Lenin, Trotsky, Germany and the Treaty of Brest-Litovsk The ...

Lenin, Trotsky, Germany and the Treaty of Brest-Litovsk– for organizing a Communist coup in Germany itself, on which, as everyoneassumed, the ultimate victory of socialism in the world would depend.Now Lenin began to assign a completely different role to himself in the worldCommunist movement. It was important for him to bring about a world revolutionunder his own direct leadership and to preserve his position of leadershipwithin the International. For Lenin, the German revolution took second place tothe already victorious revolution in Russia. Even more than that: the revolutionin Germany must not happen too quickly, since when it did, the center of gravityof the Communist world would shift to the industrialized West and Lenin wouldbe left behind as nothing more than the head of the government of an “underdeveloped,”“backward,” and “uncultured” country.It is in the light of Lenin’s changed views about the revolution in Germany thatone must examine the whole history of the negotiations in Brest-Litovsk betweenDecember 1917 and March 1918, which concluded with the formation of a peacetreaty between Russia, on the one hand, and Germany and the other Central Powers,on the other.Lenin’s position at these negotiations – his insistence on forming a “Tilsit truce”for the sake of a respite from war with Germany – seems so reasonable that onecan only marvel at the adventurism, naiveté, and carefree idealism of all of hisopponents, from the Bukharin-led Left Communists to Trotsky with his formula“neither war nor peace.” To be sure, Lenin’s position seems correct mainly becauseit appeals to notions that most people find familiar: a weak army cannotfight against a strong one; if resistance is impossible, a peace treaty must be signedin the face of an ultimatum. But this is an ordinary person’s way of thinking, nota revolutionary’s. Such a way of thinking would not have made it possible toseize power in November 1917 and to hold on to it against a coalition of socialistparties as Lenin had done, with Trotsky’s help, in the days following the takeover.Indeed, such a way of thinking would have made it impossible to be a revolutionary.For some reason, the entire core of the party, with the exception ofLenin, was against signing the Treaty of Brest-Litovsk; in fact, a large number ofparty functionaries supported Trotsky. And no one viewed the state of things aspessimistically as Lenin. What were all of these people thinking, then? Whatwere they counting on?The revolution and the revolutionaries were subject to their own special laws.These laws were perceived by the majority of the population as incomprehensible,deranged, and irrational. But when it abandoned these laws, the revolutionperished. In them lay its only source of power and its only hope for victory. Leninstepped back from these laws for the sake of preserving his personal power andleadership in the world Communist movement. From the point of view of absoluteCommunist interests, the Treaty of Brest-Litovsk was a catastrophe. It unequivocallydestroyed any chance of an immediate revolution in Germany, and8