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isaac-deutscher-the-prophet-armed-trotsky-1879-1921

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142 THE PROPHET ARMED<br />

In <strong>the</strong> afternoon of 3 December, Trotsky presided over a<br />

meeting of <strong>the</strong> Executive which was to prepare <strong>the</strong> agenda for<br />

a plenary session of <strong>the</strong> Soviet, about to open. He reported on<br />

<strong>the</strong> government's latest strokes: <strong>the</strong> provincial governors had<br />

been given power to declare a state of siege; in some places <strong>the</strong>y<br />

had already done so; strikers had been threatened with heavy<br />

penalties; <strong>the</strong> newspapers which had published <strong>the</strong> 'Financial<br />

Manifesto' had been seized; <strong>the</strong> Minister of <strong>the</strong> Interior was<br />

preparing to re-enforce <strong>the</strong> ban on <strong>the</strong> Socialist parties and to<br />

imprison <strong>the</strong>ir leaders. This rime both Mensheviks and Bolsheviks<br />

proposed a general strike. In <strong>the</strong> middle of <strong>the</strong> debate<br />

word was brought that a police raid on <strong>the</strong> Soviet was imminent.<br />

The Executive resolved to go on with its business but to send<br />

away a few members who, if <strong>the</strong> Soviet were to be imprisoned,<br />

would continue to act on its behalf. Those so chosen went but<br />

came back: <strong>the</strong> building was already surrounded by Guards,<br />

Cossacks, gendarmerie, and police. The Executive <strong>the</strong>n unanimously<br />

decided to stay put but to offer no <strong>armed</strong> resistance<br />

against <strong>the</strong> heavy odds. It continued to deliberate. The trampling<br />

of boots and <strong>the</strong> rattling of sabrt>s came nearer. From <strong>the</strong><br />

hall on <strong>the</strong> ground floor, where delegates had assembled for <strong>the</strong><br />

plenary session, <strong>the</strong>re rose voices of angry protest. From a<br />

balcony Trotsky shouted down to <strong>the</strong> delegates: 'Comrades,<br />

offer no resistance. vVe dt>clart> beforehand that only an agent<br />

provocateur or a policeman will fire a shot here!' He instructed <strong>the</strong><br />

delegates to break <strong>the</strong> locks of <strong>the</strong>ir revolvers before surrendering<br />

<strong>the</strong>m to <strong>the</strong> police. Then he resumed his chair at <strong>the</strong><br />

Executive's conference table.<br />

A trade-union spokesman was just declaring his union's<br />

readiness to join in <strong>the</strong> general strike, when a detachment of<br />

soldiers and police occupied <strong>the</strong> corridors. A police officer<br />

entered <strong>the</strong> room where <strong>the</strong> Executive was sitting and began to<br />

read a warrant of arrest. It was now only a question whe<strong>the</strong>r<br />

<strong>the</strong> Sovi

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