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

THE DRAMA OF BREST LITOVSK 391
war against Prussia and agreement with England, where he
hoped that Fox would replace Pitt in office. Robespierre urged
the Convention to wage war against England; and he strove
for an agreement with Prussia. Danton and Robespierre joined
hands against the Commune, but, after they suppressed it they
fell out. The guillotine settled their controversy.
Trotsky, who so often looked at the Russian Revolution
through the prism of the French, must have been aware of this
analogy. He may have remembered Engels's remarkable letter
to Victor Adler, explaining all the 'pulsations' of tht> French
Revolution by the fortunes of war and the disagreements engendered
by it. 1 He must have seen himself as acting a role
potentially reminiscent of Danton's, while Lenin's part was
similar to Robespierre's. It was as if the shadow of the guillotine
had for a moment interposed itself between him and Lenin. This
is not to say that, if the conflict had developed, Trotsky, like
Danton, would necessarily have played a losing game; or that
Lenin was, like Robespierre, inclined to settle by the guillotine
an inner party controversy. Herc the analogy ceases to apply. It
was evident that the war party, if it won, would be driven to
suppress its opponents-otherwise it could not cope with its task.
A peaceable solution of the crisis in the party was possible only
under the rule of the adherents of peace, who could better afford
to tolerate opposition. This consideration was decisive in
Trotsky's eyes. In order to banish the shadow of the guillotine
he made an extraordinary sacrifice of principle and personal
ambition.
To Lenin's threat of resignation he replied, addressing himself
more to the advocates of war than to I .en in: 'VV e cannot
wage revolutionary war with a split in the party .... Under
these conditions our party is not in a position to wage war,
especially as those who stand for war do not want to accept the
material means for waging it [i.e. assistance from the western
powersl.'' 'I shall not take upon myself the responsibility of
voting for war.' Later he added: 'There is a lot of subjectivism
in Lenin's attitude. I am not sure that he is right, but I do
not want to do anything that would interfere with the party's
unity. On the contrary, I shall help as much as I can. But I
1
K. Marx and F. Engels, Selnud Cormpondena, pp. 457-8.
2
ProtokoiJ TJtn. Kom., p. 248.