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

THE PROPHET ARMED
borrowed the name of his first organization. Then he had
emigrated and pioneered for ~farxism. With none of Plekhanov's
gifts, poor as a writer and poorer still as a speaker, he
was the inarticulate originator of many of the ideas which his
friend brilliantly expounded. \Vhile Plekhanov's sor.ialism was
intellectual, Axelrod's sprang from absolute confidence in the
working class. He believed fanatically that the workers would
find their way to socialism and emancipation, and he instinctively
distrusted the intelligentsia's aspiration to lead them-­
this was later the main motive of his unflagging opposition to
Bolshevism. While Plckhanov, a polished European and an
aristocrat in appearance, led a rather bourgeois life, Axelrod
earned his living as a worker, producing in his home a special
kind of buttermilk and delivering it to his customers. Over his
milk-cans he argued with fugitives from Russia to whom his
home was a haven of rest, and whom he fed and often clad.
With his broad dishevelled beard, he looked mort> like a saintly
Russian rabbi than a revolutionary politician. Y ct the revolutionary
leaders, including until quite recently Lenin, had all
regarded him as their teacher and inspirer. To this man the
young Trotsky became strongly attached, and the attachment
was to have a bearing on his political fortunes.'
Tics of mutual friendship also bound him to another pioneer,
Leon Deutsch, once also a southern Russian JVarodnik, who had
recently, after thirteen years of katorga, escaped from Siberia
and made a journey around the world. Although at the height
of his fame-his courageous escape had earned him world-wide
admiration-Ikutsch was regarding the new time, its problems,
and its men, with weary and somewhat uncomprehending eyes.
A little uneasy about Trotsky's exuberant radicalism and
optimism, he nevertheless attached himself tenderly to the
brilliant 'Benjamin', as if to the embodiment of his own youthful
hopes, watched his first steps abroad with admiration, and
sought to help him and to advance him in every way.
The dissension inside the lskra team had as yet no political
significance. Only a short time before, Lenin and Martov,
1
L. Trotsky, loc. cit. ancl Lminr, pp. 9-60; A. Lunacharsky, op. cit., pp. 3j··40;
F. Dan, Proiskhozhdenie Bolrhevisma, pp. 191-4, '..2B8--9; N. Alcxcycv in Prolclarsf..aya
Rei:olutsia, no. 3, 19'..!4; L. N. !'vlcshcheryakuv in Ptchati Revolutsia, vol. ii, 192.4;
V. Medem, Von Mein Leben, vol. ii, chapter i; John Mill, Pioneers and Builders,
vol. i, pp. 205-7.