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

THE DOLDRUMS: 1907-1914
broadly based, open Labour movement was a c-astle in the air.
But, yearning for the best of both worlds, he wanted to sec the
broad dcmo,cratic and tolerant spirit of western socialism infused
into the Russian underground. He wanted the clandestine
organization to give that scope to the 'self-activity' (samodeyatelnost)
of the rank and file, which the western Labour parties
seemed to provide. Y ct any clandestine movement is of necessity
narrow and rigid in comparison with any party which
works in the open. It cannot in truth be broadly based; it
cannot really afford to relax the discipline which its leadership
imposes on the members; it cannot leave to the rank and file
that freedom of initiative and 'self-activity' which may exist
(or merely appear to exist) in a normal party. Lenin had reason
on his side when he insisted that to 'Europeanize' the Russian
party, even in the sense in which Trotsky and not the liquidators
wanted it, would have meant wrecking the party.
From nobody did the cry for Europeanization come more
naturally than from Trotsky. More than any other emigre he
was a 'European'. Most emigres lived in their closed circles,
immersed in Russian affairs, unaffected by life in the countries
of their residence. Not so Trotsky. With the adaptability and
mental receptiveness of the wandering J cw-although these are
by no means exclusively Jewish qualities-he felt at home in
most European countries, was passionately absorbed in their
affairs, spoke and wrote in their languages, and participated in
their Labour movements.
In the summer of 1907, after the congress, he went from
London to Berlin, where Sedova with their baby son was waiting
for him. There he was warmly welcomed by the intellectual
elite of German socialism. His fame had gone ahead of him: his
conduct in the Soviet and in th~ dock had aroused admiration,
and his essays had been translated and published in German
periodicals. Parvus, who had also escaped from Siberia, introduced
him to Karl Kautsky, then at the height of his influence
as the spiritual guide of European socialism, the 'Pope' of
Marxism. Trotsky often recollected the exultation of this visit
and the 'other-worldly impression' which the 'white-haired and
bright-eyed' Kautsky made on him. It could not have entered
his mind that one day Kautsky would be the most severe critic