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

THE DRAMA OF BREST LITOVSK 397
Trotsky, nevertheless, tabled an amendment to Lenin's
motion affirming that peace was 'necessary' -he proposed to
replace 'necessary' by 'permissible'. From the platform of the
congress, he could not fully explain why, after all he had done
to promote Lenin's policy, he vacillated again. Behind the
scenes he and Lenin, in perfect concord, were sounding the
Entente once again on whether they would get assistance if they
refused to ratify the peace. In expectation of the answer Lenin
was even delaying the Congress of the Soviets which was to vote
on ratification. He very nearly committed himself with President
Wilson to renouncing the treaty of Brest if the President
gave a binding promise of help.' At the congress of the party,
Lenin cryptically remarked that the situation was changing so
rapidly that in two days he himself might speak against ratification.2
Trotsky was therefore anxious that the congress should
not frame its resolution in terms which were too rigid. Lenin,
however, did not at heart expect any encouraging answer from
the Entente; and once again he was right. He had agreed, on
Trotsky's prompting, to make the soundings in order to have
a clear conscience in the matter. But in the meantime he wished
the congress to approve peace without qualification. This the
congress dici.
In the debate Trotsky had recalled his 'great act of selfrcstraint'
and his 'suppression of the Ego'. These words bring
to mind the remark of a friend of his early youth: 'Trotsky's
entire behaviour is dominated by his Ego, but his Ego is dominated
by the revolution.' 3 This trait of the boy of eighteen was
still there in the great and famous man of thirty-eight. His conduct
during this drama testified to his subordination of personal
ambition and inclination to the interests of the party. But
now, when Lenin's triumph was complete, Trotsky's Ego chafed;
and from the platform of this grim congress it cried out for
compensation. The great debate over peace was followed
by a grotesque wrangle over Trotsky's faults and merits. His
friends and followers, Krestinsky, Yoffe, and Ryazanov, tabled
a formal motion justifying his policy at Brest. It was, from every
point of view, preposterous to press such a motion at this moment.
1
Hard, Raymond Robins' Own Story, pp. I 3c,-9; Wheeler· Bennett, The Forgo/Im
Peace, pp. 290-301.
2
Sedmoi Sye~d RKP, p. 140.
3
Sec Chapter II, p. 35.