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

TROTSKY IN THE OCTOBER REVOLUTION 309
garrison and of the proletariat to put at its disposal the power they
have gathered, a power on which any governmental provocation
will founder. It is our task to carry this power, undiminished and
unimpaired, to the Congress. If the illusory government makes a
hazardous attempt to revive its own corpse, the popular masses will
strike a decisive counter-blow. And the blow will be the more powerful
the stronger the attack. If the government tries to use the twentyfour
or forty-eight hours still left to it in order to stab the revolution,
then we declare that the vanguard of the revolution will meet
attack with attack and iron with steel. 1
When a delegation from the city council approached him to
inquire about the Soviet's intentions, he answered cryptically
that the Soviet was prepared to co-ordinate the defence of the
revolutionary order with the city council; and, tongue in check,
he invited the council to participate in the Military Revolutionary
Committee.
Late in the evening the Menshevik Central Executive called
a meeting of the delegates who had assembled for the Congress.
For the last time Dan spoke on behalf of the old leadership of
the Soviets. He warned the delegates against bloodshed. 'The
counter-revolution is only waiting for the Bolsheviks to begin
riots and massacres-this will be the end of the revolution ....
The masses are sick and exhausted. They have no interest in
the revolution .... It is inadmissible ... that the Pctrograd
garrison should not submit to the orders of the Staff .... All
power to the Soviets means death .... \\'e are not afraid of
bayonets .... The old Executive will ddcnd the revolution
with its body ... .' 2 Amid uproar and cries of derision, Dan
promised immediate peace negotiations and land reform, thereby
unwittingly admitting that the Bolsheviks had all along been
right in their demands. ('Russia' he declared, 'could no longer
afford to wage the war.') From the floor came cries: 'Too late!'
Then Trotsky mounted the tribune, borne on a wave of roaring
applause ... a rising house, thunderous. His thin, pointed face
was positively Mephistophelian in its expression of malicious irony.
'Dan's tactics proved that the masses-the great, dull, indifferent
masses-are absolutely with him!' (Titanic mirth.) He turned towards
the Chairman, dramatically. 'When we spoke of giving the land to
the peasants you were against it. \Ve told the peasants, "If they don't
1 Trotsky, Sochifunya, vol. iii, book 2, pp. 51-53.
2
John Reed, Ten Days that Shook the World, pp. 58 ··60.