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

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REVOLUTION AND CONQ.UEST<br />

mained something of a noble curiosity in an age when during<br />

war 'civilized' statesmen and men of letters brand without<br />

scruple <strong>the</strong> national character of an enemy as Hun-like, beastlike,<br />

or subhuman.) Qn his visits to <strong>the</strong> front, he kept in check<br />

<strong>the</strong> angry passion aroused in <strong>the</strong> army by reports about Polish<br />

shootings of prisoners of war. Even an enemy, he argued at<br />

meetings of front-line soldiers, must not be slandered. He emphatically<br />

forbade retaliation on Polish prisoners: 'Let <strong>the</strong><br />

hand be cut off of any Red Army man who lifts his knife on a<br />

prisoner of war, on <strong>the</strong> dis<strong>armed</strong>, <strong>the</strong> sick and wounded', he<br />

wrote in an order of <strong>the</strong> day. Ruthless in battle, <strong>the</strong> Red Army<br />

man must show magnanimity towards <strong>the</strong> captive and helpless<br />

enemy.'<br />

Pilsudski's victory in <strong>the</strong> Ukraine was short-lived. A few<br />

weeks of Polish occupation were enough to arouse <strong>the</strong> Ukrainian<br />

peasantry against <strong>the</strong> invaders. Tukhachevsky's armies on <strong>the</strong><br />

nor<strong>the</strong>rn sector of <strong>the</strong> front and Yegorov's on <strong>the</strong> sou<strong>the</strong>rn were<br />

reinforced by divisions rdeased from fighting against Denikin<br />

and Kolchak. The Red Army, although poorly equipped, was<br />

now at <strong>the</strong> peak of its strength-before <strong>the</strong> end of <strong>the</strong> campaign<br />

it had five million men under colours. On 1 2 June <strong>the</strong> Bolsheviks<br />

recaptured Kiev; and presently Pilsudski's troops retreated in<br />

panic towards <strong>the</strong> boundaries of ethnographic Poland.<br />

At this point important political issues intervened to complicate<br />

<strong>the</strong> conduct of <strong>the</strong> war. Some of <strong>the</strong>se concerned<br />

Russia's relations with Britain; o<strong>the</strong>rs bore on her attitude towards<br />

Poland; and <strong>the</strong> two sets of problems were at some points<br />

interconnected.<br />

The opposition of British Labour to intervention and <strong>the</strong><br />

defeat of <strong>the</strong> White Guards had weakened <strong>the</strong> interventionist<br />

party, led by Winston Churchill. The government was divided<br />

against itself, <strong>the</strong> Prime Minister (Lloyd George) being inclined<br />

to withdraw from intervention and to resume trade with Russia.<br />

At <strong>the</strong> end of May 1920 a Soviet trade mission, headed by<br />

Krasin, left Moscow for London. In <strong>the</strong> meantime, however,<br />

<strong>the</strong> interventionist party was momentarily streng<strong>the</strong>ned by<br />

Pilsudski's victories. The Politbureau was under <strong>the</strong> impression<br />

that <strong>the</strong> .British government, like <strong>the</strong> French, wholeheartedly<br />

backed Pilsudski. Thc~missariat of foreign Affairs and <strong>the</strong><br />

' Trotsky,~ vol -.Mi, boo\,~ pp. 193-5-

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