The Stalin school of falsification - Marxists Internet Archive

Stalin School of Falsification - Chapter 5
Excerpt from the minutes of the March 16, 1919, session of the Central Committee, C.P.R. Present:
Comrades Lenin, Zinoviev, Krestinsky, Viadimirsky, Stalin, Schmidt, Smilga, Dzerzhinsky, Lashevich,
Bukharin, Sokolnikov, Trotsky, Stassova:
"12. Certain comrades from the front, learning of the Central Committee's resolution for the immediate
return of the army comrades to the front, raised the ques tion as to the correctness of this decision which
might be interpreted by the organiza tions at the front as an un wil!ingness of the Center to hear the voice
of the army. Some are even interpreting it as a sort of trick because the departure of comrade Trotsky and
the non-admis sion (recall to the front) of army deputies make it futile even to raise the question of
military policy. Comrade Trotsky protests against the interpretation of the resolution of the Central
Committee as a 'trick' and calls attention to the extreme seriousness of the situation caused by the retreat
from Ufa and still farther west. He insists upon his departure."
"Resolutions Passed
"(1) Comrade Trotsky shall depart immediately for the front.
"(2) Comrade Sokolnikov shall announce at a meeting of the comrades from the front that the
order for the departure of all of them is annulled, and it is assumed that those should depart im
mediately who themselves consider their presence at the front necessary.
"(3) The question of mili tary policy shall be placed first on the order of the day of the Congress.
"(4) Comrade Vladimir Mikhailovich Smirnov is granted permission to re main, as requested by
him, in Moscow."
There you have a clear example of the party regime of that epoch. All who were attacking the Central
Committee for its military policy, and especially the leader of the military opposition, V. M. Smirnov,
were permitted to remain for the congress, notwithstanding the grave situation at the front. Those who
supported the official policy were sent to the front before the opening of the congress. Nowadays things
are done in exactly the opposite way.
The minutes of the military section of the Eighth Party Congress, where Lenin spoke decisively in
defense of the military policy carried out by me at the direction of the Central Committee, have not yet
been published. Why? Because they rip to pieces the lies of Stalin, Voroshilov and Gusev concerning the
period of the Civil War.
39. Stalin has tried to put in circulation an absurdly exaggerated account of the military disagreement
which arose in the Political Bureau in regard to the Eastern front at the beginning of 1919. The essence of
the disagreement was this: Should we continue the offensive in Siberia or entrench ourselves in the Urals
and throw the maximum of our forces to the south in order to liquidate the threat against Moscow? I was
inclined, for a certain period of time, towards the second plan. Many military workers, among them
Smilga, Lashevich, I. N. Smirnov, K. I. Gruenstein and many others, were in favor of the first plan. The
first plan was adopted and gave admirable results. This disagreement did not involve any principle. It
was purely practical. The subsequent test demonstrated that the army of Kolchak was wholly
disintegrated. The offensive in Siberia was entirely successful.
40. The military work was harsh work. It was not carried out without pressure, repressions and measures
of force. Many prides were hurt-most often through necessity but sometimes by mistake. Much
discontent resulted and some of it, of course, was entirely legitimate. When the disagreements arose in
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