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

THE PROPHET ARMED
you arc a Marxist?' Bronstein teased her, 'How on earth can a
young girl so full of life stand that dry, narrow, impractical
stuff!'_:_'How on earth', Sokolovskaya would answer, 'can a
person who thinks he is logical be contented with a headful of
vague idealistic emotions?' Or Bronstein would mock at her girlish
sentimentality which scarcely harmonized with her adherence to
Marxism, that 'doctrine for shopkeepers and traders'. 1
Y ct her arguments were beginning to find their way to his
mind. His inner confidence was shrinking. All the more 'relentless'
was he in debate, and all the more boorish were his
jibes. On the last day of December 1896 the group met for a
discussion and celebration of the l\ewYear. Bronstein came and,
to the surprise of his friends, declared that he had been won over
to Marxism. Sokolovskaya was elated. Toasts were drunk to
the rapid emancipation of the working classes, to the downfall
of Tsarist tyranny, and so on. V\'hen Bronstein's turn came, he
stood up, lifted his glass, and turning towards Sokolovskaya,
without apparent reason or provocation, burst out: 'A curse
upon all Marxists, and upon those who want to bring dryness
and hardness into all the relations of life!' The young woman
left the orchard swearing that she would never shake hands
with the brute. Soon afterwards she left the town. 2
The new year had come, and the group had not yet gone
beyond talk. Bronstein wrote a polemical article against Marxism,
'more epigrams, quotations, and venom than content' and
sent it off to a periodical with Narodnik leanings. The article
never appeared. Jointly with Sokolovskaya's brother, he was
writing a drama on the Marxist-Narodnik controversy, but got
stuck after the first or second act. The play was intended to show
the Narodnik in a favourable light and to contrast him with the
Marxist. As the plot was unfolding the authors noticed with
astonishment that it was the Marxist who was shaping into the
attractive character: he was almost certainly endowed with
some of Sokolovskaya's features. The group also staged a 'revolt'
in the local public library, the board of which had intended
to raise readers' frcs. The 'orchard' rallied the 'public', brought
' G. A. Ziv, op. cit., p. 15; :\i. Eastman, op. cit., p. 46.
' These incidents are related by both Eastman and Ziv. In My Life Trotsky
omits them; but as in his preface to Eastman's book he confirms its factual accuracy,
he thereby also testifies to the truthfulness of these stories, for which Ziv is the
original source.