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

THE DOLDRUMS: 1907-1914 199
chaos an.cl confusion'. He called upon the editor of the Bolshevik
paper to change its name within a given time; and he threatened
meaningfully: 'W c wait quietly for an answer before we undertake
further steps.'' He apparently sent a similar ultimatum
directly to the Bolshevik editorial offices. He had no inkling that
the man who set up the rival paper in Petersburg and issued its
first copy was the little-known Bolshevik Joseph Djugashvili, the
man who would in the future similarly expropriate him of
glories greater than the editorship of Pravda-- of the titles of the
leader of the revolution and the founder of the Red Army.
Yet it would be wrong to blame the plagiarism on to Stalin
alone. Lenin wholeheartedly approved it; and in a letter to
Petersburg he wrote: 'I advise you to answer Trotsky in the
column "Answers to Readers" as follows: "To Trotsky in Vienna:
We shall leave your quibbling and pettifogging letters without
reply.''" One can easily guess how Lenin justified the plagiarism
to himself: the Central Committee had subsidized Pravda; the
title and the goodwill of the paper belonged to the party, not
to Trotsky; and since the Bolsheviks were the party, they were
entitled to appropriate the paper's name. This was a lame
excuse, even though such quarrels over titles occurred in all
cmigrc groups. Trotsky threatened to take further steps; but
it seems that he took none, and he ceased to publish his Pravda,
while the Bolshevik paper under its stolen name embarked on a
long and famous career. In 1922, when Pravda celebrated its
tenth anniversary, Trotsky took part in the celebration and
contributed an article in which he did not even hint at the
paper's origin.
The fact that Socialists could now openly publish dailies in
Petersburg (the Menshcviks were publishing Luch-The Torchwhich
counted Trotsky among its contributors) showed a
significant change in Russia. The years of reaction were over;
the terror had spent itself; the Labour movement was experiencing
a new revival; and, willy-nilly, Tsardom had to put up with
it. A new generation of revolutionaries was coming of age
and flocking into the few openly existing workers' clubs and
trade unions and into the clandestine organizations. The new
1
Pravda, no. 25. (From now on all references to Pravda are to the Bolshevik
paper, unless it is stated otherwise.)
2
Lenin, Sochinenya, vol. xxxv, p. 1 j.