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

352 THE PROPHET ARMED
again be proposed to the allied governments to define their attitude .
. . . \Ve, the Council of the People's Commissars, put this question
to the governments of our allies ... we are asking them in the face of
their own. peoples, in the face of the whole world: do they agree to
join us in the peace talks on 1 December? We ... appeal to the
allied peoples and above all to their working masses: do they agree
to drag on this senseless and purposeless slaughter and to rush
blindly towards the doom of European civilization? ... The answer
should be given now, in deeds not words. The Russian army and
the Russian people neither can nor will wait any longer ....
If the allied peoples do not send their representatives, we alone
shall negotiate with the Germans. We desire a universal peace, but
if the bourgeoisie of the allied countries compels us to conclude a
separate peace, the responsibility for this will rest totally on the
bourgeoisie. Finally, we appeal to the soldiers of the allied countries
to act and not to lose a single hour: Down with the winter campaign!
Down with the war!'
In a report to the Pctrograd Soviet, Trotsky added: 'We shall in
no case allow the principles of universal peace, proclaimed by the
Russian revolution, to be distorted .... Under popular pressure,
the German and Austrian governments have already agreed to
place themselves in the dock. You may rest assured that the
prosecutor, in the person of the Russian revolutionary peace
delegation, will be equal to his task and in due time pronounce
the thunderous accusation of the diplomacy of all imperialists."
Such was the unprecedented style which he introduced into
diplomacy. Even as Foreign Secretary he remained the revolution's
chief agitator. He staked almost everything on the potential
or actual antagonism between the rulers and the ruled; and
he spoke to the former so that the latter might hear him. But,
since he did not exclude the possibility of an understanding with
the existing governments, he combined his revolutionary
appeals with extremely flexible and subtle diplomacy. Irreconcilable
and mordantly aggressive when confronted with hostility,
he responded to any conciliatory gesture with tact and
politeness. When General Judson, head of the American military
mission, breaking the allied boycott, paid him a visit and
expressed the hope that the allies would use no more threats
against the Soviets, Trotsky answered that he had no desire to
quarrel over bygones, that he was satisfied with the general's
1 Trotsky, Sochinenya, vol. iii, book 2, pp. I 73-5. • Ibid., p. I 79·