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

ARMING THE REPUBLIC
danger. Trotsky ordered the first compulsory call-up of commissioned
and non-commissioned officers, and stern measures
against easy-going or privilege-seeking Communists in the
army.' Two c;lays after the fall of Kazan, he himself left for
the front in the train which was to serve as his abode and
mobile headquarters during two and a half years. In an order
of the day issued before his departure, he wrote:
Leaving for the Czechoslovak front, I send my greetings to all
those ... who honestly and bravely defend the freedom and independence
of the working class ....
Honour and glory to the valiant fighters!
At the same time I am issuing this warning: no quarter will be given
to the enemies of the people, the agents of foreign imperialism, the
mercenaries of the bourgeoisie. In the train of the People's Commissar
for \Var, where this order is being written, a Military Revolutionary
Tribunal is in session ... [which] has unlimited powers
within the zone of this railway line. A state of siege is proclaimed over
this zone. Comrade Kamenshchikov, whom I have charged with the
defence of the :\foscow-Kazan line, has ordered concentration
camps to be set up at :\1urom, Arzamas, and Svyazhsk .... I am
warning responsible Soviet officials in all regions of military operation
that we shall be doubly exacting towards them. The Soviet
Republic will punish its sluggish and criminal servants no less severely
than its enemies .... The Republic is in peril! Woe to those who
directly or indirectly aggravate the peril. 2
Trotsky arrived at Svyazhsk, a little town on the western
bank of the Volga, opposite Kazan. This was the most advanced
position of the Reds, after their retreat across the river. He
found the front in a state of virtual collapse: mass desertion
from the ranks, prostration among commanders and commissars.
From his train, which stood within the reach of enemy fire, he
descended into panic-stricken crowds of soldiers, poured out on
them torrents of passionate eloquence, rallied them and, on
occasion, personally led them back to the fighting line. At an
especially critical moment, his own escort joined in the battle,
ka\'in,i:; him almost alon(' on his train. The local commissars
pniposcd that he should mon: to a safer pL.1cc on a steamboat
on the Volga; but fearing the effect this might have on the
troops, he refused. On a ramshackle torpedo boat he went with
1
Trotsky, Kak Vooru::.halas Revolutsia, vol. i, pp. 174· .05.
2
Ibid., p. 233.