br />
venture to believe, a stone unturned in exposing this historical <strong>falsification</strong>. I am now compelled to say<br />
that I could have been far more sparing <strong>of</strong> pro<strong>of</strong>s, had I in my possession, when working on the History,<br />
the document which I succeeded in locating only later.<br />
On the 23rd <strong>of</strong> April 1920, the Moscow organization cele brated Lenin's fiftieth birthday, in the absence,<br />
to be sure, <strong>of</strong> the guest <strong>of</strong> honor who was not fond <strong>of</strong> such projects. One <strong>of</strong> the orators at the celebration<br />
was <strong>Stalin</strong> who, as we shall see presently, missed a wonderful opportunity to remain silent. <strong>The</strong> Moscow<br />
Committee published the jubilee speeches in a booklet on grayish paper (the year, 1920!) which has since<br />
become a bibliographical rarity. This tiny book has been forgotten by everybody, and those who are<br />
informed dare not mention it: An unseasonable reminder <strong>of</strong> historical facts can nowadays cost a man his<br />
head.<br />
In a very short and incoherent speech, <strong>Stalin</strong> set himself the task <strong>of</strong> pointing out "one trait [<strong>of</strong> Lenin's]<br />
about which no one has as yet spoken; namely, modesty, the admission <strong>of</strong> his mistakes." <strong>The</strong> orator<br />
adduced two examples: the first, relating to the boycott <strong>of</strong> the State Duma in 1905; the second, relating to<br />
the method and the date for the October insur rection. Let us quote literally <strong>Stalin</strong>'s story <strong>of</strong> this second<br />
"mistake" <strong>of</strong> Lenin:<br />
"In 1917, in July, under Kerensky, at the moment the Democratic Conference was convoked and when<br />
the Menshe viks and the Social Revolutionaries were building up the new institution-the Pre-Parliament<br />
which was to have set the rails for a switch to the Constituent Assembly-now, at that very moment it was<br />
decided among ourselves in the Central Committee to go forward on the road <strong>of</strong> reenforcing the Soriets;<br />
http://www.marxists.org/archive/trotsky/works/1937-st2/sf12.htm (1 <strong>of</strong> 3) [06/06/2002 15:07:14]