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

444 THE PROPHET ARMED
invaders into a frightened and terrified flock of cowards, surrendering
in groups or individually to unarmed passers-by and women ....
But street fighting causes accidental casualties and it results in the
destruction of cultural values. This is one of the reasons why the
field command is obliged to take every.step not to allow the enemy
to approach Petrograd. 1
In Petrograd bad news awaited him: Yudenich had seized
Krasnoe Selo, at the approaches to the city. The defences had
been depleted by a transfer of troops to the southern front and
disorganized by treason among high staff officers. Zinoviev,
chief of the 'Commune of the North', was in a mood of prostration;
and his irresolution infected his subordinates. But from
Moscow came Lenin's notification that the Politbureau had
approved Trotsky's plan and authorized him to wage the battle,
if need be, inside the city. Lenin still prudently insisted that he
should prepare for a retreat, evacuate official documents and
arrange for the blowing up of power-stations and for the scuttling
of the Baltic fleet. Trotsky replied with a confident report;
and as if to give to his confidence a peculiarly defiant twist, he
inquired whether he would be allowed to pursue Yudenich
into Estonia, Yudenich's jumping-off ground. 2
He addressed once again the Petrograd Soviet he had led in
1 905 and 1g1 7. He described frankly the threatening disaster
and, calling for a supreme effort, he gave vent to his personal
feeling for the city:
In these dark, cold, hungry, anxious, bad autumn days Petrograd
presents to us again the grand picture of rallying self-confidence,
enthusiasm, and heroism. The city which has suffered so much,
which has burned with so strong an inward flame and has braved
so many dangers, the city which has never spared itself, which has
1
Trotsky, Sochinmya, vol. xvii, book 2, pp. 266-7.
• This question led to a long exchange between Lenin, Trotsky, and Chicherin.
The Commissar of Foreign Affairs, fearing international complications, strongly
protested against pursuit into Estonia. Trotsky then contented himself with a mere
threat that the Red Army would cross the frontier if the Estonian government
failed to disarm the White Guards retreating into its territory. The attitude of the
Baltic states gave the Politbureau and Trotsky some anxiety. Trotsky publicly
threatened the Finni.sh government that he would let loose Bashkirian divisions
upon Helsinki if the Finns made any move against Petrograd. The governments of
the Entente secretly urged the Baltic governments to join in Yudenich's offensive;
but impressed by Trotsky's threats the Baltic states adopted an attitude of wait and
see.