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

REVOLUTION AND CONQ.UEST 467
But the Red Anny still rolled on; and Moscow was all exultation.
At this stage of the campaign, from the middle of July to
7 August, the second congress of the Communist International
was in session in Petrograd and Moscow. During the past year
the European Labour movements had swung towards the
International: leaders of great and old Socialist parties now
almost humbly knocked at its doors. The congress discussed the
terms of membership, the famous '21 Points', formulated by
Lenin and Zinoviev, the tasks of the Communist parties, the
fate of the colonial nations, and so on. But the debates were
do~inated by the thrilling expectation of the military denouement
in Poland which would give a new and mighty impulse to
European revolution. In front of a large war map Lenin daily
gave the foreign delegates his optimistic comment on Tukhachevsky's
advance.
At the beginning of the congress, Trotsky made a brief
appearance in order to endor'se the '21 Points' in the debate.
He came back just before the end of the congress-the Red
Army now stood at the very gates of Warsaw-to present the
Manifesto he had written on behalf of the International. The
delegates greeted him with a tributary roar of applause. In a
crescendo of resounding phrases and images he surveyed the
international scene in the first year of the Versailles Peace. He
angrily denounced the 'Babylon' of decaying capitalism and
tore the 'mask of democracy' from its face. 'German parliamentary
democracy', he stated, 'is nothing but a void between
two dictatorships.'' The delegates listened to him in breathless
suspense; and the magic of his words and images was heightened
as the battle, of which they thought him to be the inspirer,
mounted to its climax. Yet Trotsky refrained from' boasting,
and in the manifesto he made no reference to the Red Army's
victories. The delegates did not even notice his reticence. They
could not guess what tense apprehension was hidden behind his
self-confident appearance and resounding language. In this
assembly, where even the most prudent men were carried away
by joyous excitement, he alone refused to celebrate the victory,
as the architect of which he was being acclaimed. 2
1
Trotsky, Pyat Let Kominterna, p. 89.
• Addressing the party cells of the Military Academy and of other schools,