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

AT THE DOOR OF HISTORY
fanatical and in a sense an inhuman attitude. The man who so
acted would not hesitate to sacrifice other persons and other
considerations to what he regarded as the vital interest of the
revolution. But a revolutionary party cannot do without a large
dose of fanaticism of this sort. It must take seriously the maxim,
proclaimed by Plekhanov, that the preservation of the revolution
is its supreme law. Lenin's opponents, on the other hand,
gave to their private sentiments the same weight which they had
promised to attach to that law alone. They would, in the future,
give the same weight to all sorts of other sentiments and considerations,
clashing with their avowed revolutionary aspiration.
They would prove themselves conciliators, not revolutionaries.
It is no wonder, however, that the symptomatic significance
of this difference, so obvious in retrospect, was hidden from
many, if not from most, of the actors. Trotsky did not perceive
the revolutionary frame of mind behind Lenin's personal
ruthlessness. Other motives probably confirmed him in his
attitude. By Lenin's side he saw the haughty, aggressive
Plekhanov, who had snubbed him on every occasion for no
apparent reason. On the other side were all the warm-hearted
and unassuming .men and women to whom he had owed so
much. His choice was clear; it was a choice he would one day
grievously regret.
Almost immediately after the congress, 'not yet cooled off
from the heat of the clash', he wrote the Report of the Siberian
Delegation, 'a human document for the future historian', as he
described it. In it he expressed with much affectation his disillusionment,
his new hostility towards Lenin, and the contradictions
in his own attitude.
The congress thought that it was doing constructive work; it was
only destructive .... Who could suppose that this assembly, convened
by Iskra, would mercilessly trample over lskra's editorial board ... ?
Which political crystal gazer could forecast that Martov and Lenin
would step forth ... as the hostile leaders of hostile factions? All
this has come like thunder from the blue' ... this man [Lenin_],
with the energy and talent peculiar to him, assumed the role of the
party's disorganizer .... Behind Lenin ... stood the new compact
majority of the 'hard' Iskra men, opposed to the 'soft' Iskra men.
We, the delegates of the Siberian Union, joined the 'soft' ones, and
1 N. Trotsky, Vtoroi Sye~d RSDRP (Otchet Sibirskoi Deltgatsii), pp. 8-11.